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Gloves while milling?

nickwilliams

Plastic
Joined
Mar 27, 2005
Location
Derbyshire, England
I usually wear gloves while setting up and (particularly) cleaning up my mill. So far I've used the red PVC coated cotton ones, but they seem very poor at preventing shards of metal from penetrating. Having just spent another half hour removing metal splinters from my fingers, I was wondering if anyone had any better ideas?

Nick.
 
I like my hands way to much to wear gloves while working with machine tools.

dirt/grease/cutting fluids etc all wash off.

splinters pull out and don't hurt near as much as I imagine having to reverse the mill with the other hand while hoping you don't faint before you can get the other one out.
 
Nick does say setting up and cleaning, and not operating.

Nick, those slivers are likely to go through just about any glove you wear. Can you add some shields/chip pans to the machines to make them easier to clean by letting you dump the pan? Always use brushes first before wiping them down with a paper towel, in the hopes of getting the majority of the aggressive swarf off before getting your hand near them. Maybe you can try putting a strong magnet in a plastic bag and sweep up the steel slivers with that. Turn the bag inside out and the slivers stay in and the magnet stays clean.

I try to always remember to use the blue nitrile gloves when cleaning or getting my hands in industrial fluids. It seems like the effective solvents are invariably toxic, and liver transplants are expensive.

cheers,
Michael
 
The hell with gloves or even getting my hands anywhere near those evil little shards of metal. I have on of the big Ridgid vacuums that does a great job of cleaning up shavings and chips on mills, lathes and drill presses as well as the floor.

Ed Miles
 
I've gotten better at using chip brushes, spatula, a way cleaning tool, brass brush, rags, dust pan and mostly resisting the temptation to touch the stuff with the hands.

Slower but faster than 1/2 hour removing metal splinters.

Malmute has a heavy leather glove (#85) that works ok but soaks up liquids so a thin nitrile under is needed.
 
Can't take credit for the idea. Read this on a web site awhile back. Don't remember which site..

Place a large magnet in a plastic grocery sack. Place it by the chips and when the magnet has collected all the chips it can, turn the bag inside out. You now have a bag of metal chips and a the magnet is ready to go again. Your mileage may vary when machining brass or aluminum.

Guy at work didn't want oil on his hands so he ran the drill press with gloves. After having one of his gloves forcibly removed by the 1hp motor, he decided dirty hands were better than no hands.

KJ
 
No to gloves. My dad was wearing gloves running his drill press and had his thumb ripped off. Fortunatley mom was home and able to drive him to the hospital and they re-atatched it. I will not wear gloves near rotating machinery.

Luke
 
I'm with the shop vac crowd here. I got sick of metal splinters, too.

The reason the hose gets clogged, at least in my case, is coolant and cutting fluids. When it gets all nasty, I coil the hose in a bucket full of slightly diluted Purple Stuff degreaser. A severely disgusting mess comes out of there, but after a rinse, the hose is good to go for a while longer.

Big long stringy lathe chips are another story. They clog the vac fast enough to make it impractical. In that case, I use heavy leather gloves and handle like razor blades (which they are).
 
I use Lifeguard brand nitrile exam gloves. They
keep most of the slivers out and will tear away
easily. You can double them up and they are thin
enough you still can use a micrometer or calipers
with them on. Not too pricey if you buy a
box of 100. Good to use when using solvents or
oils you don't want on your hands.
 
I don't wear gloves but I just want to whatever you wear be careful, my shirt became untucked and the lead screw grabbed it and pulled me in, luckily the shirt was old and tore and it was a 12'' lathe so I could reach the emergency stop, large lathe,work closer to the tailstock,who knows.
 
MM...
Good catch. I easily read to quickly...

I aplogize for mis-speaking Nick.

As far as shards, the shop vac crowd is right as well as the brush/pan folks.

I've used a combination of both or individually dependant on which material is in the mound piled on the mill table.
 
I dont wear gloves, cant get used to the various vinyl, nitrile or otherwise plastic feel, not to mention the hazards with wearing them around rotating machinery.

Now for chemical resistance while working around bad "stuff" I will use the above gloves and a respirator.

If I gotta wear gloves around rotating machines I like these safety gloves.......JRouche

B00076ZDGS.jpg
 
i never used to like the nitrile gloves, but the more i started wearing them the more i like them, they protect you from who knows what being absorbed thru your skin, and its nice after greasing machinery or vehicles to just simply take them off and throw them out and your hands are as clean as can be
 
I use pigskin gloves when I gotta handle chips. I've reached into sharp stainless steel scrap bins with those things without a mark.

Of course I don't wear gloves near the mill, lathe, or drillpress, however i do wear them when using angle grinders or a DA sander.
 
The blue nitriles are incredibly tough. A pair goes on before any cleanup. They're so thin that you don't notice you're wearing them. Really resistant to punctures.
 
I use exam gloves whenever I work around really greasy stuff or when I am painting, be it brush or spray. Sure saves time trying to clean around your fingernails and such.

For long stringy chips, I "handle" those with a small garden hand rake. (I guess that is what it is called -- five tined bent sheet metal gardening tool to weed closely around plants.)
 
As for the various types of gloves... and this from the perspective of a former Navy Hospital Corpsman...

Latex:
a. Come in many glove sizes (6-1/2 ~ 10-1/2)
b. Once you find "your" size, they fit very well
c. Some people are highly allergic to the latex proteins
d. A certain size from company "A" will normally match the same size from company "B".
e. Can be found in many medical supply stores, pharmacies, etc.

Vinyl:
a. Sometimes come in "universal" sizes, e.g., XS, S, M, L, XL (often just S, M, and L)
b. The "medium" size from company "A" often fits totally different than the "same" size from company "B".
c. Fingers are often poorly designed, sloppy, and don’t support fine work.
d. Disposables are unilateral, i.e., no well-defined thumb.

Nitrile:
a. “Purple” gloves by various manufacturers are sometimes available in numbered sizes, often only in S, M, and L.
b. Fit better than vinyl; usually not quite as well as latex.
c. More expensive than latex or vinyl (but per-pair cost is slowly declining as more companies jump on the “No latex” bandwagon.)

Generally, getting “Exam” (examination) gloves are less expensive than Sterile gloves.

I only wear gloves when moving stock. NEVER around moving machinery.

I kept swarf brushes on hooks near the power switch as a reminder to power down before using the brush.

Regards to all.
 








 
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