Close call on the shop floor-Yikes!

Gobo · May 8, 2019

We had an extremely close call on the shop floor the other day. An operator reached into a horizontal mill to measure a part and made the near fatal mistake of leaving the spindle running. He was wearing a light jacket and t-shirt. A one inch end mill got a hold of his jacket. By the time he had fought free , both his jacket and t-shirt had been ripped off of him, and were happily spinning away at 1500 rpm. The operator had decades of experience, and did what most of us have probably done ourselves, take a shortcut. Aside from being bruised and sore, he escaped without injury. It takes just a second to end up as a statistic.

Hodge · May 8, 2019

Glad to hear he wasn't hurt other than pride. I'm sure his pants were ruined as well.

Blazemaster · May 8, 2019

I take these posts as reminders to not get in a rush when I'm on a job. it's just not worth it, glad to hear your man is ok.

BDGiven · May 8, 2019

I watched a man pull out his pocket knife and saw off his pony tail after having his shirt ripped off.

DDoug · May 8, 2019

Gobo said:
He was wearing a light jacket and t-shirt.

Supposed to wear short sleeved shirts, or roll sleeves up.

What did the operator have ?

Spinit · May 8, 2019

To leave the spindle running while getting closer to the running spindle is not very good at all. Glad he is ok. I am concerned whether he is concerned about his own safety. Time to evaluate your safety.

gbent · May 8, 2019

digger doug said:
Supposed to wear short sleeved shirts, or roll sleeves up.

What did the operator have ?

I am very jealous of you guys that can afford to work all the time in a shop heated to shirt sleeve comfort.

To the OP, thanks for the safety reminder. Horizontal machines can be deceptively hazardous, especially for someone who has spent most of their time on a vertical. You open the door, and there is the tool beside your right arm or head.

sfriedberg · May 8, 2019

I've got two horizontals. A little-bitty Nichols hand mill at 1,200lbs, and a Van Norman #28A at something over 6,500lbs. The VN has the unnerving property that the spindle in horizontal mode is right at my eyeball level. If I leave the rear set of controls, it's pretty common that I get a face or shirt full of chips, unless I have room to mag-mount a deflector at the end of the table. Wearing a full face shield has saved me from running to the urgent care more than once. And you can believe that I am not blasé about sticking a hand anywhere near the action.

eKretz · May 9, 2019

Heh, ain't no way I could've worked in shops around here in short or rolled up sleeves at all times. Would've frozen my ass off. There were times I had to wear a coat for crying out loud. The smarter move is just NOT to get anywhere near a rotating spindle. I always had a healthy respect for rotating machinery, never got caught by any. Never even came close. If l couldn't get the table far enough away from the spindle to be safe, I shut it off. No shortcuts for me. Large machinery will instill respect pretty quickly. Where I served my apprenticeship our larger horizontals were probably more like several hundred thousand pounds and the smaller ones maybe 30,000 pounds. Big metal.

The fella in the O.P. got VERY lucky. He should count his blessings. I bet he will NEVER do that again. If he had been caught in one of our machines, he probably wouldn't have gotten the chance to never do that again. Or anything else.

M.B. Naegle · May 9, 2019

I wonder if he was in the same boat of guys that bypasses the door switch on enclosed machines because it is inconvenient...
"but taping fluid"
"but spindle down time"
"but tool changes"

DMF_TomB · May 9, 2019

obviously not suppose to be in machine with it running.
.
you can ask OSHA on all the people who were injured over the years

number 2 · May 9, 2019

Had a similar story years ago. A fella went into the machine thinking the program had stopped, ( I’m still unsure how that came about as the table went out and spindle to tool change position apparently), and a face mill come down, grabbed his shirt and threw him over the machine into the swarf conveyor. Not a scratch on him, so lucky, could of had a 100mm hole in him that day. As I say why the machine come out and went back in I’m unsure but that’s what I were told. Perhaps there was block delete for a quick measure and it was still engaged and didn’t stop.

Gobo · May 9, 2019

By the way, it was a four inch long end mill. I think I have a picture of the wadded up clothing on the tool. I will post it if I can find it.

EPAIII · May 9, 2019

I am not a big OSHA fan, but perhaps the shop temperature is an area where they might do some good. I mean, if shops are too cold to allow proper and safe clothing, then what's the harm in having a heater.

And my money IS where my mouth is. My shop, actually every shop that I have built, has had both heat and AC. But then, I am/was a principle user of them, not just other employees.

gbent said:
I am very jealous of you guys that can afford to work all the time in a shop heated to shirt sleeve comfort.

To the OP, thanks for the safety reminder. Horizontal machines can be deceptively hazardous, especially for someone who has spent most of their time on a vertical. You open the door, and there is the tool beside your right arm or head.

DouglasJRizzo · May 10, 2019

One reason why I E-stop the CNC if I have to reach inside.

Leaving the spindle running - way too scary for me.
Glad it worked out ok.

SamH · May 13, 2019

Blazemaster said:
I take these posts as reminders to not get in a rush when I'm on a job. it's just not worth it, glad to hear your man is ok.

One time got in a hurry, and took a part from the mill to weld it up. so put on some light gloves to weld in. Realized I missed a hole, take it back to the mill. String chip catches the glove, sucks my hand around the bit and just kept tightening the glove. After I cut the glove off my hand, and calmed down, could feel it from my fingertips all the way to my neck.

zimbo · May 14, 2019

My wife insists I keep wearing the wedding ring whilst at work. I am scared I am going to loose it or forget it in my pocket if I keep taking it off. Have any of you chaps have examples about how rings caused fingers and hands to be broken or lost whilst using manual mill and lathes?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

awake · May 14, 2019

Any number of horrific pictures and articles on the internet. The technical term is ring avulsion. Show a few to your wife and see if she'd like to re-evaluate her position.

Here's a couple that came up in a quick search, not all necessarily machining-related, but all showing the potential danger. Warning - these pictures are GRAPHIC:

Ring Avulsion Injuries - Hand - Orthobullets

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...ing-5-a-side&usg=AOvVaw0SIF_x0DSpU8V33G9SNrsM

BSCustoms · May 14, 2019

My wife too wanted me to wear a sign of being locked down when all possible. And since I machine by day and also when I get home, we settled on tattooing it right on my hand. Shouldn't catch on anything.

Spinit · May 14, 2019

zimbo said:
My wife insists I keep wearing the wedding ring whilst at work. I am scared I am going to loose it or forget it in my pocket if I keep taking it off. Have any of you chaps have examples about how rings caused fingers and hands to be broken or lost whilst using manual mill and lathes?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Just reaching a hand to grab and pull on something can pinch a ring and cut you. You never know how that happens until you see it done most of the time. Watches, long sleeves, and long hair can be a problem.

Close call on the shop floor-Yikes!

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