Working with metals and machinery and chemicals and electrical equipment is inherently dangerous. Wear safety devices and clothing as appropriate. Remove watches, rings, and jewellery -- and secure or remove loose clothing -- before operating any machine. BEWARE: DO NOT ASSUME that any subject matter or procedure or process is safe or correct or appropriate just because it was mentioned in a news/user group or was included in these files or on this site or on any other web site or was published in a magazine or book or video. Read, understand and follow the latest operating procedures and safety instructions provided by the manufacturer of your machine or tool or product. If you do not have those most recent official instructions, acquire a copy through the manufacturer before operating or using their product. Where the company no longer exists, use the appropriate news or user group to locate an official copy. Be careful -- original instructions may not meet current safety standards. Updated safety information and operating instructions may also be available through a local club, a local professional in the trade, a local business, or an appropriate government agency. In every case, use your common sense before beginning or taking the next step; and do not proceed if you have any questions or doubts about any procedure, or the safety of any procedure. Follow all laws and codes, and employ certified or licenced professionals as required by those laws or codes. Hazardous tasks beyond your competence or expertise should also be contracted to professionals. Let's be really careful out there. If you got to this file directly from my HOME PAGE, return there by using your browser's back button. BUT if you came to this file as the result of a web search engine, see more than 70 additional files on my home page Machining and Metalworking at Home http://www.janellestudio.com/metal/ (c) Copyright 2003 - 2008 Machining and Metalworking at Home The form of the collected work in this text file (including editing, additions, and notes) is copyrighted and this file is not to be reproduced by any means, including electronic, without written permission except for strictly personal use. ==================================================================== Date: Wed, 7 Mar 2001 06:20:15 -0500 From: "Dan Statman" Subject: Re: Explosive Metal ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bruce" To: Sent: Tuesday, March 06, 2001 11:17 PM Subject: [sherline] Explosive Metal >> Ok, I learned that Aluminum dust is flammable and explosive, and that it can be related to medical problems such as memory lost. (Gee, I already have enough problems in this dept. :-) ) This was all new to me. Now are there any other metals that have unusually properties that I should be aware of. Bruce Snowden Not wanting to create a neighborhood incident. << Be very careful if you machine ANY grade of titanium. The small chips and dust are highly flammable and the friction from the cutting tool can be enough to ignite them. This is the only metal that burns in nitrogen (the major component of air), and there is no way to stop its progress except to smother it with sand (or equivalent). A fire extinguisher is used only to put out the other things which catch fire from the burning titanium. The fire hazard of titanium is greatest when using emery cloth to polish away machining marks. Hope this helps somebody, Daniel J. Statman, Statman Designs http://members.rennlist.com/statmandesigns ---------------------------- Date: Wed, 07 Mar 2001 22:34:43 +1100 From: Ken Price Subject: Re: Explosive Metal My father-in-law bought his as-new asian lathe from a guy who had set up in business making high-performance barrels for Harley-Devidson motorcycles. He was machining them from solid castings of magnesium the size of a large coffee can, boring them out for a cast-iron sleeve and turning cooling fins. He collected the waste (lots of it) and had it re-cast. When we collected the lathe, the room under his house was about 6" deep in magnesium turnings. If you remember magnesium burning in high school, it emits a bright white light and is almost unquenchable (in fact flash bulbs used Mg wire). If this guy had ever got a flame under that Mg the entire suburb would have burnt.... We grabbed the lathe as quick as we could, keeping an eye on the exit at all times. Needless to say his business acumen was on a par with his safety knowledge, which is why he was selling up. And the lathe was an absolute bargain. So, yes, other metals are dangerous, Mg being flammable (or, more specifically, hard to extinguish) KP ----------------------------------- Date: Wed, 07 Mar 2001 08:36:43 -0500 From: Jim Ash Subject: Re: Explosive Metal Some of this thread makes machining sound like fireworks manufacture. Sure there's risks, but c'mon. Most things in life worth doing have some associated risk. If you use normal safety procedures (eye/hearing protection), clean up after your work sessions, and you work with 'normal' materials, you'll be fine. If you purchase new (to you) or strange materials and this is a concern, ask for the MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) for the stuff. These contain a wealth of health safety information with regards to handling, use, flammability, toxicity, sometimes machinability, as well as the bad habits and gotchas a given material might have. Some are available online. If you come across some strange stuff that looks like it could be machined, find out what it is first. A friend found a junk block of Beryllium that he wanted to machine. This stuff (and its salts) are major toxic. I told him his choices were to gear up for toxic material management, or find some other material. He used Aluminum instead. Personally, I won't turn stuff until I know what it is. Jim Ash --------------------------- Date: Sat, 31 Mar 2001 07:13:55 -0600 From: "Dana Zimmerman" Subject: RE: PARTING TROUBLE The best thing you can do for parting is turn the tool upside down. Seriously. Most lathe operations have an inherent engineering problem, in that the cutting forces tend to flex the tool and tool post down and forward into the work piece. This is especially bad for parting, which is a grabby kind of cut and tool. This strategy also reduces the very real danger in parting. The wisest machinists with the "modern" lathes that have a cross slide that is long enough, put the parting tool behind the work piece and upside down. In this arrangement, when the tool grabs, the tool post flexes away from the work, and releases the pressure on the tool rather than making it worse. It will work with the tool in front of the work, but in this case you have to turn the lathe "backward" which could unscrew the darn chuck. My father apprenticed as a machinist in the 1920's and has told me that when he started out, every machine shop had a couple of guys with eye patches in the manner of Long John Silver. The cause was usually the parting tool. When a parting tool grabs, and the tool post flexes, the tool digs in and if the lathe has the power, the tool will break in such a way that it sends a triangle of high-speed steel, at high speed, exactly at the right angle to get the machinist leaning over the lathe in the eye. Wear your safety glasses! --------------------------- From: Tom Benedict Date: Tue Jul 10, 2001 10:52 am Subject: Re: [taigtools] Safety One other cautionary tale, and a note of thanks to the folks at Taig: Unless you tighten the 3-jaw chuck, spinning up the motor "unscrolls" the jaws, and they open to their widest position. (I'm assuming this is true for any tommy-bar 3-jaw chuck. Not sure if it's true for a keyed 3-jaw chuck, because I've never made that mistake with one and don't plan on trying it, just to find out.) The Taig 3-jaw chuck has two-piece, removable jaws. Somewhere along the line, Forrest must've decided that with a soft-jaw chuck, there wouldn't really be a need for reversible jaws. So the Taig 3-jaw STOPS unscrolling before the jaws are allowed to come out. What this means is that not tightening the 3-jaw chuck, and turning on the motor will open the jaws to their widest position, but that's it. With another chuck (such as the Sherline 3-jaw, which as hardened, ground, reversible jaws), that wouldn't be the case. The jaws could easily become projectiles. Not a slam on 3-jaws with removable jaws! I used them for years, and at some point would like to adapt a Sherline 3-jaw to my Taig. I just got lucky and made this mistake with a 3-jaw that didn't let go of its jaws. I got REALLY lucky. Tom On Mon, 9 Jul 2001 acharlestox~xxh... wrote: > A cautionary tale. > Changing from a collet back to the lathe's four-jaw chuck I noticed > that the five-step pulley on the motor had slipped out of alignment. > I hand-tightened the chuck, reset the pulley and put the belt on the > first, fastest speed, grooves, and briefly ran the motor up. > When I switched off I was horrified to see the chuck unscrewing from > the spindle. I got out of the way in time as the chuck landed on the > lathe bed then shot past me and hit the wall three feet behind. > The jaws were inside the chuck body circumference so physical damage > to the chuck and lathe bed were minimal. > > When the sparks died down and I sat down to think about it I realised > that the energy in a three to four pound chunk of steel spinning at > about 6000 rpm would have caused serious injury if it had hit me > rather than the brick wall. Had I been sitting in my usual position > on a high stool instead of standing, I might not have been able to > get out of the way and then the chuck would have hit my chest. > > I like to believe that I am careful and safety-conscious, but this > happened so easily! Experienced machinists are probably aware of > this potential hazard, but the messages posted on the site indicate > that there are lots of newcomers to lathe work who might do the same > sort of thing. > > Hopefully this note may prevent a similar event. ------------------------- From: n2562001x~xxy... Date: Tue Jul 10, 2001 12:53 pm Subject: Re: Safety Tom has a good point. However even worse is to put the lathe in reverse and have the chuck come off. Back when I was young and dumb I tried this on a 12" Atlas lathe with a 6" chuck. When I hit reverse I can still see the chuck coming off. It came off and spun in mid air for a split second, fell behind the lathe, came out the bottom between my legs and took out a couple of cement blocks in the wall across the basement. This is always a good excuse to change your shorts that week. Jerry Kieffer -------------- From: Tom Benedict Date: Tue Jul 10, 2001 3:48 pm Subject: Re: [taigtools] Re: Safety On Tue, 10 Jul 2001, Larry Richter wrote: > Now I suppose I should tell you about the power feed on the mill and > the carbide shrapnel. This reminds me of something! Back when I was still DOING doing astronomy (actually using a telescope rather than just working in a lab), I was talking to an industrial engineer about the way a telescope dome is laid out. To make a long story short, he was horrified. He lectured me sternly, impressing on me that when it comes to industrial robots, the A#1 rule of safety is, "Stay out of the machine's work cell." The idea is that a robot can make sudden motions that to you would seem unpredictable, so if you're in its work cell, you're almost guranteed to get hurt at some point in time. A telescope is a big honkin' industrial robot. Unless you're in the control room, you're out on the dome floor, right smack in the middle of the thing's work cell. And yeah people get hurt. Machining's pretty similar. I've used mills with power feed on all three axes, and now I've used a benchtop CNC mill (love my Taig!) In the normal course of work, my hands are way inside the machine's work cell. It's par for the course. I don't know if you could do machining any other way. I guess the upshot of all this is that in doing astronomy or machining, you are essentially putting yourself in harm's way. Always keep track of where things are, what they're doing, how they're moving, and know how to cut the power if things get ugly. Tom P.S. Yeah, and don't ever grab a spinning chuck that's trying to get loose. LET IT GO! ;) (No, I haven't done this one, and no, I don't plan on it.) --------------------- From: "Robin S." Date: Sat Jul 14, 2001 2:05 am Subject: Re: Safety > Machining's pretty similar. I've used mills with power feed on all three > axes, and now I've used a benchtop CNC mill (love my Taig!) In the normal > course of work, my hands are way inside the machine's work cell. It's par > for the course. I don't know if you could do machining any other way. Tom, although this is true on knee, bed and mini-mills, all VMC's are enclosed. This is an esspecially good feature when your rapid moves are measured in the thousands of inches per minute. Of course, on larger bed and knee mills, you have a large table moving around, unenclosed. I suppose that's one reason why such mills have such cruddy rapid moves. With these mills, you have a much better chance of getting bonked by the table than getting your fingers cut off :) --------------------- From: Tom Benedict Date: Sat Jul 14, 2001 8:25 am Subject: Re: [taigtools] Re: Safety Ironically, what you said about getting fingers cut off reminded me... I used to work in a frame shop. There were LOTS of opportunities there to lose fingers and other body parts. We cut big-ass pieces of glass, we chopped frames made out of the same wood that's used in baseball bats, and we had a metal saw for cutting metal frames. Any one of these could result in arterial bleeding pretty easily. The chopper and metal saw could take bits off of you before you even knew it happened. But you know what people got hurt on? The paper cutter. Everyone's used one, and some people have them in their houses. So no one expects it to bite back. I'm always very careful with my lathe, my mill, the hack saw, and anything else that's obviously there to cut. But I still wind up with cuts because I do silly things like picking up sheet metal the wrong way (slice), grabbing an end mill anywhere but at the middle (cut), or... Ain't just the power tools you need to be careful with. Shop safety involves EVERYTHING. Tom --------------------- Date: Tue, 23 Oct 2001 11:57:14 -0400 From: Ken Jenkins Subject: Re: Flying chucks .... been there, done that I noticed that a couple people mentioned flying chucks recently. This happened to me twice in the couple years I've had my Taig It is probably the single most scary and dangerous thing that can happen. In both cases, thank God, I came away bruised but unscathed. First time I actually reached out my finger to stop it when I realized it was unscrewing ...... bad idea ...... I now use a specially cut wood block to tighten and untighted my chuck against (keeps me from loosening chuck at the headstock while doing these operations). Also, since I have a variable speed setup, I decrease my speed slowly instead of just stopping from high speed. If this happens to you, you will only have a split second to decide what to do. There is only one decision to make, move quickly away and the best direction is laterally in the direction of the headstock end. The reason being when the chuck comes off it will go most likely go out the front and to the right. Also, this is most likely to happen when running at high speeds because the decelerating inertial forces are higher. Be careful, be safe, double-check your setups! Ken Jenkins kjenkinsx~xxmac.com ------------------------ Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2001 22:42:48 -0000 From: "John Lawson" Subject: Emergency Room Prices Recently, I whacked my arm into a razor sharp toolbit protruding from my lathe turret. A deep and nasty puncture wound, it bled profusely. So, I found a clean towel to compress over the wound and was driven to the E Room. No stitches were required. The Doc applied a dab of antibiotic cream (Neosporin), gave me a tetanus shot and applied a bandaid to the wound, which had finally stopped bleeding. I was in the E Room about 45 minutes, most of which time was spent waiting for an available doctor. The E Room bill was $880.00! My doctor charges $110 for a visit, and I called him first, but I was answered by a nurse who told me to go to the E Room. The toolbit that I ran into cost $3.50. The safety cover I applied was free, from the scrap bin. Shoulda fitted that cover to begin with. Woulda kept the job in the black. Now, I've been there; done that. Sadder Budweiser. --------------------- Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2002 04:05:25 -0000 From: "martello_nick" Subject: Re: Craftsman 6" lathe Model 101.07301 --- In atlas_craftsmanx~xxy..., LouD31M066x~xxa... wrote: > Atlas-Clausing has a site, nice people to do business with....probably > have manual when you call have make model and serial number ready and > be able to give your charge card data... your local library probably > has some good reading....face and eye protection ,no ties, rings or > long sleeves....know where your hands and fingers are at all times and > keep them away from danger....keep a neat shop and plan what you are > going to do before you do it. Have fun learning or relearning a skill > to convert lumps of metal into useful and decorative projects. > Louis Let me add a coupla cents here about safety: Especially from one newbie to any other newbies out there. I have been doing this for only a month and a half as that's when I finally inheireted (SIC) my lathe. This is only a hobby for most of us and can be a very dangerous one. This message also goes for those of you buying the HF QC tool post holder. While this is a great improvement for the lathe, I would caution you all to be very careful with the cutoff tool holder in this kit. I was cutting off a 1/2" axle last nite and the blade caught/dug in under the shaft and gave way. Missed me by about 5 inches. Scared the S out of me. Good thing I was standing back away from it. After I made my way down off the ceiling I examined the holder and found the hex/allen set screw to be loose so the blade was not really set in place. I did remember tightening it but think maybe the thread tightness fooled me. Don't know. That little blade could do some serious damage to one's innards. While I'm on the soap box, I also figured since I wear glasses I would be safe from any eye danger. Tonight (boy tonight was another bad night) I received a hot chip onto my eyelid. Bounced right over my glasses. So, guess I will be wearing goggles more often. Take Care. Nick ----------------------- Date: Mon, 02 Sep 2002 12:18:20 +1200 From: "" Subject: Re: 7" SBL Shaper Dimensions [MOVING HEAVY MACHINERY] Perhaps a few words on lifting heavy weights would not go amiss? The safest way is to avoid lifting them at all, eg do not use a hoist or any sort of direct lift. Instead, build up a "pigsty" of timbers under the object. I've done this with the shaper part of my Alba 1A to get it up onto the base. You need lots of good solid timber battens, say four by two inches, and they need to be longer than the longest dimensions of the base. Also a trustworthy assistant or two, but not too many. You rock the machine enough to get a piece under one side, then rock it enough to get one under the other. Then you repeat the process at right angles. If it is too tall to rock far enough to put your main pieces in, use some half thickness pieces and work in stages to get the full thickness ones in. Pry bars can be used to help get it up enough to slip in the next piece of timber. Next you tap the lowest ones apart so that they are outside the base of the machine. Continue putting layers in at the top, and moving the next layer down wider apart, and use skew nails to secure each layer to the one below after it is tapped out to the wide position. That gives you a firm secure base that will not tend to tip easily. Once you are at a suitable height, the last pieces can be longer and used as ways to slide the device across, say onto its base or onto a trailer. The object is that at no time is the device being lifted by main strength, and there is always a firm base underneath it supporting it. You are not relying on hoists which can slip, or on beams of unknown strength to hold a hoist up. An improvement if you can manage it would be to get the machine onto a pallet, strap it firmly to that, then do all the lifting, levering etc on the pallet. To get it down from say a trailer, you don't need to reverse the process, so long as you have some long thick planks...mine are about 2 inches by ten inches, by about eight feet long. You can slide the load down the planks with good control. Planks like this with two inch diameter pipe rollers come in handy for moving it to where you want it too. Obviously some judgement is needed when attempting this sort of thing, you do need to be fit and well. Also although it worked fine for the Alba, which comes into two parts which must be about 400 pounds each, I don't think I would try it for say a 24 inch shaper! regards John -------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 12 Apr 2002 09:52:25 -0700 From: "Nicholas Carter and Felice Luftschein" Subject: Stupid Atlas Accident Here is how I broke two teeth off of the gear that mates with the rack on my Atlas yesterday. I was taking a 16" cut on some 3/4" CRS, at a low feed rate, so that it took about 10 minutes for each pass. I didn't really let my attention wander much, and kept track of where it was. On the second pass I was screwing around with something for a moment and heard a popping sound (bad!). Quickly looked at the lathe and saw that it was halfway through the cut, but the handwheel was no longer rotating. Why? Because an oil can I had on the bench had been jammed between the bench and the handwheel handle. Ordinarily it would have just been pushed out of the way, but in this case they synched up so that the handle came down on top of the oilcan, firmly jamming the carriage handwheel from rotating. The weakest link broke, in this case the well worn rack gear. I can't explain how stupid I felt, but as with all mistakes I take it as an opportunity to finally set up my Barker mill to cut all the replacement gears for all the well worn gears on this lathe. The lesson: Do not leave anything in the path of the carriage, no matter how innocent. We often overlook simple things such as oil cans, and their destructive potential. ---------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 11 Apr 2002 11:10:27 -0700 From: Dave Martindale Subject: spinning chucks Lee Valley sells a brightly-coloured knitted "cuff" for use on woodworking lathe chucks. I suspect you could adapt the same idea to a Sherline or Taig. The idea is that the cuff covers the body of the chuck as well as the protruding jaws, making the spinning jaw ends visible rather than nearly invisible. The Lee Valley one is made from something elastic, but probably something that was hand-knitted to the right size for your chuck would work without the elastic. Dave ------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 31 Aug 2002 13:10:05 -0400 From: Stan Stocker Subject: Re: Safety Issues Hi Rio; A heavy rubber band, made from an inner tube or such, stretched over the outside of the jaws is commonly recommended. A thin layer of safety orange or yellow paint is also sometimes recommended, as is commonly done on props. You could also put a safety color stripe on the plate your lathe is mounted to as a visual reminder of where the jaws are. Over time you tend to develop a sense of where not to put your fingers. I don't mean this in a smart alec way, it's just something you develop. Sort of like a woodwoker who uses a tablesaw everyday tends to know where the blade is even in a blind cut, and keeps fingers clear, even if close to the danger zone. Polishing stuff up close to the chuck is a really easy time to bark a few knuckles, I still occasionally manage to ding myself. Breaking the sharp edges of the jaw ends helps reduce the depth / severity of cuts, as does using wooden sticks with the sandpaper applied with spray on adhesive to keep your fingers clear of the jaws. Cheers, Stan riocruzx~xxmindspring.com wrote: > Hey Group-- First, thanks for all the suggestions for getting up an > running for a newby. I ordered the books and they have been really > helpful. Successfully made a custom machine center out of a carriage > bolt that works really well for centering stock in the 4 Jaw Chuck. > Been turning out wood handles and brass ferrules. Dandy machine! > A safety issue that keeps coming up is how to keep from getting my > hands or fingers broken from the fast turning chuck. I've already > had a few swipes. The chuck is near invisible when it's turning so I > need to maybe build some sort of protector to keep from getting > messed up. > Any suggestions? ---------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 31 Aug 2002 13:55:31 -0400 From: "Carol & Jerry Jankura" Subject: RE: Safety Issues The obvious suggestion is to be VERY careful. Another suggestion would be to purchase a piece of clear plastic pipe and build a movable guard that goes round the chuck and perhaps extends over the workspace. If you were to visit the Sherline board (www.sherline.com) and search for their guards, you'd get an idea of what I mean. -- Jerry ------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 06 Nov 2002 15:19:06 -0000 From: "jumbo75007" Subject: Safety I just had an incident with my drill press. I was drilling some hardware store variety 1/4" steel and just as the drill was breaking thru the bottom, the drill shattered, not just a snap, but a POW and drill bit shards went all over the place. The steel was clamped down. The drill (size #9) was a cheapo from a Harbor Freight 3-in-1 drill set (about 120 drills for about $40.) I had been looking at buying some American made drills, but I have decided to do it now. I also was glad that I had my glasses on! None of the drill hit my face, but one put a minor cut my hand. Lesson learned!!!!! Dan Fuller Carrollton, Texas --------------------------------- Date: Thu, 7 Nov 2002 16:10:38 -0600 From: "William Schmiedlin" Subject: RE: Safety Dan, I have heard that process is called "hatching." Did it once with a solid carbide drill bit, and ended up pulling splinters out of my hands, and shirt for an hour. Endmills and other very hard tooling can "hatch" also. The worst part of doing it with bigger tooling is the BANG it makes when it explodes...usually gives quite a scare. At least the hole could be saved in your part :) William ------------------------------- Date: Fri, 03 Jan 2003 18:15:15 -0600 From: Ronald R Brandenburg Subject: Re: LATHE LIGHT NEVER, NEVER, NEVER!!! wear gloves! I've seen too many accidents where an 'operator' was wearing gloves and thought they could deal with a long chip coming off a cut only to get caught up and pulled into the part or have the chip cut through glove AND his/her hand. If you don't believe me just ask 'Stubby'. Most small shops have/have had a 'Stubby' working there. And make sure to button the cuffs on long sleeves!! I prefer NOT to wear long sleeves. It only takes a split second to get a sleeve caught in a part or the chuck or a dog, or . . . ., well, you get the idea. I've never had anything happen to me but I've worked places where it has happened. Let me tell you; It ain't pretty and it's, almost always, permanent. I can't stress this enough; It just ain't worth the risk! Ron... ~ ~ ~ Always remember: The early bird may get the worm, but it's the second mouse that gets the cheese. --------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 3 Jan 2003 18:26:30 -0600 From: "Paul Siegert" Subject: RE: LATHE LIGHT My two cent comment - I know a machinist that is about 5'10" that weighs in around 225 and is packed with muscle. He was telling me several years ago about getting a loose sleeve caught in the lathe he was working at in a shop and all he had time to do was jam his hands out against the ways and push back. He said it was all over in a matter of seconds and it took all the strength he had to keep from being pulled into the chuck as his shirt was literally ripped off his back. He commented that if he hadn't had the upper body mass/strength that he did, his face would have been in the mix. Paul --------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 26 Mar 2003 12:10:39 -0600 From: "Paul Kramer" To: Subject: RE: charcoal filter mask Message-ID: <65F14B054ACED511A6A608005AD18CC53911C1x~xxgnigrp3> "Karl" at skyland realty wrote : A question in regards to masks. I have a deadly allergy to CA fumes, they cause me to sneeze & cough and have breathing difficulties. I have a mask with charcoal filters, but it does not work at that well. Do you have any recommendations of masks? Thanks & Cheers, Karl Karl : I can give advice on this as it is in my line of work. If you are referring to a full-face or half-face respirator then I can tell you that the correct choice of cartridges is important. The black cartridges are for organic vapors and should work ok for this application. A better choice, however, would be the yellow cartridges since they protect against both organic vapors and acid gases. The latter could be present in this application. The white or green cartridges would not be appropriate for this application. It is also important to use fresh cartridges after about 30-60 minutes of use on a given set, since breakthrough can occur in that time range of useage depending upon the concentration of contaminants in the breathing air entering the cartridges. Hope this helps. Thermals, ...Paul K. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 26 Mar 2003 18:23:16 -0000 From: "Graham Knight" To: Subject: Re: [FFML] RE: charcoal filter mask Message-ID: <006b01c2f3c4$d45e13b0$403d0050x~xxHAL> It's also recommended to store the mask in an airtight container when not in use, this will prolong the life of the cartridge considerably. A plastic bag will do, just squeeze out all the air and tie a knot in it, or use a resealable bag. Graham in Shepperton, England SAM35 & 1066 Raynes Park MAC Secretary studio7x~xxntlworld.com http://website.lineone.net/~raynes.pk.mac/ ----------------------------- Date: Thu, 3 Apr 2003 11:51:41 EST From: catboat15x~xxaol.com Subject: Re: Digest Number 1422 In a message dated 4/3/2003 4:53:49 AM Pacific Standard Time, atlas_craftsmanx~xxyahoogroups.com writes: > > know if I can find out the age of the lathe from the serial number?? You can contact Clausing and see if they can help. Buy the Atlas book first thing a lot of good information in there. Remember safety first and keep your eyes shielded and no long sleeves or loose items in your shirt pockets. I call my 12 inch Atlas "Pappy's lathe" since my Dad used to tell me, "If we only had a lathe, we could fix that ourselfs." He was stuck working as an accountant after being wounded in world war 1, but always wanted to engage in some kind of mechanical work. --------------------------------- Date: Thu, 10 Apr 2003 21:16:49 EDT From: LouD31M066x~xxaol.com Subject: Re: Digest Number 1430 The principal difference between a slave and an employee is you have to buy slaves while employees beg to come to work for you. What comes for free is valued at cost. Worked in a lot of places over years where the worker was a no cost or low cost replaceable component... service as a unit as the saying goes. When we work for ourselves in our own shops let us try for higher standards for our own health and safety. than Louis ---------------------------------- Date: Fri, 09 May 2003 12:04:05 +0000 From: "Leon Heller" Subject: Re: beryllium tests ? >From: "rainnea" >Reply-To: taigtoolsx~xxyahoogroups.com >To: taigtoolsx~xxyahoogroups.com >Subject: [taigtools] beryllium tests ? >Date: Fri, 09 May 2003 10:11:25 -0000 >The note on beryllium got me a bit worried about using scrapyard >copper and brass, does anyone know of a means of telling whether a >piece contains any beryllium ? Beryllium/copper is mainly used in copper sheet and wire, to make it springy. You aren't likely to find it in 'lumps' of copper. If it is soft, it shouldn't have any Be in it. Be is quite nasty. It can form non-malignant tumours if it gets into a cut, and the dust can cause severe lung disease. BeO2 is used a lot in high-power semiconductor heat sinks because it is very conductive and an insulator, and they always come with a health warning. Leon Leon Heller, G1HSM Tel: +44 1424 423947 Email:leon_hellerx~xxhotmail.com My web page: http://www.geocities.com/leon_heller ------------------------------- Date: Mon, 15 Dec 2003 04:32:59 -0500 From: Ken Jenkins Subject: Re: Metal chips, curls, swarf, dust, etc. [TAIGTOOLS GROUP] >> Are there the >> same issue when working with metal, I'm not talking anything exotic >> just your normal scrap metal, steel etc. In other words, does it >> cause a lot of airborne dust to machine or grind it. Cutting, no. Grinding, some .. but the smallest particles burn up ... they're called, "sparks" :-) > Steel should usually come off in short curls, about a > half to 3/4 inch long. Although, I have seen a curl of steel come off a > cut that was about ten feet long:) Stainless steel is especially prone to come off in long ribbons. It was a late night sitting at the lathe 25 years ago .. my attention had been drifting as I was turning down a stainless casting taking a long slow cut when I noticed the ribbon spiraling down to the floor and nearly wrapped around the tool post ... I reached out with my finger to flick it over the side where it could run to the floor ... 15 minutes later I was in the emergency room. In preparation for stitches, a nurse was rather unsympathetically scrubbing the grease off the finger which I had sliced all the way to the bone. Razor blades are made from stainless steel ribbons ... I had forgot for a moment ... be careful out there. Ken J. -------------------- Subject: Burns and stupidity oldtools digest From: Jim Thompson Date: Mon, 15 Dec 2003 14:09:07 -0800 I am sitting here typing with one hand and soaking the other one in a bowl of ice water. I have managed to put some nice burns on my left hand. A while back we were talking about getting rusted threads loose and yesterday I bought a 7/8" dia. acme thread rod about 3 feet long which had a nut rusted on right in the middle. No problem, says I. I will just heat that puppy up red hot and it will turn. And so it did! But in the process I violated a safety rule, and now I am paying for it. The pain is almost unbearable. I did not wear gloves while using my oxy-acetylene torch. The connection where the tip screws onto the barrel was just a slight bit loose, and I did not notice that. My hand was right on the connection when the flame ignited there. Of course I let go pretty quickly, but not quickly enough. Let this serve as a lesson for everybody: NEVER, NEVER use anything that produces a flame unless you are wearing gloves! I have been getting away with doing this for a very long time, but this time I got caught. I think this lesson will stick with me for quite a while. I have a little bit of cooked meat about an inch square between my thumb and forefinger. Is that what you call a third degree burn? The rest is just a bright red. Jim Thompson, the old millrat in Riverside, CA ---------------- Subject: Re: Burns and stupidity From: Bill Kasper Date: Mon, 15 Dec 2003 14:39:12 -0800 yes, the cooked meat is third degree. first is red, second is blistering, third is char. go to the emergency room, jim. don't take a chance on a secondary infection. see here: http://www.med.umich.edu/1libr/aha/aha_burn3_crs.htm bill felton, ca --------------- Subject: RE: Burns and stupidity From: "Meltsner, Kenneth" Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2003 15:47:11 -0500 Also secretarial work -- when I was at a national lab, one secretary ran over her foot with a chair caster (she was wearing sandals) and got the lab to pay for a pair of safety shoes. I used to wear them when I worked at Chevron's Richmond Refinery and never understood the complaints about the shoes -- if you pay extra for a nice pair (e.g Red Wings instead of the cruddy ones sold by the truck that swings by the plant), steel toe shoes are quite comfortable. And you're only issued one pair of feet per lifetime. Ken --------------- Subject: Re: Burns and stupidity From: Dean Chesterman Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2003 16:07:44 -0700 Shop Safety depends on attitude, if you want to work safe you can! I shopped around for safety shoes and ended up with a pair of black running shoes that are comfortable for all day wear and suitable for electrical work, steel toes, steel shank, high resistance soles. Many a lineman stomped on my running shoes then asked where I got them. I wear glasses and it was just as easy and half the cost to get prescription safety lenses over normal glass lenses. Then I have a face shield on all of the "lectron burners. When the face shield is hanging on the Dr*ll Pr*ss spindle and the push stick has to be moved to turn on the ch*p s*w, one has no excuse. It takes some effort to get the right type and comfortable safety equipment, and of course hand tools are a much safer alternative. Dean Chesterman Yes, I have a couple of the little plastic shields that bolt to a r**ter fence! And a face shield that resides on the table. --------------- Subject: Re: Activator for CA glue From: Jim Thompson Date: Wed, 14 Jan 2004 06:17:34 -0800 I recently used some CA on a piece that I was going to turn in the lathe. I used the activator on it and a while later when I thought it had all cured I turned the lathe on. I got an awful dose of fumes from the CA which spun out like a spider web and covered me and everything else in the shop. Fortunately it cured as it flew through the air and was no more bothersome than a spider web to clean up. But the smell was almost overwhelming. Jim Thompson, the old millrat in Riverside, CA ------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Jan 2004 10:23:37 -0500 From: Ken Jenkins Subject: Re: Shop Accidents / safety tips Here some tips from my experience ... I don't know is you could learn much from me recounting the numerous accidents I have had working with machines over the years (except that a high IQ is not a pre-requisite). So I'll just summarize a few tips as my contribution. 1. Poor set-up and part holding are a main cause of accidents. Check your set up carefully. If you're in doubt ... STOP ... rethink it. There are almost always several ways to secure a part. 2. Haste makes waste ... or scrap and perhaps injuries in this case. There's always the "quick way" and the "right way" to do something ... or as someone once said, "You can have it right .... or you can have it now ... but you can't have it right now. 3. Vibration is trying to tell you something (see #1) 4. Strange sounds heard when machining are trying to tell you something (see #1). I can't tell you how many times I have had my butt saved by listening to a machine. I can usually hear something's wrong before I see it and just that small gap of time is sometimes enough. A job running well produces a "sound signature", you get used to hearing it and when it's not there .... get suspicious. 5. Some times it helps to think about a job from the machine's point of view. I know that sounds goofy but it can keep you from making an unreasonable request of your tools. 6. There is hardly ever a legitimate reason NOT to turn off a machine before making an adjustment (see #2) to set up or tooling. 7. Make the use of eye protection religious dogma in your shop by everyone and anyone there. Polycarbonate safety glasses are dirt cheap, keep two or three pairs in the shop. 8. Keep your cutting tools sharp, dull tools more typically cause problems than sharp ones. 9. If you're trying to force something, typically it won't like it and will turn around and bite or slap you. Excessive force is not a substitute for a "good plan" it is an indication that you should stop and rethink what you're doing. The "brute force" approach is nearly always the wrong one --- a hammer is not a "fine adjustment tool". Cheers, Ken ----------------- Date: Fri, 30 Jan 2004 11:18:50 -0600 From: xlch58x~xxswbell.net Subject: Re: Re: shaper restoration question In Metal_Shapersx~xxyahoogroups.com Dan wrote: > A wire wheel works great. It will cut off corners some, so be careful of > that. And POSITIVELY, ABSOLUTELY. DON'T use it without eye protection > or face shield. Those little wires are coming off the wheel all the time > you are using it. More dangerous than a grinding wheel. I also have to > wear a breathing , dust filter or next morning I will have a headache > from the dust. A large wire wheel can put an eye out quickly, a large grinding wheel can kill you. Charles ------------------------ Date: Sat, 31 Jan 2004 01:31:03 -0000 From: "David C. Hearn" Subject: Re: shaper restoration question Dan, I agree with you 100%. I did maintenance work in a steel mill. THE most important thing is to use proper safety gear. A home shop has the same hazards as a workplace, sometimes worse. On the job, there was usually someone else there to cover your rear end. We looked out for each other. We had a taboo about electrical work alone. At home, you usually are alone, so you dont have someone there to CYA. Eye protection is the single most important piece of safety gear. It is good to wear them at all times in the shop. There are so many unexpected things that can cost you an eye, not just the obvious ones. A dust mask, heavy steel toed boots and a Carhartt coat along with safety glasses goes a long way in making the home shop work safe. Never wear nylon jackets!!!! If they catch on fire, they stick to you and the burned skin comes off with the plastic. Proper use of safety gear is the difference between a pro and a fool. And besides, blue jeans, a Carhartt jacket, and leather boots is a classic look for a working man. They make some cool looking safety glasses now too. God Bless and be safe. Dave H. ------- Date: Fri, 3 Sep 2004 12:23:11 -0500 From: "Gordon Couger" Subject: Re: Danger Any Maximum, fine aluminum and even steel cutting can burn if hot enough so good house keeping is in order. For grinding aluminum belt sanders are the only way to go. You don't have the problem with clogging the wheel and causing problems and the belt is much better at self cleaning. Having lost a very dear friend to a new grinding wheel with no guard I always show them a lot of respect. He was one of the last blacksmiths and very good one. He had a home made grinder that used the rear end of 1 ton truck and a 5 or 10 hp motor and two 5 X 12 inch stones. He had put on a new one that day and it had been running a few hours to make sure it was sound. He touched it with a plow sweep and it exploded and took off about a third of his head. At least that is how it appeared to those that reconstructed the events. His wife walked in and found him in a pool of blood. I had another friend that carried a 3 inch scar in his chin to his grave from a cut of blade he use to cutout knife blades, aging with no guard that exploded on him. So don't take the stories of exploding grinding wheels lightly. Even the tiniest of them can take out a eye or a few teeth. Gordon ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Kowalchuk" To: Sent: Sunday, August 29, 2004 10:19 PM Subject: [sherline] Danger : At 09:57 PM 8/29/04 -0400, Jerry G wrote: : >Grinding aluminum on a bench or floor grinder is a major safety violation in any shop. : >The aluminum will clog the interstices of the wheel : Not to mention that ferrous metal dust combined with aluminum dust can form : a compound called thermite which can ignite causing serious flash burns! : Here's a link to what can happen. : http://www.hanford.gov/lessons/sitell/ll01/2001-36.htm : There is a report of one incident in a back issue of the VIME newletter : (Vancouver Model Engineers) which may or may not still be online. : John Kowalchuk maker of mutes/horns/canoes/paddles/bikes : Oshawa, Ontario http://home.ca.inter.net/~horn1 : Canadians don't surf the net, we paddle it. ------- Date: Wed, 29 Sep 2004 12:38:38 -0000 From: "joegourlay" Subject: Safety Reminder [atlas_craftsman group] Safety issues seem to more on the minds of the three fingered bunch on the wood working boards. But I wanted to post this here as a cautionary tale about not getting careless. In preparation for leveling the lathe this weekend, I want to take off everything heavy I'm comfortable removing. So, Chuck, Tailstock, and motor. In the process of taking off the motor, I had to take out and disconnect the switch. I undid the first terminal screw and placed it on the bench. But, you guessed it, I had neglected to unplug the lathe and the terminal was live. On the upside, I just got "bit" a little bit. On the downside, I threw that screw across the garage and it took me two hours of cleaning find it. On the scary side, this is the only thing in my shop I haven't converted to 240Vac! Safety, safety, safety..... ------- Date: Mon, 6 Dec 2004 15:41:08 -0500 To: From: "Ed Toner" Subject: Hazards in construction of Free Flight [aircraft] models. I'm a cigar smoker, and unless I have one by early afternoon, I'm like a Bear with a sore awse. I smoke BIG stogies, and they last for hours. I'm having one now, and typing is difficult. I hate to stop building for that long, so I struggle through the process of enjoying a cigar, and doing simple things like sanding, doping, etc.. ["doping" is applying a type of flammable lacquer sealer to fabric or paper.] I was doping the rudder of my Cosmos R2 ROG, and I used some thinner to remove a decal that I didn't want. I've gotten quite absent-minded in my dotage, and I put my wet dope brush in the dirty ashtray, and my lit cigar in the open thinner bottle - WHOOSH!!!! It never got to the surface of the thinner - the fumes set off the lit cigar. Nothing burnt, just a little singe. The good news is that I salvaged the brush, and the cigar is OK too. Ah, the joys of The Golden Years. Ed Toner http://tinyurl.com/2o47k Over what hill? I don't see no hill. Hand me my glasses, son. ------- Date: Sat, 3 Dec 2005 13:24:24 -0800 From: "Bill Rittner" Subject: [OldTools] Shop Safety Warning! Last night the industrial building that I rent space in for my small business had a serious fire. I am very fortunate in that my business was not damaged and my (5) shop cats were not injured (nor was anyone else). Of the (5) businesses in the building only (2) are still up and running. Hopefully (2) more will be up by Monday. The business where the fire originated will be down for some time. This fire was caused by oily rags in a metal container self igniting. So please handle your linseed oil and other oil finish rags carefully. Get them out of your shop when finished with them and handle by approved methods. I posted pics of this fire here. http://members.cox.net/wcrittner/fire.htm If you think this can't happen to you...please think again. Please work safely. Bill Rittner R & B ENTERPRISES Manchester, CT ------- Re: Long hair, loose clothing, gloves/ Changed to lo [sherline] Posted by: "Jerry G" chieftoolmakerx~xxearthlink.net shipmodelmaker1931 Date: Sat Sep 8, 2007 3:22 pm ((PDT)) OK, Here is the promised story. The year was about 1962 or so..... I was working for a firm named Yardney Electric Corp. in Manhattan. There was a machine shop in the basement. We had 13 machinists there. They produced very high tech, high powered batteries for the government. ( Yeah! The U. S. government for you wise guys.) We had built a machine to produce the material for the plates used in the batteries. I will go into great detail since this is a Forum concerned with machining. The plates were made out of a material consisting of "X-Met" ( Expanded Metal*), and compressed silver powder. * = Silver sheet that was slit at intervals and then stretched/rolled to form a grid of X shaped openings, hence the name..... The machine was about forty feet long. There was a long mesh conveyor belt that transported the material, once amalgamated with the XMet and the powder through a sintering oven* * = Sintering is a process where the powder is heated ( below the melting point) and the particles fuse with each other. Powder metallurgy..... At the feed end was a built in rolling mill. The rolling mill had two stainless steel rollers 6.0000" main diameter by 12" long and the rest of the roller had two ends that were 3.0000" diameter which were lightly push fit into ball bearings. The ball bearings were bedded into cast iron (Meehanite) pillow blocks. There were oil seals (Garlock) protecting the bearings that were pressed into counterbores in the pillow blocks. The rollers were driven by gears and a gearbox we had made. The lower pillow block was fixed, and the upper pillow block was adjustable for height. The adjustment was accomplished by using an inclined wedge driven by a thread. That way, the rolling mill operator could adjust the gap between the rollers so as to arrive at the desired thickness of the stock battery plates being produced. We had installed DDI's to measure the movement. So, to sum up the operation of the machine. A trough was located ahead of the rollers. This was the area where the powder and the Xmet came together. There were two "doctor blades*" in the trough. Bolted to the sides of the trough. The doctor blades reciprocated sideways as the material moved under the blade, transported by a paper belt. The material was "doctored" to the thickness which would result in the right dimension for the battery plates. This was controlled by the operator, using a double threaded screw and knob arrangement which provided fine adjustment. A trial run was necessary to process a small amount of the plate material until it came out of the sintering oven, cooled and was "miked up".... Right before the rollers was the trough. The Xmet was on a roll above the trough. The material advanced from being doctored to compression by the rollers.....The paper transport was removed after the rollers because the "web" was self supporting at that point. Through the oven, and then on to the end of the machine. At the end, we had mounted a Di-Acro Bench Shear. This is normally operated by a handle which rotates an eccentric to bring the upper blade down and up. We retrofitted it so that an air cylinder actuated it. Since we had to cut the material on the fly, the shear was mounted on a plate that was pivioted from a floor plate and a parallelogram arrangement with bearing blocks. There was a moveable micro switch mounted to "read" the material. As the switch was closed by the edge of the material, the air cyclinder was energized and a cut took place, without buckling the material. Well, one day, I was informed that the blade on the shear was showng signs of wear and needed to be replaced. So, I went up to the third floor where production was. Shut down the machine ( I thought ) and started to dismantle the blade from the shear. First I disconnected the connections to the eccentric. It was held with Allen Socket Head Cap screws, and so were the blades. As I tried to loosen the screws, the carriage moved, the micro switch was tripped and WHAM!, the air cylinder activated, the arm flew around and the top of the shear came down..... What saved my right thumb was the Allen wrench that wedged between the blades! But, I did not escape unscathed... My thumb suffered a terrible laceration and there was blood everywhere! On top of which, I was trapped ( or my thumb was) between the blades. I started to yell for help, but this was on a busy, noisy production floor. I was able to motion with my left hand and caught the attention of one of the lady operators of production. When she saw the blood, she ran away from me screaming! As did about 25 or so other women...... the commotion attracted a setup man, who ran over and cut the power. I was rushed to a nearby industrial doctor who was retained by the company. His treatment consisted of stopping the bleeding and applying a "butterfly bandage" to my thumb. While he was doing this, he took out a bottle of Scotch and said, " Here, sip some of this". But, he was NOT talking to me. The guy who had taken me to the doctor was turning green at the sight of all the blood..... I still have a scar about 2" down on my right thumb. A reminder to cut the power to any machine when it is not in use. I still have ten fingers... Not bad... I was born with twelve fingers... Two fingers in fifty years...... :) Jerry G (Glickstein) ------ Re: Miniature Taps / Sherline Threading Attachment [sherline] Posted by: "Chananiel Wizman" madmachinist54x~xxyahoo.com Date: Wed Jan 30, 2008 3:18 pm ((PST)) I also have one concern for the Leadloy fans and hope this won't hijack the thread. In the world of reloading it's not the bullet casters that stand the worst cases of lead contamination. The people that tumble their own brass are equally so, or even more susceptible because of the fine dust that is made from the lead residue being turned to dust and inhaled by the reloader. See a correlation between machining leadloys and lead inhalation anyone? Thats a fact mentioned by Richard Lee and has the potential of being harmful to his profits. Hope that doesn't take us off track. Chananiel --------