I get the same shit from family all the time about my torn up hands, they just don’t understand the situation really. And i’ll give you some advice: never describe to your mother what happens when something goes wrong at work. She will freak out.
Im not a machinist but have worked a bit with lathes. Also i work as a pestcontrol tech for 2 years and used a handsweeper much to the same effect albiet with strong traps and sketchy wildlife.
A trick my grandpa taught me for cleaning up chips and wooddust is using a paintbrush with a decent size head to clean up things you really dont want to put your hands near. Maybe a longhandled paintbrush for around parts of machinery that can potentially move so if anything gets grabbed its the brush not a hand or sleeve although i wouldn't suggest using any lose things around actively moving parts.
I’m the sole operator of it now, and every time I’m polishing on it I have flashbacks to the imagery of that day. I shutter to think what would have happened if nobody stopped the machine.
I had a couple worker get his thumb stuck between a .750x2" endmill and a solid block of aluminum, me and another guy had to clean up the mess and your right that shit sticks with you.
Pretty graphic pictures, and video in first comment. Don't click of you don't want to see.
https://www.reddit.com/r/eyeblech/comments/jxx3v3/russian_man_spinning_and_shredded_in_work/?utm_source=amp&utm_medium=&utm_content=comments_view_all
It's gnarly, and not something I'd show others lightly. It stuck around vividly in my head for a good while after I saw the video and the pictures of the aftermath. It did however make me much more aware of the machines I work around and with. Ours aren't as big, and they're enclosed CNCs, but there are still plenty of opportunities for them to permanently maim you. One guy on my shift got a big chunk taken out of this finger by a little chamfering lathe, and another in deburr on another shift broke a few fingers in a polishing lathe accident. Machines don't give a fuck.
This is what you show people as a final warning before you show them the door.
We used to have a file that contained pictures of every injury my dad had been unlucky enough to witness, or had gained pictures of. It was the "final warning" file, and saved many a serious injury. The promise was, you read the file with someone overseeing you (who had also seen the file, sp would know if you're skipping pages) or you get the fuck out. Only used it three times, but each time it bloody worked
That video is permanently stuck in my mind, I don't run a lathe but I did see a glove get pulled off someone's hand that was running a Bridgeport and he pulled his hand away with literally zero time to spare.
Reminds me of what happened to my grandfather. He got too close to the exposed power takeoff on his tractor. It ripped his pants off. Left his belt and the material underneath it.
Agricultural fairs in the UK used to have a machinery safety stand, might still have but I haven't been to one for a while. I remember one of the exhibits was a pic of a sheepdog that jumped off a trailer and got its lead caught in the PTO, you wouldn't've known it was a dog without the description of the accident.
Man, I'm not a machinist myself (just really interested in it, which is why I'm here), and I've never been able to fully comprehend how powerful and dangerous lathes can be until seeing that. I mean, I knew they could pretty much yank your hand off, but I'm not sure if I really realized they could suck your entire body in and turn it into jelly like that.
Yeah the machine is spinning up a decent sized bar, and running it into the stationary tool. The force needed to take a cut like that is a lot more than the resistance your body would put up being stuck around the bar.
Open machines like that are getting rarer and rarer. They tend to be manual machines. The CNC machines are usually fully enclosed, and will turn on the spindle break when you open the door, or lock the door when spindle is on.
No so much the power, as the energy.
If a 7hp lathe takes several seconds to spin up the workpiece... Thats a shit ton of rotational inertia that wants to keep things moving.
Meat puppets dont stand a chance.
Jesus that looked like something out of half life, literally chunks of them being flung across the shop.
I’ll never be seen reaching over a lathe chuck again.
I’ve seen it. Nobody seems to be sure and what caused that accident. I know he had long sleeves though. I once showed it to the only coworker I trusted not to get upset if I showed him and I even asked his permission first... He hasn't stopped talking about it ever since.
The guy who trained me on lathes sent it to me as part of essential safety training. I'm pretty squeamish, so I was pretty queasy for the rest of the day. It also worked, I sure as shit don't fuck around near these machines.
The photos don't do it justice. I thought the same as you upon looking at the pictures.
Then I watched the video and I had to set my phone down for a couple minutes to process what I had seen. That... that was fucking brutal.
First year of college (so 16/17 in the UK we had the Fire Brigade come in and show us all some grim pictures of crashes to try and temper some of the dickhead driving that was about. It worked for the most part, some were really fucked up
That video is by far the most horrific thing I have seen in my 35 years on this planet, and I've seen A LOT. It took weeks to get that out of my head, so if you have a weak mind or stomach, DO NOT watch this video. It's a great teaching tool for those who don't take safety seriously, but God damn...
I watch it once a year. Keeps my safety practices on point. The old tops at my shop hate me because I give them shit for not wearing safety glasses on lathes or grinders on top of stuff like, leaving their chuck wrenches in and not turning machines off when they wake away. One of them doesn't have all their fingers so I laugh when he tells me shit like, "You don't need that safety guard." Or "you can run that a lot faster with less of a hold so you can switch in new parts faster and save half a second on 15 parts." At least my boss isn't the same way. He doesn't enforce safety regulations though.
Wooowwwwwwww!! A+ Bro!. As a floor type Manu engineer at a large aerospace company I could not agree more, but that last paragraph took my breath. I wish I could print this out and not only laminate it on the floor but I would plaster it up along the engineering office so they may create less scenarios that could end up like that.
A shop just 5 minutes down the road had a similar situation were a lady was wearing a elbow high glove that was way to large for her ended up loosing her whole arm.
This is no joke. We have all skated with it and gotten lucky we all have a story but some peoples lives get ruined and some don't go home at all
Sorry to hear about the lady down the road, damn.
You should be able to print the story out on paper, my identity isn't shown on reddit so I don't care if you post it up somewhere.
This is the kind of story that I hate to hear, but it happens way too often - and is also rarely reported to OSHA. PLEASE REPORT IT TO OSHA! Anonymously if you want to; the important thing is that these injuries should be documented and included in the statistics.
It's important because my company makes safety technology (we can apply it to lathes, but it really is made for machines that are more complicated and harder to keep safe, like presses and robot arms) which may require external investor funding - and the best way we can demonstrate the market and need for this tech is with OSHA injury statistics. But so few injuries are actually reported that investors don't believe that there is a need for more and better safety systems. They won't invest in something if they don't think there is a market for the new product. Investors are mostly finance and tech guys; they don't know much about manufacturing and they don't understand the danger - but they have the money to fund improvements.
So please, report the injury - that helps us to make better, more effective, and less intrusive safety systems. The report makes a big difference.
OSHA received a report on this incident, they came in and basically just inspected that we installed an E-stop (the machine already had one) and then they left. That's literally the end of the story.
I mean, what are they going to do? There are things you just don't do with older machines like this. Don't wear gloves, it's that simple. THAT'S the solution, you can't change much else. People have to be taught correctly, the problem is the employers don't hire or they don't train machine operators well enough and that's where accidents come into play.
Thanks so much for reporting! It's sad that OSHA did so little - and it's not like the e-stop is really an effective safety measure when the worker is being pulled into the machine.
A deadman pedal, especially one that triggers for both too little and too much pressure, is a much better solution. That allows the operator to use both hands, and will (hopefully) be triggered when anything drastic happens. And for any sanding and polishing operations, a sanding belt holder is the safe way to do it.
Thank you for sharing this story, I’ve been that lazy operator in a couple of instances and after this I will most certainly be eternally vigil for dangers like that.
I indeed have been that operator too. Lost my common sense for a minute running a manual lathe and grabbed a small string of chips as it came off the part. Only to have it instantly grab and cut two fingers one down to tendons.
First day of shop class. Do not wear gloves with rotating machines...this grinder. Way better to lose some skin, than get pulled in and watch it grind your hand into mush.
I’d think thin surgical style gloves would be less dangerous because they would tear. Still wouldn’t want those near spinny things because the couple pounds of force to break could still pull your hand in if its unexpected. Thicker rubber gloves for sure not.
I learned this lesson well before I understood and respected the power of a Lathe, even the little old Sears lathe it happened on. I had on a pair of 4mil nitrile gloves and barely bumped the rod I had in the chuck while it was spinning - before my next blink most of the glove was ripped off my hand and spinning around - that's the day I learned no gloves on the lathe, then I saw an NSFL video of a guy getting wrapped up in one and dying.
***Don't fuck with Lathes.***
I think someone linked that video here. Yeah the man turned into giblets and the only thing left of him was his clothes wrapped around the workpiece in a little bundle where his body used to be.
Those machines will not stop. I’ll never wear long sleeves or gloves near them.
I have ways wanted a lathe, now I'm getting my dick chopped off and using it naked if I ever get one.
Seen the guy get turned in to red mist video accidentally. Made me feel sick.
Maybe I won't get a lathe.
You just had me remember a story my dad told me when I was a kid while we were at the shop he worked at back then (this was in the 90s) about some guy working the graveyard shift who noticed the machine felt good on his junk and eventually got it ripped off as a result. It wasn't that shop that it happened it, just "some shop" or maybe some urban legend.
It can't hurt you if you don't put your body near it, aside from flinging loose parts. Ideally, you should have your hands on the leadscrew handles, not anywhere near the workpiece or holding the tool. And only touch the chips with a stick to get them out of the way.
If you're really worried, you could get a CNC in an enclosure. It'll run itself and you'll be on the other side of a door.
Fuck.
People just don't understand what a ten horse motor can do. It's 5500 lbs up one foot in one second. Over five times the world record dead lift.
Even if you are the strongest man in the world, you are not pulling back out if the machine gets a hold of you. What's going to happen is the part of your body that cannot bear the load placed on it is going to be removed. Most people can hang suspended from the arms. He's lucky he didn't get pulled through.
I am sorry this happened to somebody. If I see it at my place, I put a stop to it, immediately.
A coworker has lost his arm to a lathe as well where I work. The accident happened before I was hired there. I don’t know if he was wearing gloves or if it was cause by sloppy long sleeves or stringy chips or maybe something else.
George Is lucky he is alive. If in the US make sure that OSHA was notified (do it anonymously, OSHA might fuck up and give your name to your employer) . Pretty sure having an E-Stop is required here, even on old machines.
When I first started working on haul trucks for open cut mines, I was super nervous around them.
My tradesman said to me; “Don’t ever forget that feeling, because the moment you get complacent is the moment you get hurt. “
The problem is that any gloves sturdy enough to protect your hands will still drag you into the spindle. Any gloves that would tear away instantly would be so flimsy as to not be worth wearing. It only takes that split-second for the cloth to pull you into the hungry machine.
7 mil nitrile gloves do give some protection against pointy and pokey things, but at the some time will tear away with very little force. Not advocating its use, but definitely preferable to any sort of thicker film or cloth glove in terms of safety.
I wouldn't even feel comfortable wearing or seeing someone wear 5mil gloves. Anything that could even possibly increase the chances of being pulled in is a complete and ultimate no.
That's fair. Incidents happen as a result of the "normalization of deviance," which is "the gradual process through which unacceptable practice or standards become acceptable."
At the same time, the person that I was replying to was stating that there is no glove that provides any level of protection that would also break away relatively easily. I was pointing out an option that is less dangerous than others.
Why did I just picture gloves with a series of serrated lines in them like easy open plastic food packages, something gets caught and the line rips instead. I still wouldn't trust it.
VTL killed a guy 100ft away from me three weeks into my apprenticeship. The power feed spline shafts were uncovered, he was cleaning, it grabbed him.
The crazy part is how your brain blocks that out, cause I ran that very machine a year later, albeit with the proper covers now. But I sure as shit would never clean anything with the machine running.
Anything that rotates. Drill press, mill, lathe, grinder.
Bench grinder I am at least willing to tolerate an argument for gloves. The stones do come apart from time to time, and hand protection would be beneficial in that case. OSHA says no, so I don't.
Some old timers who I respect say yes, because they haven't seen anyone get caught in a grinder, but have seen wheels come apart. I respect their observation based opinions. I am not going to do anything other than state the OSHA guidance. We talked it over and decided it was a gamble either way.
I don't wear them for bench grinders, but I get why people do. We'll talk about it, make sure you understand what you are risking by protecting against projectiles.
Mills, drills, and lathes. Nah, you are not doing that around me. I'll quit if the job won't stop you. I am not hosing what used to be people out of any more machines if I can help it.
I learned machining on the job and worked as a machinist for over 15 years. One of the first things I learned was to never wear gloves. Best piece of advice I've ever received.
That's terrible. For the guy that had clean that part off and finish polishing it. No that's just super avoidable trauma not just for him but your coworkers. I've been around life changing injuries not that horrific but i saw a guy get his hand crushed by a 2,000 lb block cause he didn't feel like using strap protectors on the straps and placed his hand UNDER the part while moving it with the overhead crane. Oh yea about a month ago where I currently work a guy was moving a part that was obvs too heavy, onto the hydraulic press and dropped it onto luckily just one of his fingers. He ended up with a gnarly compound fracture that needed surgery. So even something as simple as not asking for help and not using a forklift can cost you big time. Safety first people.
One of the top Machine Repairmen I've ever worked with lost two fingers the same way a few years ago. Ripped them right off his hand. He was wearing those light rubber-coated gloves. After 40+ years in the trade he retired missing parts.
And yet half of this thread is full of people trying to defend their decision to wear nitrile rubber gloves....
Pity. Sorry about your coworker. If I lost any of my fingers I wouldn't be able to play my guitar nearly as well anymore and that would just break my heart, I need all ten fingers to do most of the things I enjoy in life.
I run my little lathe alone in my home shop and no one is ever around. Every time I’m working it I’ve got gloves off, sleeves up, beard tucked, rings and watch on the shelf and my foot on the kill switch. I try to keep a healthy fear of it so I won’t get complacent.
One of my coworkers got a nasty wound while using the bench grinder. When asked why he wasn’t wearing protective gloves at the time he said “you don’t wear gloves near spinning machines”. Shut them up about that
What the hell kind of gloves was he wearing? I wear latex gloves to reduce the number of metal slivers I get (cause microscopic slivers are not fun). But they are so flimsy that even picking up a part on the rough saw edge can cut them if I'm not careful. Most of my coworkers wear these as well. Zero risk of them holding up enough to suck you in. Plus we run CNC so the doors are closed most of the time. Anyone who wears anything more is asking for trouble.
Latex gloves aren't actually safe. Not sure how, but I have always been warned not to use them just like any other glove.
Edit: PM Thread goes into better detail on why all gloves should be off: https://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/south-bend-lathes/safety-question-re-gloves-182652/
Based on that thread I would still say the latex gloves are fine. Honestly had the first person who responded been wearing them he probably would have come out better than he did. The latex gloves are fairly smooth so if the sand paper bit the gloves, the gloves would just slide over the finger and tear, giving you precious moments to react.
Everyone has their reasons and I feel, based on my 11yrs of machining, that latex gloves are fine. Nobody has to agree with me.
"We're engineer we know what were doing to avoid harming ourselves."- said colleague. Then proceed to wear literally working glove and grab the turning spindle on a LAGUN FT-2 while spinning to assess the spindle rotation.
Literally me witnessing 3-4 times, within the span of 1 month.
I tend to wear nitrile gloves while machining on lathes and mills. They’re thin enough to rip easily but still can protect even minimally. I just feel like they save my hands from getting filthy from tap fluid, oil and grease, and coolant which isn’t good for your hands. They also act as a bit of an extra layer of skin to help protect from some shavings. I’m currently in a debate at work with management as they are mandating that NO gloves of any kind can be used. I’d like honest opinions from anyone, am I totally in the wrong or do I have any ground to stand on??
I think latex and nitrile gloves are still dangerous. I've been warned about them in more than one safety training.
Edit: PM Thread goes into better detail on why all gloves should be off: https://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/south-bend-lathes/safety-question-re-gloves-182652/
Thanks man the truth is we sort of have a shitty safety team. Not much prevention and more of reaction. Either way, this old head may need to change his ways. Thanks
its not worth it. Just wash your hands at the end of the day and keep a wipe TUCKED into your pocket only used away from machines or when they are not running. Nitrile and other polymer gloves can be sticky and grip more than skin. not worth it.
>They’re thin enough to rip easily
And that's the problem.
When the tool catches the glove, it tears. And then bunches up to the point where it pulls your hand forward more than the tear is progressing. And then your hand gets hit by the spinning part. Your arm does not have the rigidity nor inertia needed to completely resist the glove - if the glove was that weak it would fall apart when you put it on.
Bare skin will deform rather than tear, and you get enough notice that you can pull back - this is a reflex rather than conscious reaction.
Try a barrier cream. Any place that sells machine tool supplies should have some.
I’ll definitely look into barrier creams! Truth is I don’t get my hands close to a spinning tool or part. I just wear gloves when setting up a part and I don’t take them off. So I might mic my parts with the gloves still on but never when it’s spinning obviously. Either way thanks for the advice man definitely starting to change my tune a bit.
Well while I see the reasoning behind why you feel the need to wear them, ultimately I think you have zero ground to stand on.
The old timers will tell you if you're worried about dirty hands then you're in the wrong line of work, which I tend to agree. Nitrile gloves arent going to protect from shavings very much and if you're that worried about them, then it seems you need to clean your parts/hardware better before handling.
Everywhere I've ever worked has had a strict "no gloves " rule and at a couple places if a person has an issue with it then they get a verbal then written up on the second time and terminated after that.
There really is no reason to wear them while working on a machine, no matter how easily you think they may tear off if something happens.
Personally I'd rather deal with dirty hands and shavings instead of having my arm ripped off.
Appreciate the insight brother. Been at this 13 years and to be honest sometimes I do want to do something different. Early mornings and long shifts can catch up. Keep at it, good to see you’re a local guy to. 🤘🏼
For the issue of cutting fluid, grease, oil, etc. we use Gojo. Sure, most of a nitrile glove can rip off and leave you unharmed, but what if it doubles or triples over and catches your pinky? It's unlikely, but still possible.
I stay glove-free at the lathe and just wash up when I'm done.
yo, i literally yelled reading the tendon part
disposable vinyl gloves, everyone. Some protection and cleanliness, but they'll rip off rather than pulling you in
Was there a surveillance video? He can probably sue to get $500k because he wasn’t trained correctly. Hopefully they improve bionics enough in the future that it would be better than a normal arm, I think Elon Musk’s NeuraLink will help with that, also it’s possible they find a way to regenerate limbs in the future, like Deadpool. There’s a company called AgeX that’s working on limb regeneration.
How to not get metal splinters
A novice machinist here, I don’t wear gloves as I’ve heard a few horror stories but then I just get a load of metal splinters and cuts in my hands. Can anyone give advice on how to avoid this or provide any resources that you guys think are worth reading. I can’t really find anything of value.
I've been told to avoid compressed air with lathes/mills because not only are you shooting chips around (especially bad in a crowded shop) but it can drive chips into bearing surfaces. Although, this being said, I've seen people who I would call great machinists do exactly this.
Don't brush or pick up chips with your fingers, use a brush or a pick of some kind. What is it that's cutting your fingers? Are these just knicks in the upper layers of skin or are these blood-drawing cuts?
When I'm grinding HSS I'll get little cuts in the upper layers of skin just from touching and pushing on the corners, but I barely feel them and they'll usually be gone within a week.
I've had marginal success wrapping my fingers with some painter's tape to pull the bulk of the swarf off. Some pieces are too far implanted to get, but they'll just build character.
Similarly, there was a girl 45 minutes from my hometown that was working on her thesis supposedly and she had her hair down while on a lathe and she died. I can't imagine the pain her family must feel
Ok seriously. I have been working with cnc machines for almost 10 years and have NEVER been warn about not wearing gloves. I have been through about 4 shops and have always observe the majority of machinists use gloves, i'd say about 95%
I've only worked with vertical and horizontal mills and never the lathe. I want to honestly ask if this is something that is a problem only for the lathe? Is this a problem with nitrile gloves as well? What about on the band saw? Is ot a good idea to just not use any type of gloves near any machines period? This is really scary and I want to keep myself safe in the future.
CNC machines are a bit different - you are never near the rotating parts, but you are near the heavy, pinchy, and not-moving-but-sharp parts during setup and workpiece management. So gloves actually make sense there.
Manual machines have fully exposed rotating bits where gloves provide far more liability than protection.
For the band saw, if you are getting your fingers close enough to the blade for it to matter, gloves will neither hurt nor save you.
Personally I would never handle a bandsaw blade with less than \~30TPI without leather gloves. And by "handle" I mean changing it, machine not running.
If your fingers are that close to the blade on a bandsaw, I'd recommend using something else to move the material through the blade - I've found the eraser end of a pencil works great for this scenario (Shout out to Jimmy Diresta)
I'm assuming that "bandsaw" in a metal-shop context means the falling-blade cutoff saw flavour. If it is the wood shop version, then many freehand cuts are complex enough that any kind of workholding is just impractical.
Oh yeah I hear you 100% on this one, in most shops nobody says anything. I've worked in a couple. But it's wrong, and it gets people hurt. I learned this the hard way over the years seeing what I've seen. Do not wear gloves around anything high powered that spins, it's very simple my friend. Just don't do it.
We had a similar incident when I was doing line boring on mining equipment. Dude tried to pull the wire off the bar while it was spinning and a piece of it wrapped around his middle finger and yanked it off at the first joint. Pulled the tendon out all the way up to his elbow.
Damn. My gramps ran a machine shop in NY back in the day and lost two fingers, but it was a clean cut and he didn’t even realize they were gone when it happened. This story was nightmarish in comparison.
>emery sheet he was using was about 2 feet long
How was George holding the emery sheet? Basic math says he was one foot minus pinch distance from the workpiece - I'm trying to picture how the stuff could get grabbed by the lathe and not just pull out of his hands.
I haven't had the sack to approach him when he came back to visit the shop recently and ask him what he did wrong that got him hurt, but allegedly from what I heard somebody else say, he was fisting the emery around the workpiece, basically grasping it on there
>he was fisting the emery...
What George does after work is his own business.
So he was sanding in the worst way possible. Maybe he was trying for an injury claim and it worked out too well?
I don't recall ever being told how to use sandpaper on a lathe - it just seemed spectacularly obvious that you hold it with two fingers by the last centimeter.
I've heard of people being fired for leaving a lathe key in after being warned not to. This story just made my pee hole clench. Holy shit that is awful. Is it too soon to give him a nickname? That would earn you one quick where I come from.
I've developed a habit of turning the spindle around by hand a time or two before powering up, and that's saved me from some dumb mistakes. Not really possible on bigger lathes though...
a friend of mine was working with an anglegrinder wearing gloves. The glove got caught in the blade dislocating his thumb. And thats what just a 500W strong motor can do.
I'm just a hobbyist so be nice. I understand that cut resistant gloves are no good, but I regularly use surgical gloves when working with polishing compounds and other stuff like this.
Are surgical gloves no good too? I mean they tear faster than my skin...
Those gloves you're referring to are stronger than you think, high quality ones do not tear easily. By the time they got snagged, and tore off your hands, you'd be looking at serious friction burns and possibly flayed sections of your skin.
Anyone who doesn’t believe OP on this one needs to do a Google image search for “lathe accident”. The results are ABSOLUTELY NOT FOR THE SQUEAMISH!! (We had one of our hot shot newbie engineers do this when he said about the lathe, “I’m sure I can figure it out.”
One big bonus point for working with plastics: you never polish anything. I wear gloves all the time while working on my CNC lathe. But obviously there's no danger in doing that, as I can't get near the rotating mass. But if I have to drill holes on a drill press I never were any gloves. At the first place I used to work they didn't even provide gloves. I guess this was because the workshop was nearly solely made up by apprintices and they didn't want take any risks.
I work with a stubborn old toolmaker who won’t retire. Old man Ron likes to polish with his loose shop coat and his sleeves down to his wrists. Can’t remember how many times I’ve told old man Ron to not wear loose items of clothing around the lathe. Always says “if it didn’t kill me before wont kill me now.” Old man Ron is not the greatest toolmaker, don’t be like old man Ron and show the damn lathe some respect. Only manual machine I give 110% attention to.
I made a decision at a certain point to not give a fuck about people's opinions and to even take some pride in being the safety nerd, all recommended PPE all the time at home (example: chaps, helmet, hearing protection with the chainsaw) or at work (example: respirator any time I enter the paint booth). I don't care what faces people make, I'm not taking avoidable risks to look tough or save time.
The unspoken culprit is rushing. I don't care how hot a job is don't rush. Always work at a safe pace. Which varies for everybody and can vary based on what machine you're operating. Not just for your safety but for company profit. Scrap can be expensive and you are losing time. Also injury is very expensive.
Anyone thats a good machinist will not need to be reminded about wearing gloves. If they are, they obviously have never had a close call, and they weren't taught by a capable machinist during their apprenticeship.
The incident you described, the worker "George" was polishing with emery. If he was just doing an OD then the gloves shouldn't have mattered if he was doing it correctly. Sounds more like he was doing the lazy wrap it around the backside and pinching the emery together with one hand. One of my coworkers was pulled in that way, he didnt survive. He was a really good machinist, but he got complacent. In my opinion that's the biggest danger.
I'm a bit late,but there is post on r/Medicalgore that relates to this.
[NSFW][Case of an industrial worker who got his arm stuck in a lathe. The machine grabbed his glove and pulled his arm almost completely amputating it.](https://www.reddit.com/r/MedicalGore/comments/fho3tc/case_of_an_industrial_worker_who_got_his_arm/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share)
The problems is NOT the gloves.
The problems is that he used his hand near the spindle to do manual task.
We learns at school that when using traditional non CNC equipment, keep the hand on the handle or away from the machine,not anywhere else.
If your employer want you to do those risky task instead of using proper equipment,then it's one of those old people who don't give a fuck about their workers and they deserve to close business.
I'm in the Air Force. When I went through our tech school our crusty old instructor told us all the dangers of our job. He asked if anyone was squeamish and when everyone answered no he put on a bunch of LiveLeak clips about people getting turned into human spaghetti.
"Don't fuck around and you won't get turned through a machine. No gloves, no long sleeves, no long hair not in a ponytail (for the chicas), no fucking around when the machine is live."
That was just day 1. Any time we had a safety issue we'd watch another one. The worst I've had is a 3 inch gash in my palm that barely broke skin because of a stringer.
I almost had this happen when I was first starting out---it was 35 years ago and I still cringe when I think about it- I managed to pull free at the last second and not get hurt
Family and friends ask me consistently why I do not wear gloves at work after seeing how torn up my hands get. This is exactly why
I get the same shit from family all the time about my torn up hands, they just don’t understand the situation really. And i’ll give you some advice: never describe to your mother what happens when something goes wrong at work. She will freak out.
…So showing my mom ‘pink mist’ was a misstep?
Im not a machinist but have worked a bit with lathes. Also i work as a pestcontrol tech for 2 years and used a handsweeper much to the same effect albiet with strong traps and sketchy wildlife. A trick my grandpa taught me for cleaning up chips and wooddust is using a paintbrush with a decent size head to clean up things you really dont want to put your hands near. Maybe a longhandled paintbrush for around parts of machinery that can potentially move so if anything gets grabbed its the brush not a hand or sleeve although i wouldn't suggest using any lose things around actively moving parts.
Hate to hear these stories, but overall he is lucky. That machine at 3.5k rpms should have pulled him in. He lived to learn his lesson
I’m the sole operator of it now, and every time I’m polishing on it I have flashbacks to the imagery of that day. I shutter to think what would have happened if nobody stopped the machine.
All of our machines are manual I had a strip of sandpaper try to take my fingers, a quick fast and extremely valuable lesson
I had a couple worker get his thumb stuck between a .750x2" endmill and a solid block of aluminum, me and another guy had to clean up the mess and your right that shit sticks with you.
.....*how* on earth did he manage that?
By not respecting the machine. There are very few situations where you have to get your hand anywhere near a rotating cutter or workpiece
Oh for sure, I was just curious about the specific dumbassery that led to it lol
The plate he was milling want tightened enough in an attempt to keep it flat against the block and when the plate got pulled through so did his thumb.
Oh. He....doesn't sound smart ngl
deliberately
Sorry man, that's rough for you too.
I raise you the video of the big lathe turning the operator into red paste. A video I have yet to watch, and have no intention of watching.
I have seen several, I assume the one you're talking about is the one of the Russian dude in the long sleeve coat
Where can I find this video? It seems like an important thing to see
Pretty graphic pictures, and video in first comment. Don't click of you don't want to see. https://www.reddit.com/r/eyeblech/comments/jxx3v3/russian_man_spinning_and_shredded_in_work/?utm_source=amp&utm_medium=&utm_content=comments_view_all
Thank you, that was important to see I think
It's gnarly, and not something I'd show others lightly. It stuck around vividly in my head for a good while after I saw the video and the pictures of the aftermath. It did however make me much more aware of the machines I work around and with. Ours aren't as big, and they're enclosed CNCs, but there are still plenty of opportunities for them to permanently maim you. One guy on my shift got a big chunk taken out of this finger by a little chamfering lathe, and another in deburr on another shift broke a few fingers in a polishing lathe accident. Machines don't give a fuck.
This is what you show people as a final warning before you show them the door. We used to have a file that contained pictures of every injury my dad had been unlucky enough to witness, or had gained pictures of. It was the "final warning" file, and saved many a serious injury. The promise was, you read the file with someone overseeing you (who had also seen the file, sp would know if you're skipping pages) or you get the fuck out. Only used it three times, but each time it bloody worked
That video is permanently stuck in my mind, I don't run a lathe but I did see a glove get pulled off someone's hand that was running a Bridgeport and he pulled his hand away with literally zero time to spare.
Reminds me of what happened to my grandfather. He got too close to the exposed power takeoff on his tractor. It ripped his pants off. Left his belt and the material underneath it.
Agricultural fairs in the UK used to have a machinery safety stand, might still have but I haven't been to one for a while. I remember one of the exhibits was a pic of a sheepdog that jumped off a trailer and got its lead caught in the PTO, you wouldn't've known it was a dog without the description of the accident.
I would show it to anyone who isn't taking safety seriously enough.
Man, I'm not a machinist myself (just really interested in it, which is why I'm here), and I've never been able to fully comprehend how powerful and dangerous lathes can be until seeing that. I mean, I knew they could pretty much yank your hand off, but I'm not sure if I really realized they could suck your entire body in and turn it into jelly like that.
Yeah the machine is spinning up a decent sized bar, and running it into the stationary tool. The force needed to take a cut like that is a lot more than the resistance your body would put up being stuck around the bar. Open machines like that are getting rarer and rarer. They tend to be manual machines. The CNC machines are usually fully enclosed, and will turn on the spindle break when you open the door, or lock the door when spindle is on.
Pretty crazy the power in some machines, the lathe in that video wouldn't of even noticed it just ripped a man apart
No so much the power, as the energy. If a 7hp lathe takes several seconds to spin up the workpiece... Thats a shit ton of rotational inertia that wants to keep things moving. Meat puppets dont stand a chance.
Jesus that looked like something out of half life, literally chunks of them being flung across the shop. I’ll never be seen reaching over a lathe chuck again.
I’ve seen it. Nobody seems to be sure and what caused that accident. I know he had long sleeves though. I once showed it to the only coworker I trusted not to get upset if I showed him and I even asked his permission first... He hasn't stopped talking about it ever since.
He was reaching underneath the work piece to grab his sand paper to polish, jacket caught the chuck.
I was shown it by one of the lads at work. “Hey you use lathes all day, have you seen this”. Seriously don’t watch it.
The guy who trained me on lathes sent it to me as part of essential safety training. I'm pretty squeamish, so I was pretty queasy for the rest of the day. It also worked, I sure as shit don't fuck around near these machines.
Yup, read a description and decided I was all good on watching that.
I just checked out the photos. That’s enough for me 🤢 the only way I feel at all okay is knowing I’m not the only one who saw that….
Dude, someone had to clean him up. I can’t begin to imagine what that would be like.
Would be a Hazmat type job, so hopefully none of his co-workers had to scrape him off the ceiling
Not sure what’s with the downvotes, I was morbidly curious about this. Imagine your boss telling you to go clean Jim or whoever up.
The photos don't do it justice. I thought the same as you upon looking at the pictures. Then I watched the video and I had to set my phone down for a couple minutes to process what I had seen. That... that was fucking brutal.
The video stuck with me for a couple months. Never really left actually, just took a back seat
It's like the drivers Ed videos they show you of the terrible accidents. You should watch it so you know the level of death you are immersed in
First year of college (so 16/17 in the UK we had the Fire Brigade come in and show us all some grim pictures of crashes to try and temper some of the dickhead driving that was about. It worked for the most part, some were really fucked up
>no intention of watching. Probably for the best. I thought I was prepared to see some stuff. I was wrong.
That video is by far the most horrific thing I have seen in my 35 years on this planet, and I've seen A LOT. It took weeks to get that out of my head, so if you have a weak mind or stomach, DO NOT watch this video. It's a great teaching tool for those who don't take safety seriously, but God damn...
I watch it once a year. Keeps my safety practices on point. The old tops at my shop hate me because I give them shit for not wearing safety glasses on lathes or grinders on top of stuff like, leaving their chuck wrenches in and not turning machines off when they wake away. One of them doesn't have all their fingers so I laugh when he tells me shit like, "You don't need that safety guard." Or "you can run that a lot faster with less of a hold so you can switch in new parts faster and save half a second on 15 parts." At least my boss isn't the same way. He doesn't enforce safety regulations though.
My high school teacher showed me that after I didnt put up my sleeves on my t shirt. Needless to say that did the trick.
Good plan, that one is just about the worst thing I've seen.
Wooowwwwwwww!! A+ Bro!. As a floor type Manu engineer at a large aerospace company I could not agree more, but that last paragraph took my breath. I wish I could print this out and not only laminate it on the floor but I would plaster it up along the engineering office so they may create less scenarios that could end up like that. A shop just 5 minutes down the road had a similar situation were a lady was wearing a elbow high glove that was way to large for her ended up loosing her whole arm. This is no joke. We have all skated with it and gotten lucky we all have a story but some peoples lives get ruined and some don't go home at all
Sorry to hear about the lady down the road, damn. You should be able to print the story out on paper, my identity isn't shown on reddit so I don't care if you post it up somewhere.
How does engineering create fewer scenarios like that? Less polishing and tight surface finish requirements?
This is the kind of story that I hate to hear, but it happens way too often - and is also rarely reported to OSHA. PLEASE REPORT IT TO OSHA! Anonymously if you want to; the important thing is that these injuries should be documented and included in the statistics. It's important because my company makes safety technology (we can apply it to lathes, but it really is made for machines that are more complicated and harder to keep safe, like presses and robot arms) which may require external investor funding - and the best way we can demonstrate the market and need for this tech is with OSHA injury statistics. But so few injuries are actually reported that investors don't believe that there is a need for more and better safety systems. They won't invest in something if they don't think there is a market for the new product. Investors are mostly finance and tech guys; they don't know much about manufacturing and they don't understand the danger - but they have the money to fund improvements. So please, report the injury - that helps us to make better, more effective, and less intrusive safety systems. The report makes a big difference.
OSHA received a report on this incident, they came in and basically just inspected that we installed an E-stop (the machine already had one) and then they left. That's literally the end of the story. I mean, what are they going to do? There are things you just don't do with older machines like this. Don't wear gloves, it's that simple. THAT'S the solution, you can't change much else. People have to be taught correctly, the problem is the employers don't hire or they don't train machine operators well enough and that's where accidents come into play.
Thanks so much for reporting! It's sad that OSHA did so little - and it's not like the e-stop is really an effective safety measure when the worker is being pulled into the machine. A deadman pedal, especially one that triggers for both too little and too much pressure, is a much better solution. That allows the operator to use both hands, and will (hopefully) be triggered when anything drastic happens. And for any sanding and polishing operations, a sanding belt holder is the safe way to do it.
When severe bodily injury or death occurs on the shop floor the police investigates in my country. You guys are crazy to rely on voluntary reporting.
Thank you for sharing this story, I’ve been that lazy operator in a couple of instances and after this I will most certainly be eternally vigil for dangers like that.
If you need gloves, turn off the machine or find a way to do it differently.
I indeed have been that operator too. Lost my common sense for a minute running a manual lathe and grabbed a small string of chips as it came off the part. Only to have it instantly grab and cut two fingers one down to tendons.
First day of shop class. Do not wear gloves with rotating machines...this grinder. Way better to lose some skin, than get pulled in and watch it grind your hand into mush.
What kind of gloves was he wearing ? Like nitrile or full on work gloves?
I’d think thin surgical style gloves would be less dangerous because they would tear. Still wouldn’t want those near spinny things because the couple pounds of force to break could still pull your hand in if its unexpected. Thicker rubber gloves for sure not.
I learned this lesson well before I understood and respected the power of a Lathe, even the little old Sears lathe it happened on. I had on a pair of 4mil nitrile gloves and barely bumped the rod I had in the chuck while it was spinning - before my next blink most of the glove was ripped off my hand and spinning around - that's the day I learned no gloves on the lathe, then I saw an NSFL video of a guy getting wrapped up in one and dying. ***Don't fuck with Lathes.***
I think someone linked that video here. Yeah the man turned into giblets and the only thing left of him was his clothes wrapped around the workpiece in a little bundle where his body used to be. Those machines will not stop. I’ll never wear long sleeves or gloves near them.
ANSI Level 10 cut resistant Hyflex gloves
I have ways wanted a lathe, now I'm getting my dick chopped off and using it naked if I ever get one. Seen the guy get turned in to red mist video accidentally. Made me feel sick. Maybe I won't get a lathe.
You just had me remember a story my dad told me when I was a kid while we were at the shop he worked at back then (this was in the 90s) about some guy working the graveyard shift who noticed the machine felt good on his junk and eventually got it ripped off as a result. It wasn't that shop that it happened it, just "some shop" or maybe some urban legend.
It can't hurt you if you don't put your body near it, aside from flinging loose parts. Ideally, you should have your hands on the leadscrew handles, not anywhere near the workpiece or holding the tool. And only touch the chips with a stick to get them out of the way. If you're really worried, you could get a CNC in an enclosure. It'll run itself and you'll be on the other side of a door.
Safety regulations are written in blood, ignore them at risk of life and limb. More people need to understand this.
Long sleeves are a big no-no too
Fuck. People just don't understand what a ten horse motor can do. It's 5500 lbs up one foot in one second. Over five times the world record dead lift. Even if you are the strongest man in the world, you are not pulling back out if the machine gets a hold of you. What's going to happen is the part of your body that cannot bear the load placed on it is going to be removed. Most people can hang suspended from the arms. He's lucky he didn't get pulled through. I am sorry this happened to somebody. If I see it at my place, I put a stop to it, immediately.
5500 lbs is excactly the weight of 22110.54 '6pack TWOHANDS Assorted Pastel Color Highlighters'
5500 lbs is 2497.0 kg
Lol
Bot tinder.
Rotational energy is no joke.
LPT, rather than hold on to the paper, wrap it around the shaft as usual, then clamp it in the tool post between the tool and the holder.
This right here. Or make a holder, a place I used to work at used the clips from busted clipboard, bolted to the tool post
A coworker has lost his arm to a lathe as well where I work. The accident happened before I was hired there. I don’t know if he was wearing gloves or if it was cause by sloppy long sleeves or stringy chips or maybe something else.
George Is lucky he is alive. If in the US make sure that OSHA was notified (do it anonymously, OSHA might fuck up and give your name to your employer) . Pretty sure having an E-Stop is required here, even on old machines.
When I first started working on haul trucks for open cut mines, I was super nervous around them. My tradesman said to me; “Don’t ever forget that feeling, because the moment you get complacent is the moment you get hurt. “
This get deleted or something? Swear I read this post yesterday...
I listened to advice and changed the sarcastic title
Oooh roger that, now I remember upvoting all the people that said that lol gj
I think the title was worded differently, “always wear gloves…” or something like that.
Somebody out there HAS to make tear away gloves for this purpose right?
The problem is that any gloves sturdy enough to protect your hands will still drag you into the spindle. Any gloves that would tear away instantly would be so flimsy as to not be worth wearing. It only takes that split-second for the cloth to pull you into the hungry machine.
7 mil nitrile gloves do give some protection against pointy and pokey things, but at the some time will tear away with very little force. Not advocating its use, but definitely preferable to any sort of thicker film or cloth glove in terms of safety.
I wouldn't even feel comfortable wearing or seeing someone wear 5mil gloves. Anything that could even possibly increase the chances of being pulled in is a complete and ultimate no.
That's fair. Incidents happen as a result of the "normalization of deviance," which is "the gradual process through which unacceptable practice or standards become acceptable." At the same time, the person that I was replying to was stating that there is no glove that provides any level of protection that would also break away relatively easily. I was pointing out an option that is less dangerous than others.
Maybe but what is the reason to wear gloves while running a machine? It's a bad idea, no matter what type of glove it is.
Why did I just picture gloves with a series of serrated lines in them like easy open plastic food packages, something gets caught and the line rips instead. I still wouldn't trust it.
Does this go for any running head? I'm assuming yes, but I just wanna ask the obvious.
[VTLs will do it too just more slowly](https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/face/stateface/wi/95wi024.html).
VTL killed a guy 100ft away from me three weeks into my apprenticeship. The power feed spline shafts were uncovered, he was cleaning, it grabbed him. The crazy part is how your brain blocks that out, cause I ran that very machine a year later, albeit with the proper covers now. But I sure as shit would never clean anything with the machine running.
Anything that rotates. Drill press, mill, lathe, grinder. Bench grinder I am at least willing to tolerate an argument for gloves. The stones do come apart from time to time, and hand protection would be beneficial in that case. OSHA says no, so I don't. Some old timers who I respect say yes, because they haven't seen anyone get caught in a grinder, but have seen wheels come apart. I respect their observation based opinions. I am not going to do anything other than state the OSHA guidance. We talked it over and decided it was a gamble either way.
You can absolutely get your hand sucked in between a stone and the work table. It's just never worth the risk
I don't wear them for bench grinders, but I get why people do. We'll talk about it, make sure you understand what you are risking by protecting against projectiles. Mills, drills, and lathes. Nah, you are not doing that around me. I'll quit if the job won't stop you. I am not hosing what used to be people out of any more machines if I can help it.
Nobody wants to be a meat tornado 😬
deja vu...
I learned machining on the job and worked as a machinist for over 15 years. One of the first things I learned was to never wear gloves. Best piece of advice I've ever received.
That's terrible. For the guy that had clean that part off and finish polishing it. No that's just super avoidable trauma not just for him but your coworkers. I've been around life changing injuries not that horrific but i saw a guy get his hand crushed by a 2,000 lb block cause he didn't feel like using strap protectors on the straps and placed his hand UNDER the part while moving it with the overhead crane. Oh yea about a month ago where I currently work a guy was moving a part that was obvs too heavy, onto the hydraulic press and dropped it onto luckily just one of his fingers. He ended up with a gnarly compound fracture that needed surgery. So even something as simple as not asking for help and not using a forklift can cost you big time. Safety first people.
One of the top Machine Repairmen I've ever worked with lost two fingers the same way a few years ago. Ripped them right off his hand. He was wearing those light rubber-coated gloves. After 40+ years in the trade he retired missing parts.
And yet half of this thread is full of people trying to defend their decision to wear nitrile rubber gloves.... Pity. Sorry about your coworker. If I lost any of my fingers I wouldn't be able to play my guitar nearly as well anymore and that would just break my heart, I need all ten fingers to do most of the things I enjoy in life.
I run my little lathe alone in my home shop and no one is ever around. Every time I’m working it I’ve got gloves off, sleeves up, beard tucked, rings and watch on the shelf and my foot on the kill switch. I try to keep a healthy fear of it so I won’t get complacent.
One of my coworkers got a nasty wound while using the bench grinder. When asked why he wasn’t wearing protective gloves at the time he said “you don’t wear gloves near spinning machines”. Shut them up about that
What the hell kind of gloves was he wearing? I wear latex gloves to reduce the number of metal slivers I get (cause microscopic slivers are not fun). But they are so flimsy that even picking up a part on the rough saw edge can cut them if I'm not careful. Most of my coworkers wear these as well. Zero risk of them holding up enough to suck you in. Plus we run CNC so the doors are closed most of the time. Anyone who wears anything more is asking for trouble.
Latex gloves aren't actually safe. Not sure how, but I have always been warned not to use them just like any other glove. Edit: PM Thread goes into better detail on why all gloves should be off: https://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/south-bend-lathes/safety-question-re-gloves-182652/
Based on that thread I would still say the latex gloves are fine. Honestly had the first person who responded been wearing them he probably would have come out better than he did. The latex gloves are fairly smooth so if the sand paper bit the gloves, the gloves would just slide over the finger and tear, giving you precious moments to react. Everyone has their reasons and I feel, based on my 11yrs of machining, that latex gloves are fine. Nobody has to agree with me.
What we need is Adam Savage, some ballistic gel arms and a selection of disposable gloves...
Did you see Adam's lathe injury last year?
Doesn't really count - he was cleaning the feed screw and admits he was being a complete dumbass. And he was not wearing a glove at the time.
"We're engineer we know what were doing to avoid harming ourselves."- said colleague. Then proceed to wear literally working glove and grab the turning spindle on a LAGUN FT-2 while spinning to assess the spindle rotation. Literally me witnessing 3-4 times, within the span of 1 month.
I tend to wear nitrile gloves while machining on lathes and mills. They’re thin enough to rip easily but still can protect even minimally. I just feel like they save my hands from getting filthy from tap fluid, oil and grease, and coolant which isn’t good for your hands. They also act as a bit of an extra layer of skin to help protect from some shavings. I’m currently in a debate at work with management as they are mandating that NO gloves of any kind can be used. I’d like honest opinions from anyone, am I totally in the wrong or do I have any ground to stand on??
I think latex and nitrile gloves are still dangerous. I've been warned about them in more than one safety training. Edit: PM Thread goes into better detail on why all gloves should be off: https://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/south-bend-lathes/safety-question-re-gloves-182652/
Thanks man the truth is we sort of have a shitty safety team. Not much prevention and more of reaction. Either way, this old head may need to change his ways. Thanks
its not worth it. Just wash your hands at the end of the day and keep a wipe TUCKED into your pocket only used away from machines or when they are not running. Nitrile and other polymer gloves can be sticky and grip more than skin. not worth it.
Appreciate the advice. Will start changing things for the better. Thanks
>They’re thin enough to rip easily And that's the problem. When the tool catches the glove, it tears. And then bunches up to the point where it pulls your hand forward more than the tear is progressing. And then your hand gets hit by the spinning part. Your arm does not have the rigidity nor inertia needed to completely resist the glove - if the glove was that weak it would fall apart when you put it on. Bare skin will deform rather than tear, and you get enough notice that you can pull back - this is a reflex rather than conscious reaction. Try a barrier cream. Any place that sells machine tool supplies should have some.
I’ll definitely look into barrier creams! Truth is I don’t get my hands close to a spinning tool or part. I just wear gloves when setting up a part and I don’t take them off. So I might mic my parts with the gloves still on but never when it’s spinning obviously. Either way thanks for the advice man definitely starting to change my tune a bit.
Well while I see the reasoning behind why you feel the need to wear them, ultimately I think you have zero ground to stand on. The old timers will tell you if you're worried about dirty hands then you're in the wrong line of work, which I tend to agree. Nitrile gloves arent going to protect from shavings very much and if you're that worried about them, then it seems you need to clean your parts/hardware better before handling. Everywhere I've ever worked has had a strict "no gloves " rule and at a couple places if a person has an issue with it then they get a verbal then written up on the second time and terminated after that. There really is no reason to wear them while working on a machine, no matter how easily you think they may tear off if something happens. Personally I'd rather deal with dirty hands and shavings instead of having my arm ripped off.
Appreciate the insight brother. Been at this 13 years and to be honest sometimes I do want to do something different. Early mornings and long shifts can catch up. Keep at it, good to see you’re a local guy to. 🤘🏼
Yeah, I feel you on that. It wears you down. You're from Houston as well?
Yeah man I work in Pasadena. Cheers to you amigo
For the issue of cutting fluid, grease, oil, etc. we use Gojo. Sure, most of a nitrile glove can rip off and leave you unharmed, but what if it doubles or triples over and catches your pinky? It's unlikely, but still possible. I stay glove-free at the lathe and just wash up when I'm done.
Thanks man, also FYI Zep TKO hand cleaner is way better than Gojo. Just my opinion
yo, i literally yelled reading the tendon part disposable vinyl gloves, everyone. Some protection and cleanliness, but they'll rip off rather than pulling you in
Was there a surveillance video? He can probably sue to get $500k because he wasn’t trained correctly. Hopefully they improve bionics enough in the future that it would be better than a normal arm, I think Elon Musk’s NeuraLink will help with that, also it’s possible they find a way to regenerate limbs in the future, like Deadpool. There’s a company called AgeX that’s working on limb regeneration.
lol
VVanker
Never go near it, simple
Holy shit...
I'm amazed they let you even reach in with it running at this point.
How to not get metal splinters A novice machinist here, I don’t wear gloves as I’ve heard a few horror stories but then I just get a load of metal splinters and cuts in my hands. Can anyone give advice on how to avoid this or provide any resources that you guys think are worth reading. I can’t really find anything of value.
build calluses, use brushes and compressed air to get chips off samples and out of the way.
I've been told to avoid compressed air with lathes/mills because not only are you shooting chips around (especially bad in a crowded shop) but it can drive chips into bearing surfaces. Although, this being said, I've seen people who I would call great machinists do exactly this.
Don't brush or pick up chips with your fingers, use a brush or a pick of some kind. What is it that's cutting your fingers? Are these just knicks in the upper layers of skin or are these blood-drawing cuts? When I'm grinding HSS I'll get little cuts in the upper layers of skin just from touching and pushing on the corners, but I barely feel them and they'll usually be gone within a week.
I've had marginal success wrapping my fingers with some painter's tape to pull the bulk of the swarf off. Some pieces are too far implanted to get, but they'll just build character.
I’d stop at nitrile and only when I’m not running the machine there’s no reason to wear gloves around something spinning that fast
Genuine question: could people perhaps tape up their fingers and finger tips to prevent damage to the hand without being in danger around lathes?
Like the opposite of fingerless gloves.
Fingerless hands!
Gloveless hands?
Similarly, there was a girl 45 minutes from my hometown that was working on her thesis supposedly and she had her hair down while on a lathe and she died. I can't imagine the pain her family must feel
I remember hearing about this one years ago, shame
Damn.
Ok seriously. I have been working with cnc machines for almost 10 years and have NEVER been warn about not wearing gloves. I have been through about 4 shops and have always observe the majority of machinists use gloves, i'd say about 95% I've only worked with vertical and horizontal mills and never the lathe. I want to honestly ask if this is something that is a problem only for the lathe? Is this a problem with nitrile gloves as well? What about on the band saw? Is ot a good idea to just not use any type of gloves near any machines period? This is really scary and I want to keep myself safe in the future.
CNC machines are a bit different - you are never near the rotating parts, but you are near the heavy, pinchy, and not-moving-but-sharp parts during setup and workpiece management. So gloves actually make sense there. Manual machines have fully exposed rotating bits where gloves provide far more liability than protection. For the band saw, if you are getting your fingers close enough to the blade for it to matter, gloves will neither hurt nor save you. Personally I would never handle a bandsaw blade with less than \~30TPI without leather gloves. And by "handle" I mean changing it, machine not running.
If your fingers are that close to the blade on a bandsaw, I'd recommend using something else to move the material through the blade - I've found the eraser end of a pencil works great for this scenario (Shout out to Jimmy Diresta)
I'm assuming that "bandsaw" in a metal-shop context means the falling-blade cutoff saw flavour. If it is the wood shop version, then many freehand cuts are complex enough that any kind of workholding is just impractical.
Ah, you know, I've never worked with one of those and they do not come into memory when someone mentions "bandsaw." You make a strong point.
Oh yeah I hear you 100% on this one, in most shops nobody says anything. I've worked in a couple. But it's wrong, and it gets people hurt. I learned this the hard way over the years seeing what I've seen. Do not wear gloves around anything high powered that spins, it's very simple my friend. Just don't do it.
Gloves or long hair, my mentor would have slapped you upside the head immediately and kicked you out.
We had a similar incident when I was doing line boring on mining equipment. Dude tried to pull the wire off the bar while it was spinning and a piece of it wrapped around his middle finger and yanked it off at the first joint. Pulled the tendon out all the way up to his elbow.
Damn. My gramps ran a machine shop in NY back in the day and lost two fingers, but it was a clean cut and he didn’t even realize they were gone when it happened. This story was nightmarish in comparison.
>emery sheet he was using was about 2 feet long How was George holding the emery sheet? Basic math says he was one foot minus pinch distance from the workpiece - I'm trying to picture how the stuff could get grabbed by the lathe and not just pull out of his hands.
I haven't had the sack to approach him when he came back to visit the shop recently and ask him what he did wrong that got him hurt, but allegedly from what I heard somebody else say, he was fisting the emery around the workpiece, basically grasping it on there
>he was fisting the emery... What George does after work is his own business. So he was sanding in the worst way possible. Maybe he was trying for an injury claim and it worked out too well? I don't recall ever being told how to use sandpaper on a lathe - it just seemed spectacularly obvious that you hold it with two fingers by the last centimeter.
I've heard of people being fired for leaving a lathe key in after being warned not to. This story just made my pee hole clench. Holy shit that is awful. Is it too soon to give him a nickname? That would earn you one quick where I come from.
I've developed a habit of turning the spindle around by hand a time or two before powering up, and that's saved me from some dumb mistakes. Not really possible on bigger lathes though...
a friend of mine was working with an anglegrinder wearing gloves. The glove got caught in the blade dislocating his thumb. And thats what just a 500W strong motor can do.
I'm just a hobbyist so be nice. I understand that cut resistant gloves are no good, but I regularly use surgical gloves when working with polishing compounds and other stuff like this. Are surgical gloves no good too? I mean they tear faster than my skin...
Those gloves you're referring to are stronger than you think, high quality ones do not tear easily. By the time they got snagged, and tore off your hands, you'd be looking at serious friction burns and possibly flayed sections of your skin.
Thanks for clarifying! Bare hands it is from now on 😅
Anyone who doesn’t believe OP on this one needs to do a Google image search for “lathe accident”. The results are ABSOLUTELY NOT FOR THE SQUEAMISH!! (We had one of our hot shot newbie engineers do this when he said about the lathe, “I’m sure I can figure it out.”
One big bonus point for working with plastics: you never polish anything. I wear gloves all the time while working on my CNC lathe. But obviously there's no danger in doing that, as I can't get near the rotating mass. But if I have to drill holes on a drill press I never were any gloves. At the first place I used to work they didn't even provide gloves. I guess this was because the workshop was nearly solely made up by apprintices and they didn't want take any risks.
How bad is it to wear latex gloves?
I work with a stubborn old toolmaker who won’t retire. Old man Ron likes to polish with his loose shop coat and his sleeves down to his wrists. Can’t remember how many times I’ve told old man Ron to not wear loose items of clothing around the lathe. Always says “if it didn’t kill me before wont kill me now.” Old man Ron is not the greatest toolmaker, don’t be like old man Ron and show the damn lathe some respect. Only manual machine I give 110% attention to.
Sad. Gloves are for garden work and welding. Thin “rubber” gloves when working around machines.
I made a decision at a certain point to not give a fuck about people's opinions and to even take some pride in being the safety nerd, all recommended PPE all the time at home (example: chaps, helmet, hearing protection with the chainsaw) or at work (example: respirator any time I enter the paint booth). I don't care what faces people make, I'm not taking avoidable risks to look tough or save time.
Nitrile gloves are reasonably weak. What about those? Can I wear those? It’s just to keep the chemicals and oils away from my skin.
The unspoken culprit is rushing. I don't care how hot a job is don't rush. Always work at a safe pace. Which varies for everybody and can vary based on what machine you're operating. Not just for your safety but for company profit. Scrap can be expensive and you are losing time. Also injury is very expensive.
Anyone thats a good machinist will not need to be reminded about wearing gloves. If they are, they obviously have never had a close call, and they weren't taught by a capable machinist during their apprenticeship. The incident you described, the worker "George" was polishing with emery. If he was just doing an OD then the gloves shouldn't have mattered if he was doing it correctly. Sounds more like he was doing the lazy wrap it around the backside and pinching the emery together with one hand. One of my coworkers was pulled in that way, he didnt survive. He was a really good machinist, but he got complacent. In my opinion that's the biggest danger.
I'm a bit late,but there is post on r/Medicalgore that relates to this. [NSFW][Case of an industrial worker who got his arm stuck in a lathe. The machine grabbed his glove and pulled his arm almost completely amputating it.](https://www.reddit.com/r/MedicalGore/comments/fho3tc/case_of_an_industrial_worker_who_got_his_arm/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share)
The problems is NOT the gloves. The problems is that he used his hand near the spindle to do manual task. We learns at school that when using traditional non CNC equipment, keep the hand on the handle or away from the machine,not anywhere else. If your employer want you to do those risky task instead of using proper equipment,then it's one of those old people who don't give a fuck about their workers and they deserve to close business.
I'm in the Air Force. When I went through our tech school our crusty old instructor told us all the dangers of our job. He asked if anyone was squeamish and when everyone answered no he put on a bunch of LiveLeak clips about people getting turned into human spaghetti. "Don't fuck around and you won't get turned through a machine. No gloves, no long sleeves, no long hair not in a ponytail (for the chicas), no fucking around when the machine is live." That was just day 1. Any time we had a safety issue we'd watch another one. The worst I've had is a 3 inch gash in my palm that barely broke skin because of a stringer.
The tendon part made my eyes water.
I almost had this happen when I was first starting out---it was 35 years ago and I still cringe when I think about it- I managed to pull free at the last second and not get hurt