Workshop hazards

[Sajuma]

Keith you stand correct, all arc welding throws UV so you will get burned. Also the sparks burn your arms and neck and I speak with experiance. My school mate has wrists that never tan because of this. My hands and wrists are looking like week old bratwurst because of welding sparks. If you look my fathers neck you can tell that he has been a welder for a long period, it looks like moon surface. Actually he is retired of medical reasons, the welding fumes ruinned his lungs.

Juha

[Kevin]

another phrase that is so very true is that Accidents do not just happen. There is always a cause!

Getting out of bed in the morning can be the cause.

[ZDP-189]

agree with you about work rests ... they can also cause injury as well as prevent it, somewhere else to either get fingers or work jammed and turned in to a missile.

a further word about vacuums and extraction .......... any sparks mixed with extraction can be highly explosive no matter what other dust is going in there, let alone the al & fe risks.

Dredged up from the past....

So how do I isolate the sparks from the extraction?

[keith_beef]

Dredged up from the past....

So how do I isolate the sparks from the extraction?

I mentioned to Juha a while ago, that I was thinking of making some sort of extractor hood or canopy, using a vacuum cleaner to suck away the dust.

He'd had the same idea, but better.

Vacuum hose draws air through a water bath, so dust stays in the water, doesn't clog up the bag.

This would also quench any sparks.

KKK.

Here's a quick sketch.

[ZDP-189]

Cool! I was just going to put a spark deflector (i.e. coffee can) there that would cool the sparks on impact and have the vac draw away dust.

Maybe I need to specify sanders are only for wood and linishers only for metal and then have water traps on the linishers.

Should the water trap be mounted at the machine or away by the central fan box?

[RovingRich]

Eeek scary stuff guys.
This a question, but relevant to the thread, and could save my bacon.
I have spent the last week grit blasting alloy in a blast cabinet (we have also connected the cyclone to the extractor for extra suction - now I have sparks to worry about too )
Anyway, I now want to blast some steel. I have read somewhere about an explosive combination of the two when used grinding, and figured I'm gonna get the same combination swirling around in the blast cabinet !
I think it was called ferrite , and flashed into an 8000 degree fireball.
Can anyone fill in the blanks for me ?
Cheers
Rich

[narsil]

Yeah, iron and aluminium powder together make thermite, quite ferocious stuff - it's used for welding railway tacks together, so that should give you an idea.

All fine dusts are a potential explosive hazard but the thermite reaction is particularly dodgy.

The obvious solution is to give the cabinet and extraction kit a very thorough clean out before you start working on steel, although I don't know enough about the specifics to give any hard and fast advice.

I do know that some workshops won't grind alumium and steel on the same machines at all.

[Sajuma]

Cool! I was just going to put a spark deflector (i.e. coffee can) there that would cool the sparks on impact and have the vac draw away dust.

Maybe I need to specify sanders are only for wood and linishers only for metal and then have water traps on the linishers.

Should the water trap be mounted at the machine or away by the central fan box?

I was thinking to make it with 20L canister that I have lying around in my shop.

It is quite simpple actually. Put a hose from your source of dust to a canister that has some water in it. The end of the hose must be under water. Then conect your vacuum cleaner/hoover to the canister and the dust stays in water. KKK made an exelent picture of it!

Juha

[keith_beef]

I was thinking to make it with 20L canister that I have lying around in my shop.

It is quite simpple actually. Put a hose from your source of dust to a canister that has some water in it. The end of the hose must be under water. Then conect your vacuum cleaner/hoover to the canister and the dust stays in water. KKK made an exelent picture of it!

Juha

Very simple picture... All credit for the idea must go to Juha.

Isn't this similar to the oil bath air filter that was used on Land Rovers, at least the Series I/II/IIa/III models?

KKK.

[Bluewolff]

hello all just joined this furom and thought that i would chime in on this subject. as a carrer machinist I know first hand the dangers of working in a shop. I'll just give a couple of tips.
First - Never and I mean never wear gloves on any moving equipment like drill presses, belt sanders, griders, and such. you will be very lucky to get you're hand out of one when you're glove gets caught. Its a very nasty picture when this happens on some of the more unforgiving machines.
Second - I don't know if this has been touched on in this thread yet but grinding and sanding dust can be EXTREMLY compustable if you do not take proper precautions. use a dust collection system.

[dBu24]

!

We have a Aloe plant in the garden.........when ever I get burnt, I cut the plant and rub it into the burn...this stuff is magical...not only does it take the pain away but it helps prevent scarring....

That thing now comes in plastic cans ready for use- more handy than growing the plant in your garden, eh?

Here in our foundry we allways keep a good stock at hand. Not that the shop looks like the satanic mills of the middle ages, but hot things still move around and you might get burned.

David

[Longstrider]

I had a potentially nasty one today that's worth mentioning as a warning to others...

I had several jobs on the go in my shed, all of which were best done with the linisher (Rexon belt/disc sander). Using the belt (I took the disc off and covered the spindle with a loose plate to prevent injury on that) I did the initial shaping of a knife handle made of segmented cocobolo and African blackwood, then I sanded the edges of a couple of leather sheaths to shape. Then came the dodgy bit. I had a bought carbon steel blade that I wanted to change the tang of. I stuck it against the belt and soon had it just the way I wanted it. Feeling good about having the day to "play in my shed" I stopped and popped indoors for a cuppa.... Thank God I chose to drink it in the shed! I opened the door to find the place full of smoke !!! How close I came to losing the place to fire I can only guess. What had happened was the dust from the wood and the leather had gathered in the so called "Dust Guard" of the machine and the sparks from the HT'd carbon blade had set them smouldering nicely. The Dust Guard is made of plastic. Had the heat got right through the little pile of dust in there and hit the plastic I guess it may well have gone up in flames, dripped molten, lighted plastic onto the bench and the whole shed would have gone up.
As it was I simply ripped the damned Dust Guard (It has no safety aspect as far as I can see) off the machine and dumped it and it's burning contents on the gravel outside.

You don't need Thermite to start a workshop fire.. Take care guys!

P.s. Yes. A smouldering mixture of cocobolo dust, blackwood dust and leather dust really does stink. The shed still reeks of it despite me working the rest of the day in there with the doors wide open.

[Ratel10mm]

Sheesh! Close call there! I guess you must be in shock about it, as you're posting at 4a.m!

I'm glad to hear that no damage was done.

Where we live now (renting) there is a wooden shed with light & power, but so far I've been too nervous of damaging the shed to do anything in it!

[Rintski]

Great to see this stuff being spelt out some folks just dont see the dangers.

If you wear overalls in the workshop (something I would recomend) don't asume they wont catch fire, many do so remarkably eaisly, especialy when grinding. Some even melt!

Look for welders flame retardent overalls. Two brands that I use in UK are Harpoon (Proban) & FlameSafe. They are more expensive, but still cheaper than skin.

[Wayne D]

and to give you all a laugh - although it was painfull for me a warning on the dangers of linishers.

I have a nice cast iron industrial linisher and the belt runs away from me on the platten, so today I was working on getting the curve right on the pommell of the blade. I was being carefull and resting it against the guard at the other end

what went wrong?

well today I wasn't wearing the leather apron I usualy wear - half way through the belt snapped, spun around and smacked me in the bollocks -which hurts at that rpm tremendously !