Got lucky today

[wagonslayer]

I learned a lesson..............always run a guard on your grinder even if it's for a little quick cut.:mad: Could have been way worse, I still haven't found the pieces of the cut off wheel.

 

[crash2]

Also wear correct protection equipment. Leather gloves would have saved you from those cuts..

And for the record I throw every one of my guards away...

 

[WHITE TRASH1]

**** running guards they just get in the way 99.9999999999999999% of the time for me. Plus it's hard to run a 6" skinny wheel on a 4 1/2" grinder with it on there. :redneck:


Wear gloves and keep the sparks spraying at you and you won't have the issues. I've laid my hand open evil like and it was due to a lack of gloves and my own carelessness.

 

[TreeClimber]

Also wear correct protection equipment. Leather gloves would have saved you from those cuts..

And for the record I throw every one of my guards away...

That's what I do. Good eye protection. Good leather gloves.
Only I don't throw the guards away, they just sit in the drawer. Oft times, I've thought about re-installing them. But they are a PITA. Half tempted to take the grinder to the guard, and cut them down to about half width, so they just protect my cutting hand, but haven't yet.

 

[TOPWOP]

Dickwart on here had one jump back and hit him in the junk. Cut threw his jeans and I think it even cut his thigh. Close to his boys.

 

[Ty.]

I just blew one up like that 2 days ago.:redneck: I don't run a guard on mine either. Nicked myself a couple times right through my gloves, and melted a few pair of the rubber palm style gloves.

Mainly I make sure I'm wearing a face shield, or at least safety glasses, (often both) Taking a chance with cutting yourself open is one thing, but losing an eye is no joke.

One of the scarier ones was when I dropped my grinder, and had it locked on as usual, and in danced around by the cord bouncing off my favorite region.:swing:

 

[Bunk1]

Proper tool for the proper application. Cut off wheels on a 4 1/2 grinder is the recipe for this scenario.

 

[Glenn]

...Wear gloves and keep the sparks spraying at you and you won't have the issues...

Sparks spraying at me? I will have to think this over...

 

[Fordzuki]

1. **** guards. They're there for liability purposes only. Take the guard off and hurt yourself, it's on you.
2. Welding gloves. I always wear them when grinding/cutting anything.
3. Grind with grinding discs and cut with cutoff wheels. There's a difference, and when you don't know that difference, things like this happen.

 

[Ty.]

Sparks spraying at me? I will have to think this over...

He is as right as he is white.

 

[WHITE TRASH1]

He is as right as he is white.

Werd, if you're eating the sparks and the wheel gets caught the tool is going to jump away from you. It drives me nuts to see people running a skinny wheel with the grinder in their right hand pushing the grinder along. As soon as that fawker catches (which it usually does due to gravity and physics) it is going to jump back at you and bind up. I took 15 stitches across the palm from something like that. Lesson learned the hard way, it made me rethink what I was doing and look at what caused it.

 

[psychodelicdan]

**** running guards they just get in the way 99.9999999999999999% of the time for me. Plus it's hard to run a 6" skinny wheel on a 4 1/2" grinder with it on there. :redneck:


Wear gloves and keep the sparks spraying at you and you won't have the issues. I've laid my hand open evil like and it was due to a lack of gloves and my own carelessness.

Theres a reason we call them scary wheels.
They do make a 4 1/2" skinny wheel that fits a 4 1/2" guard. A lot of job sites are really cracking down on the trades about not using guards.
Don't be lazy with one and show them the utmost of respect. Seen more than one guy sent to the ER.

 

[Trail Beast]

I've been a sheet metal worker for 20yrs, & the best thing is a 5" Makita grinder with an electric brake. You have to modify the guard & make your own to run a 6" skinny wheel. OSHA says 50% coverage, I like about 40%. It keeps the sparks and grid debris from rolling back on you, & helps deflect the sparks. I'm currently not running a guard, only because I haven't taken the time to build one for the grinder I'm using. But the are a good idea.
Most of all, you need to use wheels with a metal arbor, or I've seen these things take off like saucers. Anyway you look at it, they can be dangerous. You can't push them too much, & you can't get them in a bind. Especially, if they get a chunk out of it. Just got to be careful... You can take your eyes out kid!
Gloves are a no brainer!

 

[Birdbrain]

lets not forget wire wheels...

Had this one buck on me, and even with a guard it wrapped itself up in the cuff of my glove. Thank god it was a paddle style trigger and it turned off when i let go..

 

[WHITE TRASH1]

Theres a reason we call them scary wheels.
They do make a 4 1/2" skinny wheel that fits a 4 1/2" guard. A lot of job sites are really cracking down on the trades about not using guards.
Don't be lazy with one and show them the utmost of respect. Seen more than one guy sent to the ER.

4 1/2" wheels burn up a helluva lot quicker than 6" wheels do and they cost about the same. I don't have any union stooges to worry about whether I'm running a guard or not so I never put them on when I pull the grinder out of the box.

 

[preacherman]

I had a guardless 4 1/2 grab, and swing across my hand 2-3 years ago. It cut through the Atlas nitriles as well as the welding gloves that I had over them. It made it through the welding gloves on every finger, but only cut my little finger.
The cut was to the bone on the knuckle, and actually grooved the bone a bit. That finger doesn't closed all the way unless I really concentrate on it.
Crazy part is that I run guards on all mine, but my boss refuses to. At least he paid for the stitches.

 

[CHOP SHOP]

A bunch of boys named nancy. A shame I tell ya.

 

[NotSoPC]

Guard or no guard it really up to the end user. I don't run guards only cause they get in the way. I have had them catch and jump and caught my finger a time or two. Its part of doing the job. Never had a blow up like this but I also only run a 4 1/2" wheel on a 4 1/2" grinder. No oversizing here.

 

[Binder]

Always use a guard if you can.:stirpot:
:rolleyes::swing:

 

[Hip]

i been doing this for 40 years and have allways found a way to use the grinder the way it is supposed to with the safety equipment in place.

just sayin being lazy is not an excuse.

With that said when the grinding wheel flew apart and hit me in the eye it had a guard. I failed to inspect the wheel prior to use and it was cracked. my vision is permantly damaged now. i had my safety glasses in my hand not on my face where they should have been. i wasnt grinding yet i just hit the switch to see if it was on....:looser:

 

[Dude]

Cutting wheels usually blow up when force fed, let the wheel do the work.

 

[psychodelicdan]

A whole lot of years ago, I don't remember why but I had a grinding wheel come apart and about a quarter of it lodged its self 8 feet up the wall in the sheet rock!
We left it there for all the years I was there as a reminder. I would hope its still there.

 

[dirtygoat]

I had one bind up and kicked the grinder out of my hand a few years ago... Almost performed open heart surgery on myself... Went thru a sweat shirt, t-shirt and left a pretty good cut on one of my man ****s...