1
General Mach Discussion / Safety First
« on: July 07, 2011, 01:13:49 PM »
Hi Guys
Having just read a recent post about operating Estop button with mouse, I thought I would add my advice to that of many others who say that you really must have a hard wired emergency stop switch which is easily accessible, cuts off all power to spindle and drives and is independent of software.
I have 30 odd years experience as a machinist and should really know better, but we all do stupid things sometimes. The other day i was turning a large piece of bar in the lathe. The chuck jaws were protruding well beyond the diameter of the chuck which was peventing me from fully closing the chuck guard. I was in low gear running only at about 100 RPM, but with lots of torque.
As I reached over the lathe to get something from a shelf, my Teeshirt slipped out of my waistband and was immediately caught up in the jaws of the chuck. This twisted me around and pulled me down towards the ground with the chuck jaws pounding against my back. I aimed a good hard blow at the mushroom switch which is my emergency stop button and all power was immediately disconnected. Unfortunately, in my panic I slammed my knee into the machine. The result of all this was a badly bruised back, a broken leg and 3 days in hospital.
However if I had to rely on getting to the mouse and finding the Estop icon on the screen, it could have been a lot worse. Experienced machinists will know that you should not wear loose clothing whilst operating machinery. It is also not a good idea to reach over moving machinery, but above all you need a reliable way of stopping the machine quickly in the avent of an emergency.
I hope my experiance may be of benefit to newcommers to machining and perhaps just a reminder to everyone else.
Neptune
Having just read a recent post about operating Estop button with mouse, I thought I would add my advice to that of many others who say that you really must have a hard wired emergency stop switch which is easily accessible, cuts off all power to spindle and drives and is independent of software.
I have 30 odd years experience as a machinist and should really know better, but we all do stupid things sometimes. The other day i was turning a large piece of bar in the lathe. The chuck jaws were protruding well beyond the diameter of the chuck which was peventing me from fully closing the chuck guard. I was in low gear running only at about 100 RPM, but with lots of torque.
As I reached over the lathe to get something from a shelf, my Teeshirt slipped out of my waistband and was immediately caught up in the jaws of the chuck. This twisted me around and pulled me down towards the ground with the chuck jaws pounding against my back. I aimed a good hard blow at the mushroom switch which is my emergency stop button and all power was immediately disconnected. Unfortunately, in my panic I slammed my knee into the machine. The result of all this was a badly bruised back, a broken leg and 3 days in hospital.
However if I had to rely on getting to the mouse and finding the Estop icon on the screen, it could have been a lot worse. Experienced machinists will know that you should not wear loose clothing whilst operating machinery. It is also not a good idea to reach over moving machinery, but above all you need a reliable way of stopping the machine quickly in the avent of an emergency.
I hope my experiance may be of benefit to newcommers to machining and perhaps just a reminder to everyone else.
Neptune