I am usually jovial and what not on here and somewhat crass but I wanted to take a moment to talk seriously about safety.
Mainly…EYES.
As detailed in my thread, I used a dremel style rotary tool and a Dremel brand cut off wheel to cut my hockey puck for a half moon spacer. I am smart enough to wear safety glasses.
As fate would have it, the cut off wheel splintered twice and shot part of the disk off my forehead and down both eyelids. I have surface scrapes on both eyelids and they are itchy as hell!
So in spite of all the fun and what not, I just want a friendly reminder of taking the appropriate safeties when using any tools:
eye protection when cutting or sanding ANYTHING
respirator when sanding …well…anything…especially fibreglass
hand protection (gloves “mechanix” or in my case, my old set of kevlar lined leather search gloves)
I used a dremel for the first time about a week or two ago and had to cut off the bottom of my clippard. Didn’t have safety glasses but through on a pair of sunglasses just to be safe. Glad I did as shards flung up at my eyes several times and it would have been bad w/o protection.
So… safety squint doesn’t work. Important safety tip, thanks Egon.
Wow, that’s not good. I hope your ok.
Something I found helpful when drilling the fiberglass was latex or poly gloves. The first day it was super itchy and the I started wearing poly gloves and it’s much better. I prefer these to a material glove because I can toss these after I’m done and there isn’t any glass dust in the material.
Tools are always scary to work with, so many things can go wrong it always best to assume the worst and do whatever you can to make the job safer. No one wants to see a blind/dismembered/dead Ghostbuster.
To be honest it had to have been a fluke but im glad I had the glasses on. I have a couple of healing scrapes on the eyelids but other than that im ok.
I just wanted to take my circumstance and remind everyone to take heed and work safely.
Remember kids…never use the spare tire to paint the bathroom!
This is true and actually gives what you are saying, a little more weight.
Thanks, Hoot!
It’s true. I never realized how bad cutting fiberglass was til I hit my GBFans shell with a dremel. A paint mask does NOTHING. i was coughing and hacking for 2 days after. You have to wear a real particulate mask.
Another safety tip…if ever working with paint stripper, latex gloves and cotton clothes won’t cut it. I had it to strip my ion rod and several layers of thrower paint and it ate through both. Will give you chemical burns. WILL give you chemical burns. Watch Fight Club…shit ain’t fun.
Bingo. This is especially true if you have one of the crazy fast single-speed Dremels. My D-100 is a ridiculous 35,000 RPM and a bit too powerful for most jobs. I thought I could get by centering punching a piece of rubber that was clamped only to have it shred and leave a nice little bruise on my arm. If I that went at my eye and I didn’t have protection on, it’d be game over.
Anyone here ever been to emergency with shmutz in their eye? It’s not fun. It’s rather quite the opposite of what fun is. Truth be told, unless you’re sadistic and enjoy staring down the barrel a needle or having refuse ground out of your eye with a pencil grinder, do as the man says!
Glad to hear there was no permanent damage. I don’t use power tools when building anything. Whether I’m making a proton pack or some other project. Mostly because I have a fear of something exactly what happened to you. That doesn’t mean I haven’t had my share of close calls and injuries. One slip of a tool and there’s a trip to the emergency room in the future.
My eyes are fine and im quite well but just thought it was a friendly reminder for newbies out there to take seriously. Especially with fiberglass and other shit we can inhale, ingest, et al
I’m glad this discussion is taking place. Thanks for the reminders about safety! I wear regular prescription glasses and I thought that would be okay for smaller tasks like drilling small holes, but while drilling into a wooden dowel the other day with a power drill, a bit of dust snuck around my glasses and flew into my eye. Nothing to worry about as it washed right out, but enough to get me to pick up a set of safety glasses next time I was at the hardware store.
It’s better to be overly-cautious than to have regrets from an injury that could have been easily prevented. Be safe, guys!
For cutting plastics and resin, a saw wheel is probably the best option. Just be super careful using these little killers without the shroud attachment
Now for cutting straight lines on fiberglass, wood, soft metals.. This Multi-Max is my favorite toy. Ask Vincent how much he likes it!
It will will also sand and polish. Excellent tool to have as a prop builder.
For making holes in fiberglass, like cyclotron lights, most people think hole saws. They’re great for wood, but can shred fiberglass, especially the gelcoat. I like carbide tip cutters because the cut is more controlled and cleaner than regular hole saws.
And one for you guys about to slice pucks for spacers, it’s rubber. Unless you have a band saw, the only tool you should be using is a standard hand saw..
