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When my father-in-law was a college student he was using a table saw to cut aluminum stock to make a 2" cube. He had the fence on. As he finished the cut, the 2
by orangepenguin 8y ago
When my father-in-law was a college student he was using a table saw to cut aluminum stock to make a 2" cube. He had the fence on. As he finished the cut, the 2" cube turned between the blade and the fence and launched at him, hitting him right on the lens of his safety glasses. He never saw the cube--it went out a window after bouncing off his glasses. His safety glasses were crushed, and he had pretty deep cuts and bruises around his eye.
He tells that story when he thinks people aren't having enough respect for power tools. He could have been much more severely injured. If he hadn't been wearing safety glasses he definitely would have lost his eye and could have had brain damage as well.
Human strength and reaction times are so insignificant compared to these machines. It's purely an illusion that we are in control of them, and there's no reason not to use all of the safety measures and precautions available to us.
- sf_rob 8y agoI can't imagine how cutting a cube would not involve a crosscut as the final cut e.g. perpendicular operation of the material. This type of cut would ideally be done with a sled not a fence, so unless I'm really misunderstanding it was probably a major error in technique selection that caused this incident.
- orangepenguin 8y agoYes, that is also true, and my father-in-law readily admits that he was simply misusing the tool in a very dangerous way. I believe he was starting with 2"x2" bar and cutting off a 2" segment. The fence should not have been on the saw for this, and a sled would have been ideal.
- sk5t 8y agoAlways remember, you are the softest thing in the shop--softer than plastics, even.