Nailgun safety - ouch!

[Grunff]

[Lurch]

On Thu, 06 May 2004 00:53:59 +0100, in uk.d-i-y Grunff strung together this:

Oops!

[geoff]

In message , Grunff writes

It's a septic

nails through the head would have missed the brain by a long way

[BigWallop]

Think he should here:

!!!

[BigWallop]

Depends on the length of the nail:

[Mungo "two sheds" Toadfoot]

If you look at a bigger version of the picture you can see a small spring near his spine! What's that all about??

Si

[Lurch]

On Thu, 6 May 2004 09:14:05 +0100, in uk.d-i-y "Mungo \"two sheds\" Toadfoot" strung together this:

I think he's moonlighting as a Jack in the box!

[Dave Liquorice]

Where do you get a bigger image? Zooming the Beeb one isn't very satisfactory. The curved line from his mouth and down the front of his spine is a ventilator tube.

[Mungo "two sheds" Toadfoot]

It was in one of the papers yesterday. It really is a small spring - *just* underneath the second nail up, about an inch and a half up from the pointy end.

Si

[Graham Wilson]

Apparently he made the fatal mistake of once winding up a cooko clock without wearing appropriate body armour....

Graham

[Mungo "two sheds" Toadfoot]

Fnarrr! :o)

Si

[Tim Downie]

I kind of surprised that no one has speculated that this would seem to be an

*incredibly* unlikely accident. I mean, shoot yourself in the *back* of the head repeatedly??

Having said that, I've never used a nail gun but it looks a lot more like attempted murder than an accident to me.

Tim

[Andy Hall]

No it could happen.

With roofing or framing nailers there are two modes of operation.

There is a safety device which is a small guard around the nailer head usually with a rubber cushion to prevent marring on smaller nailers or with a claw on larger nailers to prevent the nailer bouncing around.

This safety device is in effect a spring loaded plunger.

As delivered, the normal way to use the nailer is that it has to be pushed down against the spring onto the work and the trigger squeezed to fire. Pushing the trigger fires the gun. If you squeeze the trigger and the safety is not pushed down then firing doesn't happen. This mode is meant for firing one nail at a time.

However, for the construction industry in the U.S. especially, this is too slow, so an alternative mode, which can be enabled on most framing and roofing nailers is that the functions of trigger and safety mechanism are reversed. Basically the trigger is squeezed and held in, and the gun is fired by tapping it onto the work and hence depressing the safety catch causing firing. In this mode, nails can be fired much more quickly by dotting along the workpiece.

It is acheived by fitting an optional part, which has to be ordered from the manufacturer and comes with a warning sheet about the risks of using it.

I have seen this method used by numerous contractors doing framing, siding and roofing work in the U.S.

I have also seen them doing one further step (through laziness) which is to tape around the trigger. Now they don't even need to squeeze the trigger, only dot the gun onto the work.

If you consider that framing and roofing nailers have a hook to go over the tool belt to help when climbing ladders, then you have an accident waiting to happen. More than likely, this individual fell off a ladder or something., the nailer came off the belt, onto the back of his head and bounced, firing several nails. Framing nailers can easily fire several nails a second.

I have a Senco framing nailer which I have set up to only fire in the first mode, which is always carefully maintained, used with utmost care and with the recommended protective gear. Used with respect, these are very useful tools, but not forgiving of the careless.

.andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

[Stephen Gower]

The CNN report

indicates a cow orker was operating the gun when Isidro Mejia fell off a ladder ontop of him.

[N. Thornton]

I cant imagine what kind of gear would protect against one of those shooting you - bullet proof suit?

"Royal Melbourne Hospital neurosurgeons removed the nail in a delicate four-hour operation even though Shorten, who was expected to make a full recovery, had offered to take the nail out with a pair of pliers."

Now thats what I call diy!

Regards, NT

[Andy Hall]

Probably not. There are the obvious ones like eye protection....

it pretty well.

.andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

[Grunff]

I wouldn't trust anyone who orks cows - or any other animal for that matter.

[Huge]

Unlikely. I've seen someone fastening steel floor trusses to steel I-beams with a cartridge powered gun which fired 'nails' into the beams like they were made of wood.

[Ian Stirling]

About as much use as a chocolate teapot.

They are typically not very knife resistant, and a nail would seem ideal to go right through. (admittedly, the head might stop, if it's large enough) I think the ceramic inserts that go in some vests might be of some limited use in protection.

Someone remind me of the name of the worker in the US that got a 1" bar blown through his skull, lived and kept working (for a bit, having severe personality problems). Was it the construction of the Hoover dam, or a railroad tunnel?

[Hamie]

Sounds like a ramset gun. Fairly common in NZ... Or were whenever I went near a building site.