Wear a helmet when you work? (Radial arm saw safety)

[vmtw]

Saw the following while looking at RAS safety on the accident survey over on the woodworkers central web site about 3/4 of the way down. I think he missed the point, don’t you?

Level: Beginner Injury Type: Needed Medical Attention Accident Description I needed to cut a bunch of short pieces of steel re-inforcing rods. I didn't have a power hack saw so I used my radial arm saw. I replaced the saw blade with a large grind stone from my grinder. The shaft wasn't quite long enough, so I used some wire twisted around the shaft to hold it on. I then used some duct tape to cover up the sharp ends of the twisted wire. I started cutting the re-inforcing rods, and about half way thru the first cut, the grinding stone exploded. A large piece of the grinding stone hit me square in the nose, and a piece of the wire ripped off my left ear lobe. Advice to other Woodworkers Wear a helmet when you work.

By the way, I am in the process of setting up a Dewalt 7790 RAS that I picked up at a school sale. It has a built in motor brake that is not working. Is the brake easily repairable? Help would be appreciated. Scott

[SteveC1280]

This guy is destined to end up on the Darwin list.

Remove the 'remove' in my address to e:mail me.

[wch]

Even better advice: Don't be a dumba$$ with your radial arm saw!

[Michael Press]

What an idiot. He obviously didn't use enough duct tape.

Michael

[Lee Michaels]

"Michael Press" wrote

Duct tape his hands and feet together. Place him outside of the shop. Lock the shop door.

Then MAYBE he won't hurt himself.

[Bernard Randall]

Ingenuity and persistance can always defeat common sense, government and manufacturers safety efforts. I don't worry so much what he does to himself, it's the others that might possibly be in his line of fire next time.

Bernard R

[ToolMiser]

The scary part is that this person will probably have children.

[J. Clarke]

The hopeful part is that offspring tend to regress toward the mean--in other words his kids are almost certain to be less, uh, "challenged" than he is.

[bridger]

it's really easy, Scott. take a pair of vise grips and fasten them to the blade guard so they will grip the blade when you squeeze the handle. bailing wire works great to hold them in place. when you are finished cutting with your saw, just lock the vise grips and the blade will stop. you don't even have to shut down the motor, the breaker will pop shutting it down for you.

oh yeah, don't forget to cover the sharp ends of the bailing wire with duct tape. pointy bits of wire can hurt you....

[Frank Ketchum]

I am sure that he will sue the manufacturer of the saw as well as the grinding stone. Worse yet, he will probably win.

Frank

[B a r r y]

I strap two mattresses to myself and use a deep-sea diving helmet, which is fed with air conditioned, filtered air from outside. My arms, legs and hands are protected with surplus ice hockey goalie gear.

Inside the helmet, there is also a feeding tube, which ties in with the Depends I wear, lest hunger or having to go to the bathroom distract me.

One can never be too safe!

Barry

[jo4hn]

[snip of description of someone who should not be a part of the gene pool]

It is probably on the back of the motor (not the blade side). Take off the rear cover and whatever else you encounter until you come across a circular thingy surrounding the shaft that has a couple of wires attached to it. That's the brake. If you're lucky, there is a broken or loose wire or somesuch. Otherwise, if you're smart, rewind the brake. If you're like me, you buy the part and install it. Good luck. mahalo, jo4hn

[Mike G]

I don't get it, why wear a helmet, is it somehow a cure for stupidity? Keeps the brain warm or something?

[Andy Dingley]

Interesting site. I liked this one:

allen head screw can be dangerous.

between the foot plate and the head of

like being hit with a hammer repeatedly

to happen.

How about "Don't stick your finger in the jigsaw"?

[Bill Schnakenberg]

We can only hope that the next accident he has is to those parts that may make that possible.

[bridger]

allen head screw can be dangerous.

between the foot plate and the head of

like being hit with a hammer repeatedly

waiting to happen.

or don't replace the setscrew with one 2" long....

[Larry Kraus]

I've asked around about repairing the brake on my DeWalt 1400. As best I can find out, brake parts are not available from DeWalt, Wolfe Machinery or the Original Saw Co (main sources for DeWalt RAS parts). And if they WERE available, the brake would not work for long, anyway. So I just make it a point to keep my fingers away from the blade while it spins down.