Kinda OT sorta Injury while doing what I love.

I was working on the 41 Willys pick up and I was using a 5" grinder. Well the backing plate split in half and hit me right in the face. Had to go to plastic surgery to ge sewn back up. Not fun at all. Did quite a bit of damage.

I have a pic on Myspace if you want to see why you should wear a full face sheild while grinding.

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/ind...&MyToken=fd4bd35a-8ecd-4e03-b169-df06fba4c585

 

Thank Gawd there was an error with the link for me... I can't believe I clicked on it...

Glad to hear you are ok. Well, okish.

 

Very sorry to hear that. Glad it wasn't worse.

The sad part is that I have heard guys tell similar stories - more often than not they were using a SUM FLUNG DUNG brand of backing disc. Granted this can happen with ANY disc, but why temp fate.

 

here, I'll host it for a bit. Good thing it wasnt any lower, it coulda hit a vein in your neck or knocked your teeth out .

 

Chicks dig scars........

Rich

 

DAMN! thanks for the wake up call, I always try to wear goggles, but the other night ago was the first time I wore a face mask cause I was in such close proximity to the grinder, but I'll do it all the time from now on!

 

That hurts all the way down here in Texas.

 

Yeah I don't feel that bad anymore. A little sore, but I now have a permanent reminder that saftey comes first. No more no name backing plates for me.

 

****,man you are lucky. (well lucky it wasnt worse) After my eye was poked out, then miraculously fixed, I always wear gl***es, but never a face shield.

any excuse for plastic surgery would help out my ugly mug. But I dont need it that way.I will start using the full sheild more. No more offshore cutoff wheels, grinding wheels are allowed in my yard.

I've never seen a backing plate go flying. I never thought they would come apart. I think some replacements are in order..

 

What is the backing plate? The little guard that is usually taken off anyway? Or the actual grinding disk?

 

The plastic plate that keeps the grinding disk from flexing. Works good on flat surfaces, but in this case, when you are grinding rough edges smooth, it's best to double up disks instead. I saw the "edge" the plate caught, and no plate could have survived.

Safety gl***es are great, but full face shields probably would be best. I'm sure most of us(myself included) don't use them, but this is a strong reminder of what could happen.

 

Oh man, safety first! Dont you guys listen to the SCTA??
I was majorly ****ed up in a 'work accident' a few years ago, was in hospital for around 12 months after it too!
Like everyone else said, lucky it wasnt worse! But that gets on your nerves after a while..............
You couldda been killed! No ****!
**** yeah, safety first.
Doc.

 

dude,
about 2years ago i was sanding with a 6" sander. the pad exploded and hit me in the face. it knocked my saftey gl***es off my face and the 36 grit cut me from my lip to under my eye. it hit me so hard, i couldn't see out of my right eye for a few hours. it felt like i got ****er punched in the side of the head. i still have a spot on my face where it hasn't totally healed! doc says i need to have surgey to remove it.

every time i use a sander or grinder, i cringe

 

Wow, sorry it happend, but its a great warning, i will start taking grinding more serious, somtimes i get in a hurry and dont wear anything! Now you got me skeered!!

 

thanks for the safety lesson.

that hurts just looking at it.

a few years ago I was using a big angle grinder with a large cup brush,
got the cord wound up in it and in a fraction of a second was whipped severly up and down both legs.

always pay attention
use your tools the way they were designed to be used
and wear your personal protective equipment.

 

Thanks everyone for the responses. I know I ain't the only one that has had shop accidents. Thought this might remind those including me that no matter how much of a rush you are in you should always slow down to think safety. I am just glad I was wearing my safety gl***es.

For now on I will double up on grinding discs and will no longer use a backing plate.

 

Good lord!, you're really lucky dude. I'm glad it wasn't worse. That stuff always haunts me when i'm doin something like that.

 

My big grinder is about a million years old...has a big rubber disk. Don't think that would fly apart.....but I have had the grinding disks fly apart, they could do some damage too. That picture makes you think.........

 

Let me guess, you took the safety shield off the grinder, right?

 

No it was a hand held 5" grinder. Not a bench grinder.
The ones with the flexible grinding disc and backing plate.

Here is a picture of the culprit for some of the confused.

 

Yeah, that isn't the grinder I was thinking of...

 

I think the correct name for the tool is a right angle sander. All that I know is that it can serousely mess you up.

 

Damn. With a scar like that you should try out for the next Sin City movie. Good thing it wasn't an inch or two lower.

 

Man that really ****s use one of those things every day never really paid any mind about that happening time to do some thinking

 

Hows the face doing?

 

I missed this post first time around. Glad to hear you're alright, and I hope you're healing up nicely now.

I lost a close friend last year when a grinding wheel came apart on him (industrial accident, not home). Tim was wearing a full face shield, but somewhere along the line someone had removed the safety guard on the grinder for ease of access and productivity, so when the stone blew apart there was nothing to slow it down.

Don't mess with safety equipment.

 

Ouch....I came close to that last year, but luckily the safety guard was still there and caught MOST of the debris.

14" chop saw blade exploded while going through some roll bar tubing. I chunk of it hit my jeans on their way past and went right through the seam at the edge of the pocket on my right side as it wizzed past. Didn't touch me but cut through that folded denim like a hot knife through ****er. 3" long cut - looked just like a knife did it before skipping off the floor and going through the side of a mounted 10 ply tire for my old dually. The piece of shrapnel was inside it - only a few inches long by about half and inch wide.

Had I been standing in front of the chop saw instead of to the side like I always do, I would have been neutered!

 

Sometimes this can happen when too much pressure is used pushing downon the grinder to make it work harder and you dont let the grinder do its job . Good thing it wasnt more to one side you would have lost you lip.

 

I'm going to sound like a broken record..... Why does it take a serious accident before people put on safety equipt? I admit, when I was younger I was bulletproof, it takes something like this to wake people up. You are only issued 2 eyes, 2 ears, keep abusing and ignoring and soon it will happen to you. I especially have a hard on for those grinding/drilling without safety gl***es, but thats my personal demon. A session in emergency to have metal removed from your eye would probably change your mind.. ... I am getting older and hopefully a bit wiser.

 

Damn, that left a mark! Could have been much worse. Got any pics before they sewed it up? I'd like to show my students. I have to remind then everyday to wear their shields.