Comic Relief: How Not to Re-surface a Grinding Wheel

[Jack Hogoboom]

Had a humorous "accident" I thought I would share with the group. I found myself with a little extra time this afternoon so I was puttering in my shop, cleaning up. I noticed that the wheels on my 8" grinder were a little wobbly, so I took off the covers and tried to tighten up the spindles. I was having trouble because everytime I tightened one wheel, the other one would come loose. After a while, I thought I had everything up to snuff so as a test I turned on the grinder on the slow (1735) speed. Everything seemed OK so I cranked the speed up to 3,400. After a second or two, the grinder started to buck a little so I turned the power off. Right then the right side wheel vibrated off the shaft and landed on the table. For about a half second, the wheel just spun there in place. Long enough for me to realize that grabbing the wheel would not be a good idea. Then the wheel shot off the table, skipped across the mobile base for my table saw and and came to rest up against the DC. It took me a couple of minutes to find all of the various pieces of hardware that had flown off with the wheel, but eventually I found everything. Miraculously, the wheel only had a few dings in it, so I remounted everything, made sure it was all secure and tested it again. Let's just say it was an "enlightening" experience.

Jack

[Ted Shrader]

Jack -

One of those cartoon experiences? Where the character runs off the cliff, hangs in mid-air for a while, then falls to the bottom of the gorge. Glad you didn't grab it - lots of inertia there - you would be sporting some real good road rash on your hands now.

Regards,
Ted

[Jack Hogoboom]

Luckily, in addition to being dull, I am also slow.

Jack

[Michael Stafford]

Hey, Jack, without that wheel your tools will be dull. In all seriousness I would be very careful to "ring" that wheel carefully. If it has any small cracks after running off by itself it could explode when you turn the grinder on. :eek: Scary! I've had one explode on me and I was lucky as most of the wheel hit me where I have the most padding somewhere near the belt. :p

[Waymon Campbell]

Luckily, in addition to being dull, I am also slow.

Jack

Good chuckle Jack. Glad it didn't do any damage.

[Steve Clardy]

Lol.
Reminds me of the time around 1973 when I was overhauling a 4-speed out of a Vette.
Had it all disasmembled on the bench, all laid out like it came apart. Got the parts cleaned up one at a time, and had everything cleaned and in order the way it came apart.
The reverse gear had a front and back to it, so I STOOD the gear up on the table, to make sure I got it in right.
Was working away, then noticed this reverse gear starting to roll.
I had my hands full, and just stood there and watched it roll off the table, onto my right foot, smashing my little toe.:eek::eek::eek:
Ouch, that hurt. Turned black, blue, green, and a few other colors.
Went to the doc the next day, diagonis, it's broke, tape it up.
Couldn't put any pressure on my foot there, so for three days I walked around on my heel. Then I got stone bruised on my heel.:eek:
I was about ready to cut the thing off so It wouldn't hurt.:rolleyes:

Steve:)

[Chris Padilla]

Ah, so *that* was the pain I felt way back then for no apparent reason in my foot! They say twins share many things.... :D

[Steve Clardy]

Ah, so *that* was the pain I felt way back then for no apparent reason in my foot! They say twins share many things.... :D
Lol. Yep. That must have been it Brother.;)

Steve:)

[Kent Cori]

Jack,

Thanks for the humor break although I'm glad no harm was done to you or the wheel. Maybe we could make grinder wheel racing the official sport of SMC! ;)

[Mike Kelly]

Jack, you might want to replace that wheel as it could have been damaged where you can't see the fractures and it can become a time bomb. Wheels are cheap. You aren't. Glad you didn't grab it!

[Lee Schierer]

Boy that was a close one. Glad you weren't hurt.

When I was in 9th grade shop, one of the students was trying to make a cut on a unisaw. He couldn't get the blade to cut. He walked away from the running saw to get the teacher and when he was about 10 feet away, there was a loud whizzing sound as the blade dropped out of the bottom of the saw, ran across the flloor, climbed the wall several feet away and embedded itself in the acoustical tile ceiling. Seems he forgot to put the nut on the arbor. (No it wasn't me!!!)

The teacher left the blade stuck in the ceiling since it was ruined anyway and hung a sign under it saying this is what happens when you don't practicce good shop safety.