GrrRipper Accident

[Mike Kelly]

Since so many of you are getting GrrRippers here, I just want to share an accident I had yesterday with it. Hopefully you can learn from my not paying attention. I had just ripped a scrap of Baltic Birch plywood to 1 3/4" wide. I needed a 1 3/4" square piece for a fixture I was making. I flipped it around to make the second cut and pushed it up against the fence with the gripper. The piece was just long enough to fit under the gripper with the apron, or whatever the yellow thing on the side is called, moved down to contact the table. The previous cut I made used this apron to stabilize the GrrRipper.
As I moved it through the blade, after the wood was cut, the apron must have moved the cutoff piece ever so slightly towards the blade and a typical kickback occurred. The cutoff piece initiated it, started pushing the grrRipper up ( with me still exerting downforce on it of course), and the piece to the right of the blade after the GrrRipper was
forced up starting it's kickback. The blade at this point contacted the GrrRipper and knocked it backwards, but remained in my hand. The little cutoff hit the wall along with the shavings the blade took out of the GrrRipper. I couldn't believe the plastic shavings were at the wall also!

The prevention should have been, not to have had the apron down for this cut. A splitter would not have prevented this one from happening as the wood would not have reached it before the kickback started. It didn't hurt me or the blade, but my GrrRipper got a souvenir gash in it.

Check out the neat splitter that MicroJig has almost for sale. hhttp://www.microjig.com/MJ%20Splitter.htmas

Here are some pictures that show what occurred.

"GrrRipper2" simulates what I was trying to do and the apron that should have been up.
"GrrRipper5" shows how close my hand was to the kickback.
"GrrRipper8" shows my GrrRipper damage.
"GrrRipper10" shows what should have been the proper position for that board.
"TenonJig" shows the completed fixture with the little part installed.

[Bruce Page]

Mike, thanks for the heads-up. Leaving the apron down would be an easy thing to do, obviously it’s no a good idea! I’m glad that you weren’t injured.

[Tyler Howell]

Sorry about the accident.
On another note. Great Pictures. Wonderfull detail.

Tyler

[Joe Tonich]

Mike,

Thanks for the warning, I just ordered one yesterday. Glad your OK.

Joe

[EliotMason]

Yes, thanks for sharing - great illustration. I
m not sure how the skirt would push the piece given that it seems that it would still be held by the green sticky part. Even such safety devices mean we still have to use our brains and be careful!

[Tony Sade]

Thanks for the heads up, and I'm also glad you're ok. I just got through watching the Gripper DVD today and think I'll be using the two that I have gathering dust a whole lot more.

BTW-wasn't the main problem here that you were actually trying to cross cut a piece using the fence and would have been better off using a miter gauge (or better yet a band saw)? It isn't called the Grrripper (emphasis on the ripper part) for nothing.

Take care,

[James Carpenter]

I don't own the gripper but it looks like it did what it was designed to do, keep your hand from touching the blade. Better the gripper damaged than a finger missing. Glad to see you alright though. When something like that happens it always puts us a little more on our toes for awhile, just wish we could learn to be on our toes before and prevent the accident from ever occuring. I'm not trying to sound like i'm perfect - i had a large bruise on my stomach at Thanksgiving for about two weeks because of a nasty kickback. I may have to invest in one myself - looks like a great tool.

[Jim DeLaney]

I'm gonna be the odd man out, here...

Perhaps the gripper lulled you into making a cut that you shouldn't have even considered on a tablesaw in the first place. Without the gripper, you couldn't have made the cut safely at all, and now, with it, you were tempted to do something that was questionable at best.

The only safe way to cut a piece that short on a TS would be with an auxiliary crosscut table. Even so, I'd have likely taken it to the bandsaw instead.

<Center><FONT FACE="Comic Sans MS" COLOR="Blue">Of course, that's just my opinion... I could be wrong.</FONT></Center>

[John Scarpa]

Mike,
I am so very glad that you are OK. Thank you for doing such a good job sharing the details with us.
John

[Byron Trantham]

Man that was close! How's your heart? I had a similar accident several years ago that sent a 1x2 almost through a hollow core door! I had a project awhile ago that required several small blocks like yours and I used a cut-off fence and a miter gage. Glad your able to tell and show us what can happen even with the best of intentions.

[Keith Outten]

The situation here is much like using a miter Gage and a fence at the same time. When a board is between two fixed surfaces and it skews there is going to be kickback.

The GRR-Ripper apron being in touch with the board essentially bound the board between two fixed surfaces.

This is one type of saw-cut that the GRR-Ripper is made for, it allows you to machine small parts and keep your hands away from the blade. Mike was right in that the kickback would not have occurred if the apron had been in the up position for this cut.

Thanks for the pictures Mike and the safety reminder, glad you weren't hurt.

[Mike Kelly]

Yes, the GrrRipper did what it was supposed to do, kept my hand away from the blade. Also, if I would have either put the apron up or used my JoinTech SmartMiter or my bandsaw, I wouldn't have had the kickback. I still feel a little stupid, but a little smarter. I learned long ago, not to stand behind the blade, so getting hit in the body probably won't happen. The GrrRipper also kept the pieces from hitting my hand or arm as they got flung.

[Mike Kelly]

I had a call from Henry Wang early this week after he had read my "technique" for throwing wood against the wall. He thanked me for the analysis and pictures and sent me a replacement for the chewed up section which arrived Thursday! He also showed me another tip for cutting small pieces like I was doing. If you raise the blade until the cutting teeth are just above the work, and stop the cutting just after the front of the blade finishes the cut and before the wood gets to the rear of the blade, simply turn off the saw while holding the piece until the blade stops! The wood is not touching the blade at this point if you keep the GrrRipper against the fence and there is less room for "error". Thanks Henry. Great product and good ideas. Can't wait until the little splitter is available.

[Bob Oswin]

Great product and good ideas. Can't wait until the little splitter is available.

I want to use a band saw for small parts like this.
Just too risky for me. ;)
Anything shorter than the length of the TS blade(exposed) goes on the bandsaw.
Stiill looks like a very useful jig though.

Bob

[Aaron Heck]

Glad to hear you're ok after the accident.

Sorta OT, but that's a cool tenoning jig. Did you build that from scratch, or did you find the plans somewhere?

Thanks, Aaron

[Mike Kelly]

Glad to hear you're ok after the accident.

Sorta OT, but that's a cool tenoning jig. Did you build that from scratch, or did you find the plans somewhere?

Thanks, Aaron

Aaron, I am not smart enough to come up with the idea, just the need for it. It is from Shop Notes #6. The Woodsmith site has a hardware kit available for $16.95.
http://store.yahoo.com/woodsmithstore/tenjigharkit.html

I haven't used it on a project yet, but I made a test cut and it works real well. Very stable.

[Jeff Skory]

Mike,

Glad you're ok. As everyone mentioned, it sure heightens your awareness again.

On a slightly different note, that's a nice looking tenoning jig. Did you make it? Did the plans come from a magazine or did you come up with on your own?

Jeff Skory

[Jeff Skory]

Scratch that last question. I hadn't moved to page two of the posts yet. :rolleyes:

[Thomas Walker]

I'm with you on this one, although maybe I'd feel differently if I saw the presentation or video.

When I first saw one in a store I was naturally intrigued. However, it gave me a bad feeling when I realized that it was designed to put my hand right over blade of a tablesaw. That just seems like something I never want to do.

[George Grubaugh]

If you cut small parts on a table saw, try this!

http://www.woodworking.org/Exchange/Forum2/HTML/009658.html

[Mike Kelly]

Glad to hear you're ok after the accident.

Sorta OT, but that's a cool tenoning jig. Did you build that from scratch, or did you find the plans somewhere?

Thanks, Aaron


Aaron, it was featured in ShopNotes #6. It appears to be very stable. Woodsmith sells a hardware kit with all the parts necessary to build it. I bought the kit a couple of years ago and finally dug it out and built it. It is less than a half day project.

http://store.yahoo.com/backissuesstore/sn006.html
http://store.yahoo.com/woodsmithstore/tenjigharkit.html

[Jim Williams]

Wow Mike, I guess it worked as it should have worked since you still have your fingers but I was alarmed when I read your post. I just ordered the Grrpper for myself a couple of days ago so thanks for the heads up. I will certainly be paying attention to what you said. Thanks again for the timely post.

[Stan Smith]

Great discussion from everybody on the tool and accident. I'm with Jim Delaney on this one. I've had the same thing happen without the gripper and learned to add a clamped block to the fence when using the miter gauge. Some advocate the bandsaw, but I used my Makita scms for cuts that are less than 12". I have the fence clamping system and can cut pretty small pieces, safely, if they are clamped down. I'm now considering getting a Gripper though.

Stan

[Boyd Gathwright]

Hi Mike,

Since I just joined as a new member, it's become obvious to me I am going to need a good shop camera for all here on Saw Mill Creek. I like the closeup shots you did of your accident and am glad it was no worse than it was for you. What camera / model are you using:confused: It appears to be of decent quality for the job.

Thanks

Boyd




Since so many of you are getting GrrRippers here, I just want to share an accident I had yesterday with it. Hopefully you can learn from my not paying attention. I had just ripped a scrap of Baltic Birch plywood to 1 3/4" wide. I needed a 1 3/4" square piece for a fixture I was making. I flipped it around to make the second cut and pushed it up against the fence with the gripper. The piece was just long enough to fit under the gripper with the apron, or whatever the yellow thing on the side is called, moved down to contact the table. The previous cut I made used this apron to stabilize the GrrRipper.
As I moved it through the blade, after the wood was cut, the apron must have moved the cutoff piece ever so slightly towards the blade and a typical kickback occurred. The cutoff piece initiated it, started pushing the grrRipper up ( with me still exerting downforce on it of course), and the piece to the right of the blade after the GrrRipper was
forced up starting it's kickback. The blade at this point contacted the GrrRipper and knocked it backwards, but remained in my hand. The little cutoff hit the wall along with the shavings the blade took out of the GrrRipper. I couldn't believe the plastic shavings were at the wall also!

The prevention should have been, not to have had the apron down for this cut. A splitter would not have prevented this one from happening as the wood would not have reached it before the kickback started. It didn't hurt me or the blade, but my GrrRipper got a souvenir gash in it.

Check out the neat splitter that MicroJig has almost for sale. hhttp://www.microjig.com/MJ%20Splitter.htmas

Here are some pictures that show what occurred.

"GrrRipper2" simulates what I was trying to do and the apron that should have been up.
"GrrRipper5" shows how close my hand was to the kickback.
"GrrRipper8" shows my GrrRipper damage.
"GrrRipper10" shows what should have been the proper position for that board.
"TenonJig" shows the completed fixture with the little part installed.

[Mike Kelly]

Hi Mike,

Since I just joined as a new member, it's become obvious to me I am going to need a good shop camera for all here on Saw Mill Creek. I like the closeup shots you did of your accident and am glad it was no worse than it was for you. What camera / model are you using:confused: It appears to be of decent quality for the job.

Thanks

Boyd

Boyd, I am using a Sony DCR-TRV730 Digital Handycam. It takes still pictures or movies. It does OK in good light. I would really like to have a good digital camera however, I just haven't been able to justify it to the housefrau yet. Taking 35mm photos and scanning them works too, it just takes longer to develop.

You might want to download this program to help resize your photos to fit on SMC. It is a freeware program and is real easy to use. 500 x 500 or smaller works just fine.

Happy sawdust!

[Boyd Gathwright]

Mike,

I think you forgot to add the freeware program or did I miss it.

Boyd



Boyd, I am using a Sony DCR-TRV730 Digital Handycam. It takes still pictures or movies. It does OK in good light. I would really like to have a good digital camera however, I just haven't been able to justify it to the housefrau yet. Taking 35mm photos and scanning them works too, it just takes longer to develop.

You might want to download this program to help resize your photos to fit on SMC. It is a freeware program and is real easy to use. 500 x 500 or smaller works just fine.

Happy sawdust!

[Mike Kelly]

Mike,

I think you forgot to add the freeware program or did I miss it.

Boyd

You didn't miss it. I got interrupted twice. Sorry bout that.

http://www.freewarefiles.com/programs.php?ProgramID=7370&categoryid=3&subcategoryid=39