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Thread: What are your UNIQUE TO YOU safety rules in the shop?

  1. #46
    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Bolton View Post
    I'm not sure I follow the logic of nothing plugged in. I have miles of tools hard wired and others that stay plugged in 24 7. That seems a little odd. Do you unplug your tv when you leave the room? Do you slide out your electric range and unwire it? Unplug your fridge when you go away for a weekend?

    Makes zero sense
    Not sure why others would unplug their machines, but my practice (in the form of switching off the power bars, not unplugging) serves a good purpose.

    For example, my bandsaw and two types of sanders in one corner are all connected to a power bar to which an overhead focus light and a shop vac are also plugged in. The shop vac and light are left in the on mode at all time, so every time, I switch on the power bar, the light comes on with the vac. I simply turn on the machine (bandsaw or sander) to do the cuts or sanding as the light and vac are already working. When the job is done, I have only two devices to turn off: the power bar and the tool.

    Simon

  2. #47
    Join Date
    Jan 2017
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    MT
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    Not necessarily a safety rule (although turning on a band saw without the blade being tensioned could be bad). When I put the riser block in my 120V, 14" band saw I also wired a magnetic gooseneck lamp into the power switch. The light has its own switch. Whenever the light is on the band saw tension is on. Every time I loosen the tension on the saw I turn off the light. This works really well.

    Thanks for creating this post - good idea.
    Regards,

    Kris

  3. #48
    Keep your belly button polished and don't put your flush anywhere you aren't willing to put your genitalia

  4. #49
    No Blood On My Tools

  5. #50
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
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    SE PA - Central Bucks County
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    65,685
    Mark, the one tool I do unplug at the end of every day is my CNC machine. I want those electronics isolated and being completely unplugged serves that need. I don't unplug anything else, however.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  6. #51
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Location
    Kansas City
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    2,652
    A hobbyist with a basement shop. Everyone knows that if I'm down there, they need to flick the lights to get my attention, rather than sneak up on me.

  7. #52
    Join Date
    Jun 2012
    Location
    New Westminster BC
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    Other than blade or bit changes, the only time I worry about unplugging things is when we go away on vacation. Then I make sure my air compressor and garage door opener are unplugged.

  8. #53
    Quote Originally Posted by Doug Garson View Post
    Other than blade or bit changes, the only time I worry about unplugging things is when we go away on vacation. Then I make sure my air compressor and garage door opener are unplugged.
    That reminds me of this: When I go on vacation for a month or longer, I go "unplugged" -- moving most of my premium hand tools from the shop into the house which is monitored 24/7 by a monitoring service. While everything is insured, I hate the thought of going through an insurance claim process, and getting up to speed with new tools. The shop is a lot easier to break into than my "fortress."

    All the pricey machines are chained or boltled down...except the 500 lb table saw. Festool stuff is always kept in house, except the dust extractor.

    Simon
    Last edited by Simon MacGowen; 12-17-2018 at 10:32 PM.

  9. #54
    Quote Originally Posted by Simon MacGowen View Post
    Because plugging and unplugging is too inconvenient, I plug the tools to a power bar (a bar for a few machines using the same outlet). At the end of the day I have only two or three bars to switch off. The bars also provide an additional protection to the circuit. Often, if there is an overloading, it is cut off at the bar point which I can reset, without having to make a trip to the panel.

    Simon
    Please explain "power bar"! Surely you don't mean those power strips you buy at Walmart? If that is your overload protection in a wood shop with high amperage tools...well, God Bless you! Now if you got the TV and the cable box plugged in that's entirely different. Those breakers in the panel are designed for a reason. If it's too far away to walk over and reset one then that may be the reason why you keep tripping them.

    Marty

  10. #55
    Someone else already mentioned it, but if I make a bad cut because of an improper setup or measurement I hang it up for the day and go do something else. I find that the bad cut is because my brains tired and I wasn’t thinking all the way through. That could translate to poor concentration and losing a finger or worse

  11. #56
    Join Date
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Colombo View Post
    I take off my wedding ring after having it caught on a part on the lathe.

    Jim
    I do this also. I have a loop of cord that I keep in the shop. I slip my ring off my finger, loop it onto the cord and slip the cord over my head tucking the ring into my shirt. I started doing this after I left the shop without my ring a couple times. This way at least if I forget it’s still attached to my body :-)
    "A hen is only an egg's way of making another egg".


    – Samuel Butler

  12. #57
    Quote Originally Posted by marty fretheim View Post
    Please explain "power bar"! Surely you don't mean those power strips you buy at Walmart?

    Marty
    Seldom do those power bars (125V, 15 AMP, 1875 Watts) trip as each bar is hooked up to two to three machines plus a light, or plus a light and a vac. And only one machine is used at a time (with the light or the light and the shop vac operating in the background). The machines are light-duty ones like bandsaw, sanders, drill press, etc. One time one of the bars tripped when I switched on a second machine before the first coasted down completely.

    Simon

  13. #58
    Wow.

    I would cause several here to go into cardiac arrest within 5 minutes of being in my shop.

  14. #59
    Join Date
    May 2015
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    Ingleside, IL
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    1,417
    Quote Originally Posted by Darcy Warner View Post
    Wow.

    I would cause several here to go into cardiac arrest within 5 minutes of being in my shop.
    2nd that. Art Pepper playing as loud as the stereo will go while I chop dovetails barefoot, smoking a cigar .
    Stand for something, or you'll fall for anything.

  15. #60
    Join Date
    Nov 2018
    Location
    Coffee City, Texas
    Posts
    169
    Not really any specific rule, but I'm very sensitive to the dangers of losing control of heavy objects. In my real job I've had coworkers who have: had their ribs crushed and lungs collapsed, broken toes (3 separate occasions), broken foot, severed fingers (2 separate occasions). If I cannot easily control a heavy or awkward load alone, I am much quicker than your average bear to stop and get help before proceeding with an operation that is even slightly risky. I have yet to break any bones working and I still have all my fingers and toes.
    Dojo Kun, 1: Be humble and polite.

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