Warning about Routers

[Mike Henderson]

Wow, sounds like a bad injury. I hope you recover quickly.

Mike

[Jim Becker]

Yikes! 'Glad you are ok and hope you heal quickly. Our tools are all dangerous, even when used as indicated. "stuff happens". "Off Label" use can raise the risk, too. Not much I can say that hasn't been mentioned already...so thanks for the warning and bringing this up here in the forum!

[Bob Cooper]

So sorry to hear about your injury. I’m having trouble understanding the use case. ID/OD grinding with a router? What’s a bit look like?

[Chapel Eastland]

Sorry to hear about the accident, hopefully the recovery will go well.

If you have not done so already, I would contact a lawyer. The change in speed in the router sounds like a failure of the tool in a manner that places the liability on the manufacturer, and not on you or your usage.

I'm not a lawyer, but a suit brought by a plaintiff using a router as a grinder in what a manufacturer could easily prove was beyond the scope of the tool and an utter disregard of safety warnings, would be dismissed.

The OP survived and hopefully will consider himself lucky and educated.

This is a good lesson for all.

[Mark Hennebury]

Hi Bob, thanks.

I was using my router to do grinding. so i had grinding wheels in it not router bits. if you look at the original post there are two photos that show the operation.

So sorry to hear about your injury. I’m having trouble understanding the use case. ID/OD grinding with a router? What’s a bit look like?

[marty fretheim]

Sorry to hear about the accident, hopefully the recovery will go well.

If you have not done so already, I would contact a lawyer. The change in speed in the router sounds like a failure of the tool in a manner that places the liability on the manufacturer, and not on you or your usage.

I ain't a lawyer but we all know what a router is designed for and its not that. No judgement here Mark, I have done similar things, many times. The only way my conscience would allow me to get a lawyer involved is to use one for a human shield in case something explodes again .

I hope you heal quickly

[Mikail Khan]

Thanks for posting.

Hope u recover quickly.

MK

[Mark Hockenberg]

Mark - Best wishes for a speedy recovery!

You'll get no discussion on your practices or judgement from me. I just appreciate you sharing with the community.

After getting whacked in the chest with a scrap from the table saw and watching another scrap hit the window behind the saw, I started wearing a full face shield. After that I got hit right between the eyes (with the shield on, so no harm).

Maybe the lesson for me is to wear the face shield around other tools also.

Thanks,
Mark

[Bert McMahan]

I have heard that full face shields are meant to be worn over standard eye protection. Just a tip. I know the face shield I have is much weaker than my safety glasses, so it'll protect from "nuisance" particles but it won't save something really barreling towards my face. Get well soon, Mark.

[Frederick Skelly]

I'm sorry you've been injured so badly Mark. I hope you'll heal up soon and without too much pain.
Fred

[johnny means]

I can't be the only one who thinks that setup looks like a "Hold my beer" meme.

[Greg R Bradley]

I can't be the only one who thinks that setup looks like a "Hold my beer" meme.

Not really, the only difference between that setup and a typical internal/external grinding setup is that a router was used for the grinding instead of a belt drive on a different motor.
Look at the linked video of the overspeed on the flycutter. That would have gone through several people completely as well a the walls that it went through completely.

[Jeff Bartley]

Thanks guys, i am doing well, a little shaken as i have about a dozen routers, all electronic speed control, and will now be a little nervous using them. Everything in my shop is dangerous and can seriously hurt you; i am okay with danger as long as long as it is predictable, this caught me by surprise.
The funny thing is i saw this video a month ago.

https://www.facebook.com/Dandjprecis...=2&theater

Thanks for sharing your experience Mark, sorry you were injured and I hope you recover soon!

If anyone here hasn't watched this vid I would recommend it. What an eye opening video! After seeing the vid I can only imagine what it was like when your grinding wheel came apart. Scary stuff!

[Dan Friedrichs]

Wow. Mark, best wishes for your recovery. The fact that a very experienced, skilled, and wise individual such as yourself could sustain such a serious injury should give us all pause. Thank you for sharing.

Do you think a full-face shield would have helped? It almost seems insufficient given the injuries you describe.

[Mark Hennebury]

Dan, thanks very much; I have given it some thought of course, I usually wear safety glasses and try not to be in direct line of fire for grinding. Small parts that i grind are pretty delicate grinding to bring to tolerance, so nothing aggressive. The face shield that i have, may have reduced the impact and damage, or may just had added plastic to the mix. I don't know how big of a piece hit me, i thought that all of my teeth were gone, but i found out that was probably mostly broken grinding wheel that i was spitting out. i really won't know exactly until after the visit on Tuesday with the oral surgeon. My face was far too swollen to see much. The thing is i probably wouldn't have had the shield on as i wasn't actually grinding at that time, i was just stood next to the router maybe two feet away sorting something out. There are many things that i could have done different and everyone knows that. If it broke loose at 24,000 rpms it was moving in my direction pretty fast and would have been bad news whatever part of me it hit. I turned the router on again a few times and sometimes it runs fine and sometimes it ramps up, sometimes it ramps up almost in an instant. I will take a video if i can.

Wow. Mark, best wishes for your recovery. The fact that a very experienced, skilled, and wise individual such as yourself could sustain such a serious injury should give us all pause. Thank you for sharing.

Do you think a full-face shield would have helped? It almost seems insufficient given the injuries you describe.