Wearing leather gloves while adjusting engine

And it might help drag your hand into the blade.

hence the reasons most woodworking factories frown against gloves.

| > Afterward my eyes were drawn to some leather gloves I have for auto | > work. They're made out of reasonably tough leather, but fit | > skin-close. Adjusting a needle valve while wearing them wouldn't be a | > problem. The thought crossed my mind that if I were to make contact | > with the prop again, the leather just might help minimize the damage. | | And it might help drag your hand into the blade. | | hence the reasons most woodworking factories frown against gloves.

Of course, the situations are different ...

I'm not sure how big an Enya 15-4 is, but typically when you put your hand into a gas or glow engine's prop, the prop stops. Given a large enough engine, it may cut through your finger before it stops, but if it's smaller, it just digs into it somewhat.

Woodworking equipment, on the other hand, just keeps going and going and going ...

Leather gloves could very well protect your hand from a 0.40 sized engine and prop. It might hurt after putting your hand into the prop at full throttle, but it probably won't do serious damage as long as the gloves weren't cut. That said, I'm not going to test this with my hand ...

You're probably better off just learning to keep your hands out of the prop. But if it's cold, if you need gloves, you need gloves. Just continue being careful ...

I believe that Enya makes an angled needle valve. I adjusted a friend's n/v for him and I noticed that the needle was too close for comfort, and he informed me that they did have a needle valve for the engine but that he hadn't gotten around to getting it. It might be worth checking with Enya to see if they have one for it ,or maybe you can get an extension of some sort.

I always use a leather glove for starting my gas burners, but rarely for messing around with my glow engines. Rather I have generally taken other actions to keep my body parts out of the path of that buzz saw.

If it works for you, it works for you.

I use an aluminum arrow shaft with one end flared so that it fits over the needle valve. It's long enough that I can adjust the valve on an engine with a 12" dia. prop and not have my fingers within the prop arc. That, and I also keep one hand on the plane at all times. I don't trust anything or anyone to hold on the plane while I'm making adjustments.

I saw a guy launch a plane across the runway after the tail broke off while he was running it at full throttle. He had been standing with his legs on either side of the fuse with the horizontal stab at his heels (as most of us have probably done at some time) and the stress turned out to be too much for it. It seemed to take him a long time to react to the fact that his tail-less plane was going across the field, too. Fortunately, it didn't result in any other damage to either people or planes. Had he been running it in any other direction, the story might have been different. It did not, of course, prevent any of us from laughing our butts off at the time.

Nothing you can use is going to be proof against inattention. Allowing the arrow shaft to get into the prop could result in it becoming a missile and the user as the target.

I've seen people get so caught up in some little detail that they've done things like saw into their hand, trim the ends of their fingers off on a power planer or try to reach through a spinning prop... and even a co-worker who calmly walked into a prop on Fairchild - a full sized one. He got out alive but was missing an arm and had his face rearranged. Needless to say, it changed his life around.

Bottom line: the only solution, no matter what method you use, is complete and total awareness of what you're doing. You have to pay attention to what you're about to do but at the same time not lose sight of what's going on around you - be aware of the big picture, so to speak. Cheers, jc

There was an old guy around here who did a lot of wood working. One day, he showed up with his hands in bandages. Seems he was ripping some plywood on his table saw and got a hand too close to the blade. Since he was wearing leather gloves, the blade pulled his hand in. Removed three fingers. The meat cutters use what looks like a combination Kevlar chin mail glove. One of them told me it saved his hand when he tried to put it through a band saw.

Being so green in this hobby I'm not always aware of all the options I have. :) Now that you've mentioned it, I've seen that they sell remote needle valve kits, so if I can get one that'll fit the 15-4, I'll definitely do so!

Get yourself a leather glove that you're not terribly attached to, take it into the kitchen, and put it on the cutting board (preferably wood, or a butcher's block). Get the largest chef's knife or cleaver you've got, raise it above your head, and CHOP down on the glove as hard as you can. Even if the knife isn't the sharpest, you will penetrate the glove.

Moral of the story: Leather gloves provide JACK SQUAT in the way of protection from high-speed propellers.

Gloves also mess with your sense of touch.

I've been hit by lots of props (.049s to 1.60s).

I'm real happy to have had the protection of a leather glove the last time I got hit by the 1.60 gasser.

I can see that this is a much different case from turning a needle valve, but I'll keep on using the glove with the gasoline engines.

I also use chicken sticks, of course, when hand-propping mid-size engines (.25 to 1.20).

Marty

Your analogy is not at all accurate. There's much more inertia behind the cleaver. Your hand is also not trapped by the counter like the glove is in your test.

From behind? It would be interesting to hear the explanation of how this could happen.

Marty,

One (let me repeat that O*N*E ) time I tried to start my 3W75 without my glove on. That was the first time it popped back. That HURT, so now I wear the glove (a B&B glove with the kevlar finger tips so they can find them) EVERY SINGLE TIME!

I found that the few times one or another of my gas burners pops back, it only hurts a little instead of a lot and the leather reduces the cutting action a little. At speed, it probably would be useless but I try diligently not to hand tack my engines.

OK, jerk. YOU stick YOUR hand into a spinning prop, with or without glove, and lets see what happens. Dr.1 Driver "There's a Hun in the sun!"

My first RC engine was a Picco .45, a very high compression Italian engine. I was starting it with my fingers one day and it backfired and caught my thumb across the nail. No permanent damage, but I lost the nail and it hurt like homemade sin! The next day I went out and bought an electric starter. The battery and starter ran me about $50, and it would have been cheap at three times the price. Now, after 20+ years, still having all 10 fingers intact, and only one minor prop incident, I don't stick my hand into ANYTHING! I use an electric starter or a chicken stick. Dr.1 Driver "There's a Hun in the sun!"

Why are you so antagonistic? If you'd think for a second you'd realize what I said is correct. Unfortunately, it seems you often choose to not think.

I think the best feature of wearing a leather glove while starting or adjusting an engine is that it contains blood and other fluids so there is none of that messy spatter, as well as retaining the broken/severed body part in a conveniently sized pouch should the need arise.

What you said is correct. However, I still wouldn't attempt to start an engine by hand, with or without a glove.

Sorry I jumped you so hard, it's not a good time for me right now. Dr.1 Driver "There's a Hun in the sun!"