worst crash ever

An additional note - A mini-mill or most any machine that will fit in a home shop simply does not have the power to have any spectacular disasters like those mentioned here. These disasters are pretty much all from machines with 20+HP spindles and 10+HP axis servos on machines that weigh 20,000#+.

Pete C.

Christina, This is a collection of the Worst Crashes known.

You would have to apply your same logic to conclude that you shoul never drive a car again, if you saw the results of the worst case crashes.

Most of these stories were about the carnage that happened to the machinery, not people. You pobobly know someone who had a car engine die. Similar mechanical carnage, but covered in sheet metal, and not talked about.

Go have fun with the mini-mill. You should enjoy it a lot.

Pete

"Girly" wrote in news:Fexdg.205401$5Z.109214 @dukeread02:

Don't get too afraid of them Christina, fear can actually cause an accident. Machining is fun, interesting and good for the soul. Taking a raw piece of metal, a picture in your mind and creating something useful is satisfying. You just have to watch what you do, observe safety precautions, use the protective devices available and a dose of common sense and you will be just fine. I know several women who are very good machinists.

That's a good comparison. I consider my drive to work more dangerous than the job by a long shot. One day, half a mile from my house, I watched someone cheat a red light and take the front end off a mustang entering the intersection. The worst crashes at work are nothing in respect to that.

I hope the original poster gets a chance to make something with the cnc. It's very rewarding.

Fred

Jim:

Here is a post I made in 1997 in a similar thread.

======================================================================== I'll relay something that happened to me a couple of months ago. We have an old 25 hp manual milling machine that we use for roughing large parts on. Well I'm squaring up this 18"x6"x8" block of steel that was band sawed way out of square. I have it in this 8" Kurt vise with a soft piece of aluminum bar to take up the irregularity of shape. You can probably guess what happened. The 6" dia. 8 insert cutter caught the edge of the part and pulled it right out of the vice and the piece started tumbling down the front of the machine. I backed up a step and the piece tumbled closer, I backed up a couple of more steps and the piece is taking out the handles on the front of the machine on it's way to get ME (or so it appeared at the time). I keep backing up and the piece keeps following me. When the piece finally hits the floor I do a little dance so it doesn't land on my toes. Well I'm uninjured except for the pride factor. The poor machine though has suffered the loss of a couple of handles and the insert cutter has been injured. I was really impressed with the 25 hp. It didn't even slow down, just kept plowing that piece right out of there. Here is another story that I heard about while still an apprentice. There was this deep draw die that makes something like very large wash pans on the order of 5 foot dia. and 2 feet deep. It took 5 women to load and retrieve the drawn part out of the machine. While the women had their arms extended into the machine retrieving the part someone at the back of the machine doing maintenance somehow triggers the machine for another cycle. Two women pull their arms free and another pulls one arm free. The others lose both arms by them being pinched clean off by the die. Major gruesome! Machine shops "can" be very dangerous places. I guess I'm lucky to have never had a serious injury in 30 years of machining. ==============================================================

BottleBob wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.net:

Have witnessed a similar accident, but was a trim press at an aluminum die casting/machining house. (Rat outfit) The fellow lost the last three fingers on the left hand, the first two and thumb on the right hand. The machine had been turned in for safety problems (locks wouldn't latch the die up), but they were making people run it anyway. I'm glad I got out of that place.

Then you have MY respect....

...AND...

So does he...

Very sorry to hear this....

No comments...

( VERY smart man then he must be )

Obviously, no fresh paintavailable for you to sit and watch drying then....

Well, only the insane...

Guess it takes all kinds to make the "Bobby go round" go round...

As do I. Mine and Julie's best wishes go out to you and yours.

"Pete C." wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@snet.net:

Feh!

I know of a guy that was killed by a very small two axis lathe. He started the spindle with the door open at a very high rpm. The lathe had a mandrel mounted on the spindle with no part on it and no safety snap ring. It opened up like a flower and he was hit by the shrapnel when it broke apart.

They are all dangerous no matter the size.

Put a boring head or some cheesy fly cutter into the mini mill and crank it up to 8,000 rpm. I'll bet it will do you no good.

One of my instructors told me about a similar incident except involving a mold machine. Someone had disabled the switch on the door to do maintenance. Lady operator reached in to unload and the mold closed on both arms (up to the elbows).

As an aside, at work, the man on the palm buttons is considered to be ultimately responsible for the safe operation of the press and die. You can tell when the guys you're working with don't trust your work because they'll insist you to trigger the press (we stand back and point at the console).

Regards,

Robin

Dan:

Well ya know, that reminds me... I had a cheapie Harbor Freight (or Enco, I don't recall which), 3" three fluted inserted flycutter in the Fadal, and when I started it up at 10,000 RPM (with the doors open of course), one of the inserts came out of the flycutter and struck me just below the ribs. Knocked me back a few steps and left one hell of a bruise! Pi X Dia. X RPM SFPM = ----------------- = 7854 FPM 12

BottleBob wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.net:

Ouch!

That reminds me of when I was a kid, I had an afternoon paper route. One day around Halloween, I'm walking along side the highway with traffic and someone threw an egg out of a car and hit me square in the back. My best guess is the car was going around 60-70 mph. Hard to say though, it took me off my feet and knocked the wind out of me.

It took about a minute or so to gather my wits and figure out what happened. At first I thought I got hit by a car. Hurt like hell.

Since we have moved on to presses. Back many years ago 198x or so the place where I used to work had a platen style diecut press. The operator climbed up on it to turn off the air to it for some reason, can't remember why. Clutch/Brake assembly on it was air to stop, no air to engage. She had turned off the machine but the flywheel was still spinning down.

Machine cycled once, her legs fell into it and she became a double above the knee amputee. The machine came to a stop clamping on her former legs with her upside down hanging from machine.

The first maintence man to get there picked her up and held her until paramedics came. Some wanted to get her out but cooler heads prevailed. The press was now crimping off her blood vessels, had the maintenance crew got her out immediately which as their first impulse she would have died there.

Wes S

Okay, so I'm late and catching up, but ff wrote on Fri, 26 May 2006 20:20:32 GMT in alt.machines.cnc :

As the de-brief after the fatal industrial accident put it: you are more at risk from the commute on I-5 going to and from work, than at work. Of course, you get "away" with all sorts of risky behavior, till the last time.

Yeah. Fun too.

pyotr

Okay, so I'm late and catching up, but Anthony wrote on Fri, 26 May 2006 18:30:47 GMT in alt.machines.cnc :

Something about not having their "machismo" tied up in their work ...

tschus pyotr

Okay, so I'm late and catching up, but "jimz" wrote on Fri, 26 May 2006 11:13:27 GMT in alt.machines.cnc :

I was looking at a part in the foreman's office, and it was rather complicated, curves in different planes. I made mention of it, and Leonard told me that the huge gear which serves to rotate the restaurant on the Seattle Space Needle was built in parts, on a Bridgeport mill. And when they got it together at the top of the Needle (a couple hundred feet up in the air) all the parts fit perfectly. And that was in 1964. "Not hard, just tedious attention to detail."

tschus pyotr

Pictures are worth a thousand words. So it is said.

WARNING: Not For the Squeamish.

Speaking of presses;

Check ur email.

Don't count on it. I used to work with an oldtimer who was at Boeing in the 50's. He told me about a guy whos job was drilling tiny holes, never bigger than 1/16" dia. One day he just keeled over dead, and nobody knew why until they x-rayed his body and found a broken drill about 1/32" dia. in his neck. Tools don't have to be big to hurt you. Just ask anybody after you watch them run a 3/32" drill through their thumb. And then keep going until the drill hits the table at an angle, flexes and breaks into pieces. All while the operator is trying to figure out the quickest way to stop the pain is to let go of the trigger. He was in a hurry.

Later,

Charlie

A few of those posted on the safety board instead of some cute safety slogan might get the point across.

Wes S