[Robert Stokes]

Yesterday I was cutting some rail with a cutting disc in a hobby or mini-drill when the noise it was making suddenly changed. I immediately switched off and discovered that about a quarter of the cutting disc had broken off. I wasn't wearing safety glasses at the time. I have a pair that I use with my mains powered DIY tools, such as hedge trimmer and angle grinder, but it never occured to me to wear them with the low powered hobby drill. Later I realised that the broken piece of cutting disc could have flown off with sufficient speed to injure my eye. Today I put my safety glasses on before even plugging in the drill. Am I over-reacting?

By the way, I don't know whether my cutting discs are particularly fragile. Today I broke one by just dropping it on its spindle from a height of only an inch or two.

 

[Brian Considine]

QUOTE (Robert Stokes @ 27 Oct 2007, 17:23) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Today I put my safety glasses on before even plugging in the drill. Am I over-reacting?

Not at all - you only get two eyes !

I've found that these cutting discs are very prone to shattering.

 

[Johan de Villiers]

No Robert you are not over-reacting. I think we are sometimes very negligent when we are using modelling tools (knives, cutting tools, hand drills, powered drills, soldering iron etc) and need to exercise the same safety precautions as we do with our hand and mains powered DIY tools.

Try to get hold of the reinforced cutting discs - they are much safer and will probably also last longer than the ordinary ones. Also try your local dental lab and see if you can get hold of some cutting discs made out of metal and covered with diamond dust. Sometimes they discard these discs with only little wear on it, but it can still be used for modelling purposes.

Kind regards.

Johan

 

[Richard Johnson]

[quote name='dbclass50' date='28 Oct 2007, 01:51' post='38076']
Not at all - you only get two eyes !

I've found that these cutting discs are very prone to shattering.

*** A tip that will let your discs last for a long time. Mix some epoxy, and with the disc on a flat surface rub it into the disc (both sides). Make it a thin even coat and rub in well - you don't want any "pooling" on the disc as that will upset the balance.

place the disc horizontally on a sharpened bit of wood or something similar (oil it so any residual epoxy won't stick)

Allow to dry overnight before use, even with 5 minute epoxy.

The disc should now last until it wears down without shattering.

Regards

Richard
DCCconcepts

PS: Robert - Glasses are a good common-sense idea - there's lots of chance when modelling to get splinters in the eyes - even when using modelling hand tools.

 

[PaulRhB]

Yep safety glasses are a VERY good idea when using any rotary tool or lathe. B&Q, RS, Screwfix and Maplins all sell plastic ones for £2-5 that will fit over glasses as well and they don't fog up like goggles.
http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/pro.js...52&id=50451

or

http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/pro.js...88&id=70180

 

[Sir Galahad]

You are definatley not over reacting.

We had a hobby drill thing and it had an attachment that was a right angle thing. Swithched it on, then a few seconds later the whole thing flew apart! The plastic case flew off. Along with the metal rod and the disk came in two and flew across the loft.

We were wearing saftey glasses but noone was hit.

Be warned.