Hoy a la mañana me levanté con planes de continuar la construcción de mi chulengo, esperando poder estrenarlo este sábado, al menos con la parte principal terminada. Ya el chassis estaba hecho, pero como me quedó unos centímetros más alto que lo conveniente, me dispuse a cortar las patas para hacerlas de longitud variable. Corté las tres primeras sin novedad, pero cuando estaba cortando la cuarta se presentó violentamente –unas centésimas de segundo– un accidente:
- Se trabó la hoja de corte en el metal y se rompió en pedazos
- La amoladora salió volando de mis manos
- Me hizo un tajo bastante hondo en la mano derecha (yo soy zurdo)
- Me rasgó la camisa, la camiseta y la piel de la panza
- Cayó al suelo, donde siguió funcionando como si nada hubiera pasado.
Porque pude haber perdido la mano y aun la vida, si no se hubieran dado una serie de circunstancias atenuantes:
- Primero, el corte se produjo en la parte superior de la mano y no en la muñeca, donde pasan todas las venas.
- Segundo, mi mujer estaba en casa, a punto de salir a hacer las compras.
- Tercero, en la clínica donde me llevó de urgencia estaba disponible el médico de guardia, que rápidamente contuvo la hemorragia, me desinfectó la herida, me puso 5 o más puntos de sutura y me recetó todos los medicamentos necesarios.
Resumiendo:
- NUNCA hay que sacarle a la amoladora la cubierta que proteje la hoja. Hay situaciones en que esta cubierta molesta o impide hacer un determinado trabajo. Si es INDISPENSABLE sacarla, hacerla por un momento pero volverla a colocar ENSEGUIDA.
- NUNCA hay que intentar cortar o limar con la amoladora una pieza que no esté FIRMEMENTE asegurada. Si hay alguna posibilidad de que vibre, se doble o se afloje, no usar la amoladora para esa tarea, aunque eso suponga transpirar un buen rato haciéndolo con la sierra manual o la lima.
- Se pierde mucho más tiempo haciendo el descanso obligado por el accidente, que el que se puede ganar haciendo las cosas rápido y mal.
- Se gasta mucho más dinero en tratamientos médicos, remedios, etc, que el que se puede ahorrar por hacer un trabajo apurado y mal.
- Se sufre mucho por más una herida provocada por imprevisión, que lo que se disfruta haciendo un proyecto "hágalo usted mismo".
- Mientras más PODEROSO es un elemento, más PELIGROSO es: explosivos, combustibles, motores, mujeres, etc.
- ESTA VEZ tuve suerte. Cuidado con la próxima, puede ser mucho peor.
NOTA2 agregada jueves 12: NUNCA use los discos de corte para desbastar, o viceversa. No fue este el caso, pero es un consejo a tener en cuenta.
We all know that the tools, specially those powerful, are dangerous, but we tend to rely on luck under the silly assumption "it was not going to happen to me, I have experience."
This morning I woke up with plans to continue building my chulengo, hoping to premiere it this Saturday, at least completed the main part. The chassis was done, but since it was a few inches higher than desirable, I prepared to cut the legs to make them variable length. I cut the first three without incident, but when I was cutting the fourth appeared violently –a few hundredths of a second– an accident:
- The blade jammed into the metal and broke into pieces
- The grinder flew out of my hands
- It made a pretty deep gash in my right hand (I am lefty)
- It ripped the shirt, the undershirt and the skin of the belly
- It fell to the ground, where continued working as if nothing had happened.
- First, the wound was in the top of the hand and not in the wrist, where there are much more veins.
- Second, my wife was at home, about to go out for shopping.
- Third, the clinic where she took me had available an emergency doctor, who quickly stopped the bleeding, disinfected the wound, gave me 5 or more stitches and prescribed all the necessary drugs
In summary:
- NEVER have to get the grinder cover that protects the blade. There are situations where that covering annoys to doing a particular job. If you MUST remove it, do it for a moment but INMEDIATELY turn to place it.
- NEVER try to cut or to file with the grinder a piece that is not firmly secured. If there any chance that it vibrate, bend or loosen, do not use the grinder for the job, even if it means perspire a longer time doing it with the hand saw or file.
- You lose a lot more time doing the break forced by the accident, that those can be gained by fast and bad made things.
- You spend more money on medical treatments, medicines, etc, that you can save by making a hurry and bad work.
- You suffer a lot more for a wound caused by lack of foresight, that that you enjoy doing a "do it yourself" project.
- The more POWERFUL is an element, the more DANGEROUS it is: i.e. explosives, fuels, engines, women, etc...
- THIS TIME I was lucky. Beware the next, can be much worse.
NOTE2 added Thursday 12: NEVER use the cutting discs for grinding, or vice versa. This was not the case here, but a advice to consider.


































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( por ejemplo, la máscara de la foto la uso cuando pinto o barnizo, junto con guantes para manejo de químicos)
OMG! some time ago, when using one of those chinese crappy cutting disc on my dremel, the disc split in half and i nearly get my eye ripped off, just came a few mm's to my face. i usually wear my safety googles, but is one situation that you say, bah, is a little cut, should be fine. a parent cut his thumb off with a grinder, and the doctors did a good job, at least he can use it like a claw to pick up stuff. we don't know about our luck until we realize. greetings from barcelona
I don't like angle grinders at all although i do use them they demand a lot of respect when using them. When I did my engineering training the angel grinder the one the college had was kept locked in a cage at all times and you had to ask the instructor for the keys when you wanted to use it and had to have a good reason to use it also, 4 out of 5 times when you asked the answer was no because we wanted to use the grinder as a short cut on our projects.
You are a naughty boy for using the grinder without the blade guard that came with it or I hope that came with it. I refuse to use a grinder that has no guard fitted.
I have had a few if the thin metal cutting disks shatter but the guard always saved any accidents from happening.
Accidents happen, my left hand has had so many accidents over the last 25 years that my thumb and index finger are now tingle from the last cuts they got, and playing my Ukelele seems to be slowing the healing process, but then what the hey i would rather have my music. :-)
Since i started as an engineer I have nipped a finger in a 55 tone pressure steel press, now that hurt, have a scar on my middle finger where razor sharp swarf from the lathe cut me. almost lost my thumb while i was chopping firelighters and someone switched of the lights as i was in mid chop. and it took a piece out of my index finger on the horrible 4 jaw chuck on my wood lathe, I just got a new nova chuck that this can not happen on.
I also have a brand mark on my belly from my training days, I was gas welding and was pushing the cold end of the welding rod against my belly as it burned down, but when it got very short I forgot which end was hot and branded myself
So take it easy and look after your self, just sit and relax with a notebook and pencil and think of the next set of projects you can do, one without angle grinders that is ;-)
Get well soon,
PS some accidents do seem to hurt more the next day because when they happen the adrenalin kicks in and that last you about 24 hours, but if in doubt see the doctor.
Que te mejores pronto Rimar, la esperanza de hacer una recuperación rápida y completa.
No me gustan las amoladoras angulares del todo aunque yo no los uso que demandan una gran cantidad de respeto al utilizarlos. Cuando hice mi formación en ingeniería del molino el ángel de la universidad tenía una se mantuvo encerrado en una jaula en todo momento y ha tenido que pedir al instructor de las teclas cuando quería usar y tenía que tener una buena razón para usarlo también , 4 de cada 5 ocasiones en las que pidió que la respuesta era que no, porque se quiere utilizar la amoladora como un atajo en nuestros proyectos.
Usted es un chico travieso para el uso de la amoladora sin el protector de la hoja que viene con él, o espero que lo acompaña. Me niego a usar un molino que no tiene protector instalado.
He tenido unas cuantas si el metal fino corte de discos rompen pero el guardia siempre salvo de cualquier accidente que ocurra.
Los accidentes ocurren, mi mano izquierda ha tenido tantos accidentes en los últimos 25 años que mi pulgar y el índice están zumbido procedente de los recortes de los últimos que han conseguido, y tocando mi Ukelele parece estar desacelerándose el proceso de curación, pero entonces lo que el Hey Prefiero que mi música. :-)
Desde que empecé como un ingeniero que haber cortado un dedo en una prensa de presión de acero 55 tono, ahora que duele, tiene una cicatriz en mi dedo medio, donde con gran nitidez las virutas del torno me cortó. a punto de perder mi dedo pulgar, mientras yo estaba cortando las teas y alguien enciende las luces como yo estaba en medio chuleta. y tomó un trozo de mi dedo índice sobre el mandril horribles 4 en mi torno de madera, acabo de recibir un nuevo plato nova que esto no puede suceder en el.
También tengo una marca de marca en mi barriga de mis días de entrenamiento, que era la soldadura de gas y fue empujando el extremo frío de la varilla para soldar contra mi vientre, ya que se quemó, pero cuando lo tengo muy corto me olvidé de lo cual estaba caliente y de marca yo mismo
Así que tómalo con calma y cuidar de ti mismo, simplemente sentarse y relajarse con un cuaderno y un lápiz y pensar en el siguiente conjunto de proyectos que se pueden hacer, una amoladora angular, sin que sea ;-)
Que te mejores pronto,
PS algunos accidentes no pareció afectar más al día siguiente, porque cuando se producen los tiros en la adrenalina y que le hace alrededor de 24 horas, pero en caso de duda consulte al médico.
Doctors said me that they think about 85% of serious accidents are with a manual grinder involved. One of them said they should be banned, and the other said the cutting discs for wood should be banned.
You are right, this obligatory break must serve to sit and planning. A doctor said I can take analgesic, but the pain is not enough for that. It is a good alert signal, to avoid one do some foolish.
Your life was nothing boring, so you tell me! ¿Do you play well ukelele? Please send me a MP3 to rimar2000@gmail.com.
I tried Bass guitar, but due to a shoulder injury the longer neck cause me some pain (although i got given a Vintage Jedson Jazz Bass by a friend that i plan to do an Ible when I restore it, I got new tuners for it but unfortunately they are to big so the restore is on hold, it is just so beauty full to leave in such a bad state)
I toyed with electric guitar and acoustic guitar for almost 20 years, but short stubby fingers and the index finger that i crushed in the 55 tone steel press and the neck was still to long i finally just gave up. I neck of the banjo i built also is just a bit to long for comfort, so i had almost given up on playing anything.
One day i was out in my shed and had the radio on and they where talking about how George Formby's Uke only made £1000 at auction, and how why is a uke either about £15-20 or £300 why are there no mid range ones?
SO when i came inside I did a search and found a Chinese made Mahalo in a Fender Telecaster style for £37 and though if i cant play it it will look nice on the wall. well just lets say i played it til my fingers actually started bleeding and i had to stop till they calloused over, well i now have 3 Ukes and If you look at my recent Ibles about the Uke straps you can see that my Uke is hanging on the wall right beside me as i sit at the computer.
I will try and get a video of me playing, I am trying to pick up the nerves to play at a busking festival in a town near me soon. If i can get someone to video me playing I will upload it and send you a link.
I have added your gmail to my android phone so i should be able to email you from there, but i can only use English on that yet.
Take care
Andy
Mi juego es llegar a la etapa donde estoy empezando a aumentar el valor de cantar también. He perdido mi voz la semana pasada y todavía estoy limitado a pocas canciones en el momento en que yo cant llegar a algunas de las notas más altas, con mi voz quebrada.
Traté de Bajo eléctrico, pero debido a una lesión en el hombro del cuello ya no me causan algo de dolor (aunque yo he dado un Jedson Vintage Jazz Bass por un amigo que me he propuesto hacer una ible cuando la restauración, tengo nuevos sintonizadores para ello, pero por desgracia, son a los grandes por lo que la restauración está en espera, es tan plena belleza para dejar en tan mal estado)
Jugué con la guitarra eléctrica y guitarra acústica durante casi 20 años, pero dedos cortos y regordetes y el dedo índice que aplastó en la prensa de acero 55 el tono y el cuello estaba aún por mucho tiempo que me finalmente nos rendimos. Que el cuello del banjo i construido también es un poco de tiempo para la comodidad, así que casi había perdido jugando nada.
Un día yo estaba en mi nave y tenía la radio encendida y en donde habla acerca de cómo Uke George Formby el único hecho £ 1.000 en una subasta, y cómo y por qué es un uke alrededor de £ 15 a 20 o 300 libras, ¿por qué no hay de gama media ¿Cuáles?
Así que cuando llegué en el interior Hice una búsqueda y encontró un Mahalo chino hizo en un estilo Fender Telecaster por £ 37, y aunque si no puedo jugar a que se vean bien en la pared. así simplemente digamos que he jugado hasta que mis dedos en realidad comenzó a sangrar y tuve que parar hasta que en callosa, y ahora tengo 3 y Ukes Si te fijas en mis ibles recientes sobre las correas de Uke se puede ver que mi Uke está pendiente de la pared justo a mi lado cuando me siento frente al ordenador.
Voy a tratar de conseguir un video de mi juego, estoy tratando de recoger los nervios de jugar en un festival de música callejera en un pueblo cerca de mí pronto. Si puedo conseguir a alguien para jugar video me lo voy a subir y le enviaremos un vínculo.
He añadido a su Gmail a mi teléfono Android, así que debe ser capaz de enviar por correo electrónico a partir de ahí, pero sólo puedo utilizar el Inglés en ese momento.
tener cuidado
Andy
I have a pretty good creole guitar that I bought used some years ago at a good price, but take it off of the bag only once in a while to sing nursery rhymes with one of my little granddaughters.
Funny thing is that I always tried the finger picking style of guitar like Jerry Reed and i find that I do that a lot on the Uke, they are great fun as they are so easy to learn. I have loads of my favorite rock songs that I have learned to play, they are good laugh when you play them for other people.
How is the hand doing now?
Lo gracioso es que siempre he tratado el estilo finger picking de la guitarra como Jerry Reed y me parece que yo que mucho de la de Uke, que son muy divertidos, ya que son tan fáciles de aprender. Tengo un montón de mis canciones favoritas de rock que he aprendido a jugar, son buena risa cuando se juega por otras personas.
¿Cómo es la mano haciendo ahora?
I do not think buying a ukulele, but it is likely that I decide to build one. The hand is fine, just a little more swollen than the left. Just in case I took a diclofenac 75 mg at 20:00, in order at night does not swell or hotter. This afternoon I went back to work, but previously bailed several safeguards: put the cover to the blade and put on the transparent mask that covers the entire face, just in case.
I today posted a new Instructable describing my stupid mistake, title is "Drill press safety ( lesson cost six stiches)".
Bill
Gracias por esto, Osvaldo, me recordó a algo parecido estúpido que hice en la tienda. Tuve la misma lesión y vendaje como tú! Pero no tomó fotos. La lesión era de mi mano izquierda. Hoy he publicado un nuevo Instructable describiendo mi estúpido error, el título es "Drill Press seguridad (costo lección seis puntos de sutura)".
I once had a blacksmith working on a gate at my house. I remember seeing him cut a thick piece of steel with a big angle grinder. He had boards under both ends and was holding the bar with his boot next to the blade. Needless to say the bar pinched the disc when it was near the bottom and the grinder jerked off of his hand.
I have always said experience kills. So does being in a hurry, being a cheap bastard, working drunk or sleepy and being messy.
I do try and stop work once in a while to put all the tools I'm not using away. Being tidy doesn't run on the family, but one must have a safe workplace.
Hope you're fully recovered. You are an inspiration to us all.
So glad you were not hurt worse than that!
Great instructable on your chulengo..love it!
Remember too, the wire wheel launches arrows.
Thanks for remember that, is very dangarous when you work without security glasses.
I have been trying to be extra safe in the shed since your post, but then again its not the first tom I have got a nail up through my boot and most likely not the last either.
We learn from these mistakes :-)
Even using tools the correct way can cause injury---my husband received a Radial Arm Saw as a gift---he had been using his fathers up til then---and decided to make a picture frame. He had everything set up just fine and so imagine my surprise to hear screaming.
I discovered that the saw was working fine BUT the wood had shattered as it touched the blade and drove itself back into the palm of his hand. causing a huge "flap"
This was repaired with many stitches and a fairly long healing time. But he has minimal scarring and no loss of feeling.
There was NO metal in the wood; no obvious "Flaw" like a knot etc. He always uses some form of "pusher" so his hand was NOT near the actual blade. Just one of those things.
Other "stupid" ways to get hurt---please don't ask HOW I know these things!
Do not trust the former owners of your house/business to have labeled the fuse box correctly.
Do not forget to check your crawl space for some one venting 20 years worth of dryer lint under there and then you come along to solder a pipe---not a pretty picture
Do NOT forget to CHECK which end of your NAIL GUN the nail EXITS from. This would SEEM to be a no brainer but the same Husband found out the hard way while doing a demo for a customer that the particular nail guns exit point was---ahhh---a bit DIFFERENT than every OTHER nail gun on the planet. Why am I no longer SURPRISED to get calls from emergency rooms?
Do NOT attach your sattelite (sp?) dish to your chimney. Just---don't.
Do not attempt to give an animal an injection unless you know HOW. You could go right thru the skin fold and shoot yourself in the eye with the vaccination drug which just might be something that was NEVER meant to actually BE in anyones eye.
Just sayin'.
Here there is a video about "kickback", that that happen to your husband:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVpGi85HfnY
I am thinking to do an instructable collecting my own experiences about missing safety precautions and their impact. Maybe a collaborative writing could be a good idea, but my poor English knowledge is an obstacle. I delay a lot translating phrases and retouching them.
Wish you a speedy recovery!
Wood cutting disc for hand grinder are extremely dangerous, they should be prohibited. I fear them a lot, but I have three o four. Normally I use them in my cutting table.
My hand goes well, tomorrow the doctor will remove the stitches of the wound.
Fijate si en la ferreteria "La Campana" o en "magaro"(5 y 55 sobre la diagonal) tiene los guantes de nitrilo que te dice DriX.
Que te recuperes pronto. Saludos.
También quería comentarte que vienen unas amoladoras bosch con un sistema llamado "kickback stop" que hace que si el disco se frena o se parte, la máquina instantáneamente se para, lo que en mi taller ha salvado algunos accidentes (acá usamos muchas amoladoras y los discos de corte que usamos son de 1mm). Seguramente vienen otras amoladoras con sistemas parecidos. Es verdad que cuestan más caro, pero un dedo perdido no te lo paga nadie.
Es muy importante el punto #2 que aclaraste, creo que todas las veces que ví un disco de corte romperse fue porque la pieza no estaba bien agarrada.
Otro consejo que te puedo dar, es que te compres unos guantes de algodón con nitrilo que protejen MUCHO las manos, tienen muchísima resistencia al corte, más que unos guantes de cuero, y cuestan 20 pesos. Te adjunto una foto de los guantes, por favor compra unos, es mucho lo que protejen.
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I totally agree with you Osvaldo, you have to be very carefull with power tools, specially with the angle grinder, wich is the machine I most seen misused. The guard cover has to be ALWAYS in the most secure position, anytime you change the grinder angle you'll have to reposition the guard, even it being annoying.
I also wanted to tell you that there are some bosch angle grinders with a "kickback stop" feature, that stops the disk whenever the disk breaks or suddenly stops, in my workshop it stopped many accidents (here we use a lot of angle grinders and our cutting disks are 1mm thick). Surelly there are other brands of grinders with that feature too. It's true that they are more expensive, but none will pay your lost finger.
It's very important your #2 statement, I think all times I saw a cutting disk break was because the working piece was not properly secured.
Another advice I can give you is, buy a pair of cotton-nitrile gloves, they DO protect A LOT your hands, more than a pair of leather gloves, they have an incredible cutting resistance, and they cost 4 bucks. I attach a photo of the gloves, please buy a par, they really protect you.
El tipo que me cortó el tubo de GNC me dijo que con su cortadora de plasma no pudo, tuvo que hacerlo con la autógena, y le llevó un montón de oxígeno. Me cobró $350, al principio me pareció una barbaridad pero luego me di cuenta de que él tenía razón. La puerta no fue problema, porque las paredes del tubo tienen 1/4, pero en los extremos tiene casi una pulgada. De todas maneras la salamandra me salió barata.
Thanks, I'll see if I can get those gloves at La Plata. I have leather gloves, also cotton and rubber flecks, but I find it too uncomfortable to always use them, I wear them only when I have to hold to weld workpieces closely. An uncle of mine, to use gloves, a rolling machine grabbed his hand, and barely was able to save it ... leaving the nails and the skin of the tips of three fingers inside the glove. It's rather like the seat belt: saves lives, but some have been saved from not using it.
Thanks for your concern. I think my hand is healing quickly, hope don't change opinion tomorrow. This afternoon I went back to work, with extreme caution.
Don't worry, be happy... My hand is healing well (hope!)