Drill Press Accident

When I was in High School (way long ago) a college student/student teacher was helping the Drama teacher and students build a set for the school play. She was holding a piece of 2x4 in her left hand and drilling a hole that lined up with the center of her palm. When the drill broke through, the bit went all the way through her palm and out the back side. Fortunately, it missed all the bones and tendons, but the Drama teacher had to deal with getting the bit out of her hand and first aid.

I have an old wrist pin slipped over a T-slot nut/stud that I keep mounted on my drill press table. I have a large washer and nut on the top to retain it. I move it where my workpiece can bear against it as an anti-rotation stop, and the large washer prevents the workpiece climbing up off the stop. This works very well, and doesn't need much set-up time.
 
At MrPragmaticLee's age, he should be well seasoned and know better. The was a heavy piece of steel.

I remember in middle school shop class, we were building wood lamps that needed a long hole through the entire length for the cord. The shop teacher had a long (>16") drill bit set up in the drill press to perform this operation. Well, a student was drilling his hole when the bit caught and threw the lamp across the shop and it slammed into the wall breaking into it into pieces. The drill bit had a "L" shape to it. Luckily, no one got hurt.

The shop teacher half chuckled about it! Different times for sure!
 
The incident in the video was an accident waiting to happen. Ideally, the anti-rotation restraining force will be in the same plane as the cutting force. IMO, the only safe way to drill that piece would be to clamp it in a vise and fasten the vise to the table. It also appeared that the part was being held at the 10 o'clock position (12 o'clock being toward the column). If the part were to break free, your hand would be in the path of the swinging part. Holding at the 7 or 8 o'clock position, your hand will swing outward and outside the circle of rotation when it loses the grip reducing the possibility of contact when the part swings around. (It wouldn't have helped much in this situation as the centrifugal force caused to part to rotate downward, increasing the swing radius of the rotating part.

I know my drill press and how much force is required to have the belt slip or the motor stall. This tells me hoiw much of a lever arm I need to be able to restrain the part. If the part is too short , I will mount a stop on the table and rest the leading edge of the part on the stop. Still smaller parts require the use of a vise. I have a Vise Grip style clamp made especially for the drill press which is convenient for use in securing a work piece or vise. https://www.amazon.com/QWORK-9inch-...+Grip+Drill+Press+Clamp&qid=1662999202&sr=8-6 When I use it, I place it to the left of the part so if the part breaks free, the clamp will act as an anti-rotation stop.
 
I am just glad he was fine.

Thank you for the safety reminder...
 
I learned long ago that you use metal to hold/restrain metal when doing any work to it. If you're relying on flesh to clamp or hold metal (or even wood), you're going to have to pay the "butchers bill" sooner or later. That's just a bill I don't want to get.

Also learned long ago that you don't get in the plane of rotation of any cutting device or risk kick back and consequently a hole in your body wherever it hits. or if the cutter comes apart, you'll be on your way to emerg in short order. You can stand beside it, but never in line with it. Same with the input and output areas where your work-piece will go. I always think to myself "where is it going to go if something goes wrong" before I hit the power button.

Lastly, eye protection. 24/7 365 when in the shop. I have several high quality sets (optically) and place them at all the entrance doors and they go on when anyone walks in. I also keep a set on each of the machine tools in my shop, wood, metal or otherwise. And just because I know I'm often lazy or slack, I keep them on the power switch or operating levers/handles so I can't ignore them.

I'd like to say I'm just a smart guy and think of these rules all on my own but unfortunately, these are lessons that were written in blood. Either mine, or someone elses.

this is the default config for my drill press:

42C35DD6-CE5C-4A87-A3ED-55EDF33FCEC8.jpeg

The work either fits in the vice or, if necessary, the xy table is removed and whatever it is I’m working on gets clamped directly to the table with as many big c clamps as necessary. If I end up with something doing a “death spin” its not for lack of me trying to prevent it. Thats when the “don’t get inline” rule comes into play. Gives me enough time to run away while the machine beats itself to death.

I can replace a machine. I can’t replace a finger, hand or eye….or worst case; my life.
 
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And after all that, he ran his fingers along the fresh edge of the same part after cutting it in the bandsaw.

Long ago, I was drilling through a commercial door frame to install a steel anti-theft plate to cover the deadbolt lock. (The enterprise belonged to a friend and it had just been burglarized.) After drilling through the door frame, I reached around (without looking) to brush away the chips. Yes, with my bare hand. Fortunately, the emergency clinic was open to stitch it up. It's not the only scar I still have, but it's still visible 35 years later.

Complacency is the number-one risk factor.

Rick "Poor Richard: 'Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other.'" Denney
 
I would hate to admit how many similar events happened to me before I FINALLY learned to secure everything I drill or mill o_O
 
devils4ever said:
I don't know if anyone watches MrPragmaticLee on YouTube, but this video is scary and makes you think how fast accidents can happen. Luckily, he escaped without major injuries, but his hand looked quite gruesome.

It seems that drill bits like to grab just as they are breaking through the bottom of your workpiece. I'm not sure why, but I've experienced it many times. Clamp your workpieces down!

Stay safe everyone.
Click to expand...

I saw that one. Going up to it I thought "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot". That was not good thinking on his part. In fact, it was a lack of thinking on his part, as he knows and has described WHY he wouldn't hold that part by hand, but will hold other stuff free hand. I suspect the shape of that bracket got the best of him, because he knew better. He himself has said so in the past.

I will not claim or pretend that I've never held a part on a drill press table. There's some common sense involved. like, what's gonna happen "when", not "if" this part catches. What's the part shaped like. HOW is my hand arranged on it? It's gotta be so that when it catches and spins, it RELEASES your grip, not tighten it. It's got to be so when it spins around and hits you again, it pushes you out of the way, not cutting you in the process. It's gotta have enough mass that when the drill breaks through, you have some remote hope that it might not catch. Honestly, not all parts qualify for this.....

Had he clamped that in a crappy little drill press vise, not even bolted down...... He could have then held the handle of that vise. The drill press helecopter would not have chopped his hand apart. His other arm, yarning with half his weight and compound leverage on the quill to get a drill bit to cut, that didn't want to cut... That's another no-no. Forget "why isn't the drill bit cutting", but if you're gonna yarn on your tools like that (it's his drill press after all), don't let that put your arm in that position I was talking about. That arm should have never been there. He'd have gotten the same effect, and better positioning with his arm out of harms way if he'd have stuck a pipe over one of those handles. Which while there was no pipe, that's exactly what he was doing, compounding leverage and body weight to yarn on the handles.

Like any tool in the shop, you've gotta think..... And think ahead. That couldda been a lot worse.

Here's a couple of quick "cheats" if you're gonna cheat. If you're on a small enough drill press, use an oversized drill press vise. Nine times out of ten, you can hand hold the vise, with a part in it, in a position where the handle is against the column. Or at the very least on the left side of the table. If something grabs, it's gonna stop (maybe) or it's gonna break the drill clean off. Either way, the incident happens and is over, the energy from the event is spent elsewhere, in a NOT HELICOPTER direction, and it's kind of a non event. Hopefully an eye opening event, but not a blood shedding event. Or if the vise doesn't work out for you, just a plain old F clamp clamped on your part, Now you've got a good handle, no hands on sharp corners, and the handle of course, like the oversized vise, long enough to hit the column on the way around.

That said, about how to cheat.... It's just not that hard to put stuff in a vise. And very easy to become complacent. There is a time and a place for freehanding, but if you're doing it more than once in a blue moon...... Probably should stop and figure out why it's happening so much. With power tools, stuff happens that you can foresee, stuff happens that you cannot foresee, and sometimes... Just sometimes.... Stuff happens straight out of the ether that just couldn't even have happened, but it happened anyway. Never be afraid of it, but ALWAYS, ALWAYS keep your guard up. Things will happen. Maybe today, maybe next week, maybe next year... It's up to you to make yourself safe WHEN it happens. If you had a room full of safety guards, shields, face shields over your safety glasses... If you ever start thinking it can't happen to you... Even if you've done the same part a thousand times- If you think it can't happen on the next one, if you stop thinking through your steps to make it a "non event" when something goes wrong, it's time to pack up and go do something else for the afternoon.

If YOU are running the tool, then YOU are the brains of the operation.
 
Ignorance is curable, stupidity is terminal.........
 
I think it was more of a mental safety lapse than stupidity…. I see this happening more and more often with my father-in-law….
 
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