Retired Engineer Alan Falk spends lots of time in his workshop. Recently, he spent some unwelcome time in the ER:
"Earlier this year I learned that my Ryobi bench grinder has an awful design flaw: The shields on the grinding wheels have too wide of a gap between the "shield" and the wheel - wide enough to suck your finger in by friction when the wheel is spinning. It happened to me and cut a nice wedge out of my fingertip, like the "cross-sectional diagrams" of planets and stars you might see in an issue of Astronomy Magazine. My finger healed completely, but Ryobi has not responded to my gentle prods to redesign the covers. Basically, the outer protective covers should provide clearance at the center [axle] for the nuts and washers that hold the wheels onto the shaft and after that, should be as close as practical (maybe 0.25 inch max) to the side surface of the grinding wheels. Anyone who designs it any other way has had too much design school and apparently ZERO time in the workshop."
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Comments (7)
just a quick question i hope you can answer for me what is the correct name for the piece that is in front of the grinder that you use to rest is it a guard, seat? cheers
Posted by paul | June 2, 2008 5:33 PM
What are you doing with your fingers neer that part of the wheel/grinder???????????? own fault sorry!!!
Posted by richard jacobs | August 13, 2008 11:29 AM
Oh and sorry who still works in inch's?????????
Posted by richard jacobs | August 13, 2008 11:30 AM
I do, inches are much easier to work with than metric, It is easier to see the divisions on a ruler as well. I can work in metric but I was bought up in th 1970's on imperial.
Posted by Trevor Clay | August 18, 2008 7:39 PM
yeah!!! puttin you're finger's within 10 feet oops i meen 8 metre's of a grinda is just stupid????!!! you crazy fool!!!
Posted by Richard Jacobs | February 24, 2009 12:42 AM
OSHA spells all this out in 1910.215:
http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_id=9839&p_table=STANDARDS
The OSHA standards are online and free.
Posted by Mark Browne | March 27, 2009 3:08 PM
Thanks for sharing that, Mark. I can't find equivalent UK regulations online.
Posted by Alun Williams | March 30, 2009 12:45 PM