The other day had a couple of local helping out with a bit of DIY around the house. At the end of the day all the tools were still there but the two power grinders had the safety guards removed and sat neatly on the work bench.

Just sayin'

I can sympathize.....

 

But, most here seem to be prowling, searching Patts & Nana for just that very thing....

And?

Sometimes they just get in the way. I used mine all the time without. Obviously I used strong gloves. No problem if careful and know what one is doing. I still have all my fingers.

What does get me about Thais and power tools is that they never use safety gear such as goggles or ear muffs, and when arc welding either nothing or dark glasses. I even offered one guy my own welding shield and he turned me down. Of course as they can't see what they are doing they produce rubbish welds. 

Those guards are a pain in the arse and the grinder/ sander cannot be used properly they are more of a hazard than anything else removing the guard is the safest war to use them.


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+1 the guard on mine got binned way back when.

Me too.

This should have been a poll.

Had a work mate who had the disk shatter when he was using a grinder. Pieces of the disk pierced his skull which resulted in him having brain surgery. I guess they put guards on for a reason.

1 hour ago, giddyup said:

Had a work mate who had the disk shatter when he was using a grinder. Pieces of the disk pierced his skull which resulted in him having brain surgery. I guess they put guards on for a reason.

Plus it's very common to see the wrong disc being used for cutting/grinding, or discs left out getting wet and then being used.

5 hours ago, sipi said:

Me too.

This should have been a poll.

Mine fell off ages ago and it is easier to use without it as the guard sometimes gets in the way. Ditched the heavy duty gloves too as they interfered with a firm grip and would not have stood up to a grinder anyway.

 

Most important things you need are decent eye protection of some sort plus make sure the safety cut out is always working properly...ie stops when you are not holding down power switch.

9 hours ago, giddyup said:

Had a work mate who had the disk shatter when he was using a grinder. Pieces of the disk pierced his skull which resulted in him having brain surgery. I guess they put guards on for a reason.

Which is why I never used it so the blade was pointing at me.

Agree that it's a risk, but many things I've done in life were a risk potentially ending in maiming or death, and I never had a blade shatter, though wore out hundreds.

Sometimes it really just comes down to luck- if he hadn't had a blade shatter he could have been run into by a drunk idiot on the road. Life is a risk.

30 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Which is why I never used it so the blade was pointing at me.

Agree that it's a risk, but many things I've done in life were a risk potentially ending in maiming or death, and I never had a blade shatter, though wore out hundreds.

Sometimes it really just comes down to luck- if he hadn't had a blade shatter he could have been run into by a drunk idiot on the road. Life is a risk.

It's all about minimising risk. You might get away without wearing a helmet on a motorcycle for years, but you only have to hit the road hard once.

17 hours ago, giddyup said:

It's all about minimising risk. You might get away without wearing a helmet on a motorcycle for years, but you only have to hit the road hard once.

I agree, but everything is a risk, and by minimising the risk even while not using a guard I considered it to be an acceptable risk. A m'bike helmet doesn't prevent me from riding a bike at all, whereas a guard is an obstruction sometimes, which is when I removed it. I usually put it back on when it wasn't in the way, as it did stop the bits of ground up material getting in my hair.

On 12/24/2017 at 9:04 PM, giddyup said:

Had a work mate who had the disk shatter when he was using a grinder. Pieces of the disk pierced his skull which resulted in him having brain surgery. I guess they put guards on for a reason.

I don't take the guard off, but i dont put my face in line with a where a shattered disc would hit it either.  How did he manage that?

57 minutes ago, 1BADDAT said:

I don't take the guard off, but i dont put my face in line with a where a shattered disc would hit it either.  How did he manage that?

You can predict where pieces are going to go if it shatters?

13 hours ago, giddyup said:

You can predict where pieces are going to go if it shatters?

Yes.  The disc is most likely to go perpendicular to the axis of the shaft.  That is the direction that it has the most momentum.   And by the way, that is exactly where the guard is located.