Oh Fudge, That Was Close - A Salutary Lesson

RJW,

To defend myself.

I was more concerned with the hint of competition that was beginning to creep in, rather than taking offence at the material itself. I couldn't agree more that such warnings are both salutory and timely and need to be taken on board but it can turn into something of a circus in the end and is then unedifying.

Back in my box now

Brian

The current 17th Edition of the Wiring Regs for new installations requires that:

• Socket outlets for general use in domestic installations must have the additional protection of an RCD not exceeding 30mA (regulation 411.3.3)
• Cables buried in a wall or partition at a depth of less than 50mm, and not mechanically protected by appropriate earthed metal, must be protected by an RCD not exceeding 30mA (regulations 522.6.6–8)
• .....(we don't tend to fit showers in our workshops).....
• To prevent nuisance tripping, unnecessary hazards, and minimise inconvenience, circuits should not be connected to a single upstream RCD (regulation 314.1)
• Separate circuits shall not be affected by the failure of other circuits (regulation 314.2)

That's why split consumer units with multiple RCDs and/or RCBOs are the norm these days. However, if like me you had an "outdoor" workshop with its own dedicated consumer unit, you would need to wire it in before the house RCDs so that it doesn't trip the house in the event of a ground fault, otherwise you may also need to leave room to install a bed in said workshop!!!

It seems that RCDs or individual RCBOs are considered necessary for general use sockets etc, but not for hard wired (Class I) equipment which by definition is provided with a protective earth to trip the MCB if there is an internal short from live to ground. And strictly speaking, that hard wiring (and protective ground) should be protected by grounded steel cable ducting.

So, to broadly meet the requirements of the 17th edition in an external workshop and prevent loss of lighting after a ground fault, you'd really need to fit a split consumer unit there too, with separate RCDs for the lighting and equipment groups - or fit separate RCBOs for each of the individual lighting and power circuits. That tends to rule out most of the single RCD "garage" units unless you have a very simple workshop setup.

I have to say, an emergency (battery backed) lighting system (as suggested above by Ian) in conjunction with a single RCD and multiple MCBs sounds like a much simpler and more cost-effective solution that would meet these goals. LED-based emergency lighting products seem to start at 20-30 pounds.

Handbag alert. Well, it is fireworks night after all....

Notice that the guy demonstrating the 'Sawstop' isn't confident enough to use his own hand or finger.

One of my customers was a surgeon, and one day Dad described to him how he had removed the tip of his middle finger, whilst using the EmcoStar planer making patterns, the surgeon then said:-

"Machines will remove limbs and body parts quicker than anything else!"

There spoke a man with experience.

Geoff - That machine has bitten me as well now!

Glad your ok Andrew were not all impervious to mishaps and should be treated as a warning. I work alone and you guessed it phone rings to flog you something, forget where you were and so on.

Phil replaced them Dewhurst internals twice before scrapping the machine. Luckily they are low power/torque used to set mine as a clutch with the belt if anything grabbed.

There is a difference in taken necessary precautions to going well over board. eg honestly how many remove chuck guards before using the machine for first time from new, another tripe H&S no wonder British manufacturing gone to the wall along with scaremongering offloaded to insurance companies.

One thing that scares me is woodworking machinery and presses.

Hello John,

It is very generous of you, there is no really need for apologies, rather it is me who should be offering them.

Reading your post had me close to sprinting for the bathroom and I didn't take it on board at all that your accident was so recent. I have been back since and read it properly this time.

What a horrific experience. Thank you too for sparing us the pictures, I really wouldn't have got to the loo in time and the computer keyboard would have copped it all.

I hope you can make the best of what you have been left with, my best wishes for a speedy recovery

Brian

7 stitches on top of my right hand from a corner of sheet steel in the 80's at work. I was ok after they sat me down pouring blood, foreman came over, saw me and nearly fainted. they had to get him a chair too.

Early 90's in my own engineering workshop, very long beard, got caught in the pillar drill, pulled in and lost half the beard before switching off. Had to shave the rest off as i looked a right prat, and nobody had seen me for decades without a beard. Very fond of that beard.

Mike.

I was busy turning a piece of steel in the 4 jaw chuck making a cube and it flew out of the chuck and went straight through the window narrowly missing a person walking past who was apparently totally oblivious of it. I had to replace the glass and I recovered the piece of metal and completed the job OK. I put up a sheet of wire mesh later.

Recently I reached across the wood saw bench and like others had a slight touch to a slowing down blade which lacerated my thumb pad, no pain or sense of cutting but some blood! Then, later the blade picked up a small piece of wood about 2" long and flung it at my thumb (Not the same one) and boy that did hurt.

be careful out there!

Clive

Edited By jason udall on 08/11/2014 09:10:05

If we are getting on to the most stupid thing I have done- Old Landrover brake cylinder pistons stuck. Tried everything, soaking in diesel ,blowing out with compressor etc. Finally used gas torch, with the bleed nipple screwed in . Big bang piston flew, parted the dogs hair, hit stone wall. Never found the piston. Could have killed dog or anybody near. Don't leave diesel in confined space and get hot.

Gordon, a slight mod to the brake cylinder, and you have a hot bulb diesel motor, Some indication as to the power of such an engine. Ian S C

Geoff, you seem a bit unconvinced by the saw stop, follow the Link and fast forward to about 4min the designer does indeed use his finger, it would appear to be a Discovery channel film,

Mike

Mike,

Thanks for that, but strange they don't use the footage in their adverts.

Still NOT real world though.

When using a saw you are pushing material through against resistance, not pussyfooting as the inventor was with his finger, and the reason why fingers disappear so quickly.

However, that would have prevented my palm from being lacerated, and will stop people loosing digits!

It still took guts from the inventor to try it for real though, and hats off to him for that.

Will it make operators less careful I wonder?

He he, I can just imagine young, and not so young, bloods taking bets on who will be the first to take it for a test drive, using a real live and attached finger.

Geoff - Darn good invention though.