Do you wear a mask grinding HSS tool bits?

Along with suitable eye/face protection, does anyone wear a mask when grinding HSS tool bits?

Interesting question!

I'll be honest and confess to never bothering.

Jim

No.

Me too; but it's one of those 'Hmmm' questions, better to err on the side of caution....

George.

It depends. If it is just a touch up of a tool, No.

Yes if it is taking a regular drill to a flat bottom , or vice versa, or making a new form tool from a blank.

The same for linishing, if it is just a very small thing and less than a couple of minutes , and a 1 off, Then No.

If I have lots of parts to linish, I wear a mask. Going to install a vacuum collection point on the linisher for the new shop though, and for the bandsaw as well.

Neil

Why?

Martin

Cobalt would be one good reason.

Steve

Really. So how much Cobalt would you say gets into your bloodstream in this way?

regards Martin

It is just common sense, if there is an appreciable amount of dust in the atmosphere, to wear a dust mask. Clean air is always better than polluted air.

I did a lot of grinding today from just bought blanks, the build up of dust was a fair bit and my 8" bench grinders are outside under a lean too. Half way through I started to think this can't be good and I could taste metal dust in my mouth.

Put a mask on and by the time I had finished the prefilters on the mask were pretty black. I think from now on anything besides a really quick touch up I'll be donning the mask. It only takes a second or two, annoying yes, but I suppose lung problems would be a heck of a lot more annoying.

I would agree if off hand grinding does generate appreciable amount of atmospheric dust. I don't think it does.

Quarter the acceptable yearly exposure of something is better than half of the acceptable yearly exposure but they are both acceptable.

regards Martin

the only time I use a mask - and it a professional double filter jobby - is when im cleaning up the outside of my completed copper boilers. The microscopic copper particles are aweful if you breathe them up your nose!

I dont wear a face mask but do use a pair of safety glasses, a serious eye injury doesnt bear thinking about I do the same when milling and turning.

Long list of industrial diseases caused by breathing dust but I've never noticed HSS mentioned as a hazard.

The risk of grinding depends on the material (including the wheel), how much exposure, and individual health.  Sheffield Knife Grinders used to die young from Grinders' Asthma. "In fork grinding, which was acknowledged to be the worst branch, Dr. G. C. Holland found in 1843 that of 97 men employed, only 30 attained the age of 30 years; and he thus concluded that two thirds of the men died before reaching their thirtieth birthday."

Good news - coroners haven't identified Model Engineering as a cause of premature death and GP's aren't writing worried letters to the Lancet about us. (As far as I know!)

I guess the risk of sharpening HSS is a home workshop is tiny. But it would be sensible for anyone grinding on a large scale to wear a mask, especially if they are already on the wheezy side. Smoking is a risk multiplier, don't suck on a cigarette whilst grinding.

Finding the right mask to filter out a particular nasty isn't easy. Might be fun to collect what comes off a grinding wheel and use a microscope to compare particle sizes with the mesh of the filter. An ordinary DIY store dust mask might be completely ineffective for this purpose.

Dave

Edited By SillyOldDuffer on 28/05/2019 10:23:14

If you've got a lot of metal to remove from a HSS blank it's quicker and easier to mill it first, then use the grinder to touch up and add the relief angles.

Andrew

I don't know about that - saying "Darling, Look at the lovely new lathe I've just bought" might lead to a fatal encounter!

??

I'll stick to my Al/Ox belt linisher for roughing out 5/8 and 3/4" sq HSS blanks thank you...

Re the OP, no.

Swollen testicle syndrome

Considering the age demographic of Model Engineers we should be more resillient than the general population.

For example we have a longer life expectancy as we are not in the group that died before they were 50. The older we are the less likely slow killers are to get us on the basis we will be dead before they have the chance. We will not get early onset dementia or die giving birth.

regards Martin

For some years now when free hand grinding steels containing Tungsten an extraction system has been mandatory (in most parts) of industry due to the possible inhalation of radio active Tungsten.

Guy