How Relatively "Dangerous" is a Belt Grinder?

redsquid2

redsquid2

Rockabilly Interim Pardon Viscount
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
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I took a tour of a hacking space last night. They have a bridgeport, a couple of hacksaws, a forge, drill presses, welders, and angle grinders. I asked if they had any belt grinders, and the tour guide said they have never gotten one, because of "how dangerous it looks."

I have a 2X42, and I think a person would need to be pretty careless or distracted in order to hurt themselves on it. I don't think a belt grinder is any more dangerous than some of those other machines.

I was thinking of shooting an email to the board of directors at this place, with some links to youtube videos, demonstrating how relatively safe these machines are. Maybe they would buy one.

So what's you all's opinions? Is a belt grinder "dangerous," relatively speaking?

Thank you,

Andy
 
based on my experience the drill press is a lot more dangerous than the belt grinder. Really hot fire in a forge has it's own risks. Serial killers have cut people to pieces with hacksaws before so that's pretty dangerous. I used an angle grinder once and it seemed like a pretty risky operation so I stopped. Seems to me like any type of power tool moving at high speeds has some inherent danger but that's what personal safety gear, education and procedures are for.
 
The dangerous thought might come from many not having a guard over the belt.

Show them a Burr King might change their minds.
 
Just about anything can be dangerous. For me, an angle grinder is a lot more dangerous than a fixed belt grinder.
 
they are fun when a belt breaks at the seam! nothing like getting slapped on the arm by a 36 grit belt.

life is dangerous, everything is unsafe.
 
Anything that has high speed moving parts is at least as dangerous as the person operating it. The risk of catastrophic mechanical failure (such as a wheel coming apart at high speed) is generally lower with a belt grinder than with a hard wheel grinder.
 
Considering the tools they already have, they should have a belt grinder too.

It's pretty basic equipment in a shop for deburring at the least.

Probably they just have no experience with it.
Maybe you have to become their expert on that.


Like any well run shop, there should be training standards for every piece of equipment.




Be happy there is a Bridgeport
My local makerspace got a state govt grant, they blew $30,000 of the $50K on a 3D plastic printer.

It pains me what that money could have done on real tools.

They have a piss poor little cnc router and call it a milling machine.

Every makerspace has it's own master clique and they run the focus of the group
Unless you are on their board of directors and can influnce voting, you cannot change their direction.

I found that the best way for them to get new machines was for you to donate them.
Then what's the point right ?

AT $500 to $4,200 per year membership,no 24 hour access I found it better to just buy my own stuff, no going there and finding my stuff / shared stuff broken.
 
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Ed Caffery had a belt break and drove the knife into his thigh, cost him a trip to the hospital and some stitches, a leather apron is a good idea ;0)

Of course if you don't run your grinder at warp speed its probably not an issue
 
They may be thinking of a horizontal belt sander. Anything throwing things toward you instead of toward the ground is dangerous. That's why table saws are dangerous.

There's a bit of danger even with the vertical belt grinders. Imagine what would happen if you caught your finger between the belt and table. I had my table out too far the other night and had a blade slip down into the grinder that way. Really bad things happened to it.
 
12345678910 said:
(1)My local makerspace got a state govt grant, they blew $30,000 of the $50K on a 3D plastic printer.

It pains me what that money could have done on real tools.

(2)Every makerspace has it's own master clique and they run the focus of the group
Unless you are on their board of directors and can influnce voting, you cannot change their direction.

(3)I found that the best way for them to get new machines was for you to donate them.
Then what's the point right ?

(4)AT $500 to $4,200 per year membership,no 24 hour access I found it better to just buy my own stuff, no going there and finding my stuff / shared stuff broken.
Click to expand...

This was my first real-time exposure to a maker space (unless you count 8th Grade Wood Shop). It was an open house. I found it fascinating.

1. 3D printers. Last night was my first exposure to these. It looked like the local hackers had built a couple of them, and a manufacturer had donated one. I got the impression that they were only useful for making plastic novelty doodads. OTOH, if you are designing things that need plastics parts, they would be useful.

2. There were several board members present. The computer geeks seemed to be in charge, but I got the impression that they were open to all kinds of stuff. They've got a software design group, lots of electronics fabrication supplies and tools, knitting, sewing, cnc, nice woodworking setup, 3D printers, a beer brewing setup, and the metal working/forging stuff too. Everybody seemed happy.

3. Yeah, I don't know what kind of money they've got, but a Burr King 960 would be nice. There is no way I would donate that, even if I had the money. I wouldn't mind donating a few hundred dollars, with the right training requirements in place.

4. They've got two membership levels: $40/mo. (no on-site storage, no vote), and $70/mo. (on-site storage, plus you can vote policies and spending decisions)

I forgot to mention their kiln takes 12 hours to heat up (that's what the guy told me), plus they don't have the setup for tempering, and he said he did some tempering in his kitchen oven. :-)

It's located on the north side of Chicago.

Link: http://pumpingstationone.org/
 
Every tool is dangerous if you 1) don't know how to use it, or 2) use it improperly.

As long as you use a tool properly, and for it's intended purpose / within it's design scope, I can imagine why it'd be more dangerous than anything else (proper PPE be used as well, of course).
 
I've actually never heard of something like this. Sounds really cool if they have what you need. I'd definitely pony up if I could find a leather workshop.

I don't have a ton of experience with belt grinders, but the notion that they might be too dangerous in that setting seems silly.
 
i had belts snapping with no harm. Belts are light and when they snap they loose contact with the moving wheels.
The only couple of blood drops my grinder had seen is when she snatched a blade from my hand through the work rest gap...stupid me
 
I wish we had a decent makers pace here in jax, the small one we had going just folded up due to lack of interest and running out of money.
 
ihate using the work rest but i have 2 of them one 90 and one 45 degree i use the one for profiling blade shapes and the other to grind the bevel on the front of my handels
too easy to pinch a belt or have a blade bind in the gap (nother reason i dont grind bevels with jigs )
 
I'd hesitate to call any power tool "safe" ; as everyone else said, any tool is only as safe as the person operating it.

Never forget: Every tool you use in the knifeshop is designed to cut metal... and you are made of meat.

Having said that, I also agree that the belt grinder is the least likely tool to hurt you badly.
 
james terrio said:
Never forget: Every tool you use in the knifeshop is designed to cut metal... and you are made of meat.
Click to expand...

JT, you win the thread. Guys, imagine a piece of 1/2" square stock. About the size of my pinky. Now imagine a fresh 36 grit belt on a 3 hp KMG. Push the steel into the belt hard and watch it disappear. Yeah, of course knife making is dangerous. So is walking. Hell, I went on two calls last night for leg cramps. Life's hard, get a helmet.
 
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