Safety

[chris stephensParticipant @chrisstephens63393]

Hi Guys (not Guyettes on this occasion, it’s a boy’s toys thing)

Found an amusing and informative video on Thermite. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnHR4cMXiyM&NR=1

This is for those who hadn’t heard of Thermite before its mention on this thread.

Enjoy,

chriStephens

PS Don’t try this a home folks! Lord along knows how long it would take to do a “Risk Assessment”

[mgjParticipant @mgj]

Nothing wrong with a little warmth at home. I used to melt Dinky toys with it – sodium chlorate and sugar was the initiator. Jetex fuze provided the retiring distance.(You need to get a bit of heat into it to get it to go)

 

I survived.

 

The one I nearly didn’t survive involved 5 sparklet bulbs, a dogs bowl and half a shovel full of embers from the woodburning range. Didn’t beleive my Dad, and learned a lot about the adiabatic expansion of gases that day.

 

This is actually proof that Chris is wrong. God really does look after the very foolish -and stupid 6 year old boys.

[Richard MarksParticipant @richardmarks80868]

Gentlemen

Me again, having nearly gotten over the trauma of having flammable metal in my mouth I have just been informed by my dentist that I need a Chrome-Cobalt  upper denture because I have a very heavy bite (and according to his prices a very heavy wallet or a light one depending how you look at it), Once again I need your advice, obviously two disimilar metals and an acid (vinegar from the bacon sandwich) make a battery, this combined with the titanium implants doesn’t bode well for my wellbeing. Seriously, when we were lads we saved up our pennies to buy fireworks and how many penny bangers did you get for a pound?  240  Two pounds worth amounted to a lot of gunpowder, used in home made fireworks,cannons,mortars etc but the point is we were aware of the dangers and acted accordingly but you are right about the modern generation, they have neither the education or the inclination regarding the dangers around them, their stock answer to everything is  “whatever”  Its dangerous and will kill you does not appear in their lifestyle, unfortunately I dont know the answer, does anybody?

Dick

[David Clark 13Participant @davidclark13]

Hi There

The problem is we have desensitised the young to danger.

This is happening in two ways.

Firstly we wrap them in cotton wool never allowing them to fall over, or do anything even slightly dangerous.

 

Then we buy them computer games where they can go and kill make believe characters who are still there walking and talking after they have died. Is it any wonder they carry knives and kill each other?

 

I think they assume they can stab some one and they will get up and walk away.

Unfortunately it does not work like that except in the games.

 

If you look at the article on Titanium anodising in a recent MEW, you will see that your titanium implants are probably anodised a nice bright colour due to the mild acid in the vinegar and the battery effect.

regards David

 

 

[BowberParticipant @bowber]

You beat me to it David.

My kids are right this moment playing their latest kill em computer game complete with all the usual visual treats that come with it.

When me and my mates played army games it hurt when some one threw a stone at you or shot you with their catapult.

 

In some respects I’m lucky as my youngest is quite practical and has already investigated such things as the joys of slipping with his pen knife, I had told him to always cut away from himself and others, he now does!

And now he’s starting to want to use the lathe and milling machine so I suppose all the guards will have to go back on

 

Steve

[chris stephensParticipant @chrisstephens63393]

Hi Dick,

You don’t know the answer, I do, Birth Control! And if it is too late for that how about a time machine, so they can be taken back to a real time, like the Forties or Fifties, so they can see how spoilt they are now. I know it wouldn’t work, but one can dream.

Sounds like a rant, doesn’t it? Sorry!

chriStephens

[mgjParticipant @mgj]

I think a lot of it is the abrogation of responsibility. It’s always somebody else’s problem.

 

I hate this kind of cop out.

 

That was a rant. Sorry.

Edited By meyrick griffith-jones on 26/11/2009 21:32:33

[Martin CottrellParticipant @martincottrell21329]

Dick,

 

If you put vinegar on your bacon sandwich you deserve to spontaniously combust mate!

 

David,

 

You’ve hit the nail on the head there regarding wrapping kids in cotton wool. They need to learn that falling out of trees, getting hit over the knuckles with conkers & playing with sharp knives can sometimes hurt! Only then will they appreciate that the world around them can sometimes bite back and from that they will gain a respect for their environment. Unfortunately by shielding kids from these dangers we are not doing them any favours as they grow up and join the real world. Indeed as they grow up they seem to be under the impression that  danger has been removed  by healty and safety legislation rather than the reality being that the legislation provides them with the training and equipment to recognise and minimise danger for themselves and others around them.

 

I work in various hazardous environments and constantly find that youngsters today are very ill equiped to look after themselves in the workplace.  Having to look for and appreciate danger is an alien concept to them because they have been shielded from it virtually from birth.  It’s quite exasperating when you are confronted with two particular teenage employees who passed my way recently, one of which was moaning about having to wear a high viz jacket whilst working on the highway because ” it’s ‘naff’ and only schoolkids wear them when out for a walk” and another who when working on a building site was complaining that he didn’t want to wear a hard hat because he would get “hat-hair” and he didnt need to wear it because “Health & Safety said it was against the law to leave stuff around that would fall on his head”!! I’m pleased to say with a bit of “corrective education ” they have both turned out to be good,hard working  lads.

 

Regards, Martin.

[chris stephensParticipant @chrisstephens63393]

Hi Martin,

The other extreme was on a BBC program a few years ago, where some H&S numpty or some over zealous Risk Assessor had chlldren wear hard hats and Hi-vis jackets, when filming a scene of children collecting Fossils on Lyme Regis’  beach. Just think how dangerous it would have been if they been collecting fossils on their own behalf and not had the benefit of Aunty Beeb’s safety umbrella.

chriStephens

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

Have a look at some boys annuals from early 20th century,and you’ll possibly find how to make your own fire works.

[chris stephensParticipant @chrisstephens63393]

Hi Ian S C

Did you do a Risk Assessment before posting you last ? 

Thank goodness for the IR* and other terrorist, sorry got that bit wrong, criminal groups you can’t get those nasty dangerous ( fun) chemicals  any more. I wonder what excuse the Government would have used to restrict such things had it not been for said criminal lunatics?

Was that a rant or just sarcasm?

chriStephens

[CirclipParticipant @circlip]

“They” and “Them” ?????????? ALWAYS someone else, It’s your own complacency that’s allowed it to happen. Thanks to the present legislation, if you object against much of todays authority on a COMMON SENSE basis you can be arrested under anti-terrorism laws.

 

  Now whip woo, where did THAT nugget spring from??

 

 

  Regards  Ian.

[chris stephensParticipant @chrisstephens63393]

Hi Curly, Larry or Mo, (delete as appropriate)

If it were not for it being a political issue, and please lets not go down that path here, I would have said something like “If the government does not trust the people , why should the people trust government” but what do I know?

Mr Moderator, please delete this if you think it is too far off topic, politics has no place here, far too much scope for ranting, and so much hot air that all the Titanium in the world might spontaneously ignite.

chriStephens

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Think about this.

In an industrial environment we are forced to wear hard hats, safety boots, hi-vis vests and in some cases body supports.

 

Then we get home and take it all off.

 

WHY?????????

 

Statistics prove there are more accidents in  the home so when you have finished work lads just march in the house and stick you steel capped hob nailed boots on the coffee table.

 

That’s an accident waiting to happen.

[Richard MarksParticipant @richardmarks80868]

Metal mouth Here

If I had come home from work and put my hob nailed boots on the coffee table I would have neede my safety helmet because mother would have given me such a wallop you would not believe,  Safety starts in the home as do manners and courtesy, When I was at school in the 50s and 60s these things were drilled into us by repetition, It does work, can you remember your times table? In a shop recently I had the vat worked out before the lad serving me had totalled every thing and his comment was ” I cant do it without a calculator”  kidz ay.

Dick

[Jeff DaymanParticipant @jeffdayman43397]

Too bad about this forum being derailed with ranting BS about who knows what OTHER THAN safety.

 

Here’s 2 safety tips-

 

1.make sure you have a dry chemical fire extinguisher in your shop, and check the gauge on it yearly if not more often. Mount it right by the door so you can fight a fire going in or out. You need a 5 lb sized one at a minimum in my opinion.

 

2. run a phone extension to the shop so you can call emergency services should you ever need to. (This little precaution saved my neighbour’s life when he had a cardiac event in the shop one night.) If incoming calls bother you, remove the beeper/ringer from the phone or cut the wire to the beeper. That way you won’t hear the ring but the phone will still be fine for dialing out.

 

Cheers Jeff Dayman Ontario Canada

[chris stephensParticipant @chrisstephens63393]

Hi Jeff,

You are of course perfectly correct, but having got the immediate safety issues out of the way, it is fun to have a bit of gentle banter. If we didn’t have the banter the subject would be a bit on the dry side. I hope you can forgive us our foibles.

chriStephens

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

Chris no problem getting the chemicals required for gun powder,saltpetre at garden shop,for rotting out stumps of trees,sulphur same place.Charcoal make your own.Ian s c

[Martin CottrellParticipant @martincottrell21329]

Hi Jeff,

 

I agree with Chris’s reply to your post & it is very easy to go off on a  tangent in what Chris correctly terms “a bit of idle banter”.

 

 Having said that, I think there should be a specific “Safety Tips” topic especially for people to post useful tips like the 2 you have offered. If each safety offering was started as a new post within the Safety topic then each could be discussed if required without burying varying different safety tips within one rambling thread such as has happened here. David, would this be possible (assuming you have continued to read this far!!)?

 

As for the BS, I’m sure if David were to put a note at the head of the topic stating that these particular posts were safety specific and only open to relevant discussion that this would be respected by the majority of posters on this site.

 

One other point regarding the BS. I am a Taurus with an intense dislike for constipation so I am medically prone to deposit BS without notice…you have been warned!!

 

Kind regards, Martin.

[Martin CottrellParticipant @martincottrell21329]

Hi Ian,

 

I’m sure I suffered a power surge when your last post was logged. Must have been all the alarm bells ringing in the offices of MI5, MI6 & the Health & Safety executive! Be careful, Big Brother is probably watching you, the men in white coats will soon be round to take you away!!

 

Regards, Martin.

 

[BowberParticipant @bowber]

The comment about sending people back in time to see how hard things were in the 40s & 50s can of course be applied at any time in history, we could send them back 2000 years to the peak of Roman rule, or pre history!

 

However you are right, each generation has things slightly easier on the whole.

 

Steve

[BowberParticipant @bowber]

Sorry posted the last before I had finished.

 

I was going ot say:

But is it any safer, there are still 1000’s of people a year dying in motor accidents, pedestians killed crossing the road etc.

I’m a motorcyclist and I can tell you the roads are getting worse for us, I have to watch every move and every car as I can have a near miss daily and I live in Cumbria!

 

On a workshop safety note, never trust the clutch on an ex industrial lathe, they are usually getting quite worn by the time we get them and can and do jump back into drive.

I always drop into neutral as well on my Harrison by shifting the range change into the middle.

 

Steve

[chris stephensParticipant @chrisstephens63393]

Hi Guys,

If I might pop in again with a comment not a “rant”. 

This particular thread was a single issue one, this has been discussed quite adequately and we are all now friends, again. 

The banter although often humourous does often highlight other safety or perceived safety matters, but if we had a safety thread that was for the guidance of newbies it would most likely be by-passed in favour of the current new topic. So, by having an on going, even with banter, thread there is a small chance that said newbies might actually read the relevant bits and learn from the collective experiences of more experienced machinists.

That wasn’t a rant was it?

chriStephens

PS you think the above is sensible please keep quiet 

or they wont let me back in the Asylum

[Ian AbbottParticipant @ianabbott31222]

Hey, back from a few days holiday at the Hotel NHS.  The food was quite good though.

 

So, when I was smaller than I am now, explosives were a part of normal life.  Blowing holes in the Scout Hut walls passed for an evenings entertainment, right along with putting the Scoutmaster’s big bike saddlebag under the downspout. 

No, that can’t be right, it never rained when I was a child…..  

Shotgun and rifle shooting were normal among us too.  Unexploded ordnance from WWII was lying around most people’s gardens, the incendiaries were especially enjoyable. 

 

Both my daughters and my son learned firearms handling, (in Canada) and my son went with me on pyrotechnics certification courses for theatre effects. Explosives were handy, what with blowing up beaver dams as well.  

 

Now however, even mentioning explosives will end up with a visit from the nice young men in body armour and carrying automatic weapons. We did have a helicopter hovering overhead during breakfast a couple of weeks ago, while two of the nice young men surrounded us.  Apparently, a nearby farm had been burgled and among the loot was a shotgun, hence the irrational panic.  Of course, the thieves had been out of the county for several hours.

 

Right, Grandpa is getting tired, it’s bedtime.

 

Ian 

 

[Martin CottrellParticipant @martincottrell21329]

Hi Ian,

 

Glad to have you back and glad to see this thread come to life again! There have been no posts for about 1 1/2 days and I was beginning to wonder if everyone had been scared off by all the safety warnings and absconded to a knitting forum!

 

Childhood memories eh! I remember one day at school our Physics teacher had to leave the class for a few minutes so we decided to take the 56lb weight off the block & tackle at the back of the lab, put it into the teachers briefcase, hang the case & weight on the hook and haul it up to the ceiling and see how long it would take him to realise it was there. Well, it took about 20 minutes, signified by an enormous bang as the briefcase & weight hit the floor having parted company with it’s handle! It scared the c**p out of us kids and left a rather large dent in the posh parquet flooring. We all ended up in front of the headmaster for a pretty stern lecture followed by the rest of the term on litter picking duties during our break times!!

 

Our physics teacher was a real gem and turned the episode into a lesson on gravity, mass, acceleration etc. over the weeks that followed..nowadays I guess he would have just been sacked for leaving us unattended for a few minutes.

 

Regards, Martin.

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