SAFETY FIRST !!! - GARAGE TIME !!!
 

There seems to be lots of maintenance / fettling going on at the moment and I wondered about the kind of things that can keep YOU the dear readers - the very bothers and sisters of the DSC - safe and sound in your place of tinkering?

I've come over all emotional......


Seriously, its the little things that count and I'm sure we've all done daft things that peeps can learn from. Eyes and hands appear to be the obvious important areas to me:

GOGGLES
Drilling, grinding - 100% of the time, always wear em - even if its bleeding hot and they mist up. Only a few quid at most - how sad would you be at losing an eye?

GLOVES
I'm a bit lucky working in the chemical industry I guess in that I have 'access' to safety gear (Arco are pretty good and sell to the public) - the types of gloves availble these days is mind boggling but - 3 easy types:
1) Thin medical - great for oil changes, working with brake fluid or god forbid battery acid. Easy to wear under general gloves too.
2) General - I use medium cotton 2 ply gloves that have a dimpled rubber surface for gripping things. I kinda wear these all the time for long tinkering sessions, especially when cutting / filing - makes life a bit easier on aching hands and keeps the cold out a bit too.
3) Heavy duty abrasion - multi layer gloves - grinding especially, nearly took a finger off once by being stupid and not letting a hand grinder stop before moving towards the working end!

Chemicals
We all know most of the nasties in the garage area I guess - petrol, solvents, brake fluid etc but if ya gonna use anything unfamiliar - take the time to check it out properly, easy for some stuff to give off nasty vapours or be damaging to skin.

Keep the area well ventilated when running engines etc - Carbon monoxide poisioning can be a nasty (and fatal) experience.

Mechanical / Electrical
Not just the effect of something breaking if stressed too highly (thats a bike part - not You :o ) but making sure you work comfortably and use levers etc to prevent actually straining yourself.
Using proper bike stands is an obvious extra....

Electricity simply scares me, I'm glad to say I've only been badly shocked once (mains current) so my two main weapons these days are a multitester and a simple voltage tester - if ya not sure if its live (at any voltage) - test the sucker.

I suppose cleanliness should get a mention but, I fail badly at this....I keep my tools clean :lol: - but they do get scattered to the winds during a long session along with power cables and inspection lamps sometime cluttering the place as well - could do better!

Well, that sets the ball rolling, I'm sure theres plenty I've forgot so feel free to add the essentials that you do when working.

and yes....I cant sleep and its time for work now :lol::lol::lol:

Cheers - Frank

You're just the man Frank. I've got a paraffin tank and bought a box of medical gloves but the paraffin rots them and the fingers drop off very quickly. The only ref to makers is the PG.
Any recommendations?
......and obviously I won't be using them for anything else!

Buy your self some Industrial strength rubber gloves. They are the same as washing up gloves but they dont rot. It means you can still hold the piece you are washing and the brush you are scrubbing with. I wear the latex gloves underneath the rubber ones. 12 years of Dermititis has taught me that.

:sniff::sniff::sniff:

"Dermititis"......................thats what you said it was!:lol::lol::ninja:

Ref gloves (my business), you need to buy nitrile really..latex can cause nasty reactions, and nitrile shouldnt rot under normal garage conditions

Nat

Yep........keep away from Austrialian women!!!!!! Thats my advice ;)

Oh well - I did try :lol::lol::lol:

dont wear gloves if drilling !

Ok, thanks for comments about rubber - nitrile it is then.

Murray - If its of interest send me an SAE and ill fire some off in the post to you (very same ones used by the ducati corse boys..:D)

Nat

Sounds like an engineer speaking.......my late Grandfather once caught his shirt sleeve in the drill while using a pillar drill. It doesn't stop until it's stalled or as in his case twised a chunk of skin and flesh inside the sleeve and ripped the whole lot off his arm.

Probably best not to wear gloves when drilling ;-)))

Must dash, halfway through machining out a couple of relined brake drums I'm working on for a well known motorcycle museum darn sarf

[Edited on 30-1-2006 by Paul James]

Thanks Nat.