Finger Tearout! (Now with Gore)

[compo]

Blimey - just found the picture!

It's never nice when someone gets hurt. Makes you realise it could happen to any of us at any time. Nature of the beast I guess - woodworking machinery.

Get well soon.
--------------------

Ps maybe you should think about altering your signature line! :lol:

 

[Routermonster]

Hope you get well soon Wizer.

And thanks for sharing your dreadful experience with us. It's made me realise how careless I have been in the past when using my own router table - I shudder when I think how close I've been letting my fingers get to the cutter! I need to improve the guarding on my table and start using push sticks.

Les

 

[Racers]

Hi, Wiser

That looks bad, get well soon.

How about a sticky thread with all the photos of gore in to remind us to be carefull?

Pete

 

[Benchwayze]

Sorry to hear this Wizer.
Just makes me realise that none of us is immune.
I hope things heal up well, and you can get back working soon.

Regards.

John

 

[seaco]

Hope your soon well old pal... :wink:

 

[wizer]

Morning guys.

The skin graft went well yesterday. I arrived at 7:30 and was on the trolley by 8am. My whole arm was completely numbed for the procedure. It took about 90mins. They ended up taking a flap of skin from below the wound. I couldn't bare to watch them work but they did show me at the end and it looks very neat, 46 stitches. After that it was sandwich, ribena and see yah later.

The arm block didn't wear off fully until about 10pm last night. I felt quite groggy from the whole thing.

I'm back on Tuesday for re-dressing and then again on the following Tuesday to start physio. Full recovery should take 6-8 weeks.

I Intend to be back in the workshop ASAP, can't let this put me off.

 

[WellsWood]

I think maybe we should call you Sean after a close shave like that.
:roll: :roll: :wink:



Geddit?

 

[wizer]

boom boom

My boss told me to pull my finger out and get back to work :roll: :wink:

 

[wizer]

Just ventured out to the workshop to assess the damage. Thought you might like to see what happened to the wood:

So no surprise what happened to my finger.

Despite what's happened, I still think template routing is a good solution to getting identical repeatable tasks. I do wonder how CNC routers get over tearout issues?

If i'm going to to this again it will have to be after a complete new router table build. A winter project I think.

 

[Steve Maskery]

HI Wizer, Very sorry to hear of your woes.

At the risk of eggs/sucking/grannies etc...

From the photo above you should have been using a cutter with the bearing mounted at the shank end of the flutes. The template should have been on the bed of the table and you should have been moving the workpiece from right to left.

If you were moving from left to right it would catch and drag you in.

If you were using a cutter with the bearing at the tip and the workpiece on the table with the template at the top, you would be routing against the grain at that corner. That's OK if you were taking just a fine cut after bandsawing, for example, but a heavy cut is likely to tear out.

In an ideal world you would have two templates and a bearing both top and bottom so you can always work with the grain, no matter where the curve runs. That's usually easier said than done of course.

Get well soon.
S

 

[wizer]

Thanks Steve. As I said above. I was doing that, but on this last one mistakenly fixed the template upside down. The bit that I was using had a bearing both top and bottom for this purpose.

 

[Harbo]

I was doing a similar thing as Wizer with the same type of cutter but making sure I was cutting against the bit rotation. I was also rotating around a fixed pin for added support. Still scared me though and I gave up and went back to my spokeshaves and sander - I had already cut most of the waste away on my bandsaw anyway (I just wanted to speed things up a bit - I have been making this chair for about a year now!!)

Rod

 

[wizer]

I like the idea of template routing as it guarantees repeatable parts. But my experience, obviously, is that it's bloody scary on real wood.

 

[Anonymous]

_____

 

[OPJ]

I was doing a similar thing as Wizer with the same type of cutter but making sure I was cutting against the bit rotation. I was also rotating around a fixed pin for added support.

That's a very good point. I also find it essential to work with a guide/starting pin when beginning the cut in particular. Most aftermarket guards come with some kind of pin. I think they're usually what you use to mount the guard in place? Alternatively, if you're keeping the fence in place for the extraction, you could probably use the fence to help start you off.

It's a bit like using a spindle moulder, where you begin with the workpiece in contact with the ring fence and gradually, but very carefully, ease it around and on to the point at which the cutter is flush with the fence.

 

[Tusses]

why not use a vacuum clamp to hold the work and then use the router 'hand held' ?

 

[whoops!]

wiZer

read about your injury late last night. Really am sorry to hear of your accident. Mentioned it to the other guys on site which started a conversation about work injuries and the like. I noticed small things after that like ear defenders being used and cables being tidied up around machinery.

Do hope that your recovery is speedy and complete, all the best.

Decklan

 

[wizer]

I was thinking about that yesterday Tusses. Of course you would still have the same problem with tearout. But you might be safer, assuming you route in the right direction/orientation. 6 of one and half a dozen of the other I think.

 

[Tusses]

I've routed a few pattern parts the hand held way and always felt very safe and in control.

Ive routed a few by the table method and usually felt I was holding a cobra by the tail - you know ... 100% 'over' concentration and that feeling it could turn round and bite you any second.


I usually clamp the piece to the edge of my workbench and rout the half that sticks out , then stop and move it for the next half.

I guess you could put a piece on each pattern that could be placed in the bench vice, or even just use a thicker pattern and place it on an anti slip mat.

 

[devonwoody]

I have read and seen this post for the first time today.

Wizer, sorry to hear of the accident, one consolation is that most pastimes seem to carry some risk, even travelling to an event can be hazardous.

My Triton table although not perfect does have a finger guard that drops down to the timber level, so that sort of accident should be unlikely?

Is that correct?