# Please be careful



## KC2IXE (Jun 9, 2014)

Friday night, I was machining a cast iron casting, and my safety glasses had slid down my nose slightly, when I picked up a small chip of cast iron in my eye.  I thought I got it out Friday, but by Saturday evening it became obvious I had not. The ER did not feel comfortable removing it, so I had to wait till this AM when the local ophthalmologist opened. Only took him a minute or so to remove the chip, but then came the fun. Iron will leave a small rust ring that will cause healing issues and can actually cause an ulcer. They have to either take a low speed burr, or in this case a needle and scrape away the rust. Hint, not the most comfortable thing in the world even with your eye numbed. They did however give me some heavy duty pain killers Saturday night to "use as needed"

If you glasses are sliding down, don't go look over the top of them, as I tend to do (get a better view, as the bifocals are just 'wrong' - they are not setup for the right distance for the shop) 

Although I have no permanent issues, please learn from my mistake - be careful


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## DaFABRICATA (Jun 9, 2014)

Glad to hear you came out ok!

My best friend who passed away earlier this year would come into my shop and ALWAYS be sure to stress the importance of eye safety.
Everytime, I go to use any of my machines, I hear him reminding me to put them on. 
After his passing, I bought a 5 pack of safety glasses and have them placed throughout my shop so they're always within reach and likely to be seen. Now it's almost second nature to put them on before turning on the machine.

My brother had a nasty metal chip get in his eye. The doctor used a magnet to get it out but also had to "buff" the rust off his eyeball...Fun!

Thanks again for the reminder. I like all my body parts and intend to keep them attached and working as long as possible.


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## Jumpmaster (Jun 9, 2014)

I use one of these...

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BO6RIE/?tag=cpf0b6-20


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## 880arm (Jun 9, 2014)

Glad to hear you're OK. I work in safety so I'm usually one of those guys going around "reminding" people to put on their protective equipment. There are all too many stories out there of people who have suffered severe eye damage doing shop tasks.

If you wear prescription glasses and do a lot of machine work it may be worthwhile to check on a pair of prescription safety glasses set up for the distances you will be working at. If you're not too choosy about the frames and options they probably won't be nearly as expensive as your regular glasses. In the overall scheme of things it's cheap insurance.

In addition, I'm like Jumpmaster and wear a face shield in addition to safety glasses. Age and experience make me do lots of things differently now than I used to!!


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## KC2IXE (Jun 9, 2014)

I WAS wearing prescription safety glasses! The had slid down my nose slightly, and the chip got between the frame and my eyebrow, as I was looking down. I'm the mentor always reminding the kids to wear their goggles. Guess I need a pair of keeper straps


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## Jumpmaster (Jun 9, 2014)

Something else you can do to keep them from slipping down your nose is to get your optometrist to put on the hook type earpieces that go around the back of your ears. I'm very active and have to crawl around weird places and in odd positions sometimes and mine stay in place very well with those on my glasses.


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## Pellidon (Jun 9, 2014)

I wear a face shield after several guys at work have had chips flip behind glasses over the years.


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## 880arm (Jun 9, 2014)

KC2IXE said:


> I WAS wearing prescription safety glasses! . . .



Ah OK. Now on to plan B! The straps are bound to help.

I know face shields are a pain to have to wear all the time but the mesh versions still provide good protection against small chips and don't block air flow. Since I've started wearing face shields, I'm much more comfortable, or at least confident in my protection, when cutting and grinding.


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## wquiles (Jun 9, 2014)

Oh, wow. Glad you are getting better, and thanks much for sharing with us, so that we will be extra careful


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## precisionworks (Jun 9, 2014)

880arm said:


> ... Since I've started wearing face shields, I'm much more comfortable, or at least confident in my protection, when cutting and grinding.


My only real injury was a tiny spec of grit thrown from a small angle grinder - hit below the safety glasses & bounced hard enough to slightly penetrate the eyeball. Didn't hurt much at first but the pain got worse by the hour. The ER doc said no way that he would touch it & said to have my eye doc take it out the next day. Same process, dug it out with a needle & the pain stopped. Now I *always* wear a face shield when grinding.

For cast iron, brass or any short chipping material a deflector sometimes works well. It can be as simple as a small piece of card stock or as fancy as a piece of thin brass stock mounted to the toolholder.


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## bnemmie (Jun 10, 2014)

Very glad everything worked out in your favor. Eye injuries are no joke. Maybe it willhelp someone; I tend to fog up regular safety glasses very easily. So I wearthese whenever I have a concern about flying chips or debris: 

http://www.baileysonline.com/Safety-First-Aid/Safety-Glasses/Goggles/Bugz-Eye-Mesh-Goggles-each.axd

It probably won’tbe as effective for very fine particles, like say from a grinder. But for most everything else they work great. Plus they are very secure on your head. Hope it helps someone.


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## gadget_lover (Jun 10, 2014)

I have worn safety glasses at work for years. It's a no-brainer to grab them when I'm milling, grinding or turning. They are not fool proof. I've also had a sliver of metal embedded in one eye. The exhaust from the air tool blew it under the edge of the glases. It penetrated to the cornea, leaving a strange situation where it did not hurt as long as I was focusing close up, but hurt when I looked of into the distance. The treatment was the similar... plucked it out and then buffed.

I like the idea of the mesh goggles, but would not use them. The ANSI certified safety glasses will deflect a hard shard without sending anything towards the eye. What's the penetration protection of the mesh? Sometimes a "spring pass" cut will create very fine metal fuzz. Will that get through the mesh?

One thing to keep in mind is that a benchtop 7x10 lathe and a 12x24 Hardinge will be equally dangerous when turning a 1 lb piece of aluminum at 2000 RPM if something goes flying. Ok.. there are some differences, but the inertia of the flying part is similar in both cases if something comes loose. 

USE THOSE SAFETY GLASSES!

Daniel


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## 880arm (Jun 10, 2014)

gadget_lover said:


> I like the idea of the mesh goggles, but would not use them. The ANSI certified safety glasses will deflect a hard shard without sending anything towards the eye. What's the penetration protection of the mesh? Sometimes a "spring pass" cut will create very fine metal fuzz. Will that get through the mesh? . . .



I agree. We use the mesh face shields for some jobs at work where fogging is a concern but always with safety glasses as well.


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## Vinniec5 (Jun 10, 2014)

Happened to a coworker of mine a couple times, I take chances too but not where my or my coworkers eyes are concerned. One time a coworker got a strand of steel cable stuck in his eye from a snapped brake cable. not pretty at all and he almost lost his vision. He listened to me after that


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## JBE (Jun 10, 2014)

Snug fitting goggles with a strap are much better for metal-working tasks than regular old safety glasses. Using goggle is pretty much industry standard when doing metal work in the oilfield. Many even require wearing a full face shield over the goggles. A bit cumbersome but worth it to protect the eyes.


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## precisionworks (Jun 11, 2014)

JBE said:


> ... Many even require wearing a full face shield over the goggles. A bit cumbersome but worth it to protect the eyes.


I worked at a factory that required face shield over safety glasses (with side shields). We wore the face shield 100% of the time when the boss was looking & not at all when he went back to his office. He spent most of his time there so our actual face shield usage was really small.

IMO the biggest deterrent to face shield compliance is that clear face shields attract dirt like a magnet. I have three in my shop & one in the service truck & none are ready to use unless cleaned. Even the best polycarb (Lexan) shields scratch easily & a scratched shield (or a dirty one) is useless. 



> Snug fitting goggles with a strap are much better for metal-working tasks than regular old safety glasses.


Most factories give the option of either goggles + safety glasses OR safety glasses + face shield when grinding. It's possible to wear goggles over prescription safety glasses but the discomfort level may be high enough to discourage their use ... unless the boss is looking.


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## gt40 (Jun 11, 2014)

Glad you are okay.

I had to visit the optometrist myself yesterday because of a bad reaction to epoxy based spray paint. I wore regular safety glasses and a p95 filtering face piece. Apparently, it isn't a good idea to paint with contacts on. The doctor said I had microscopic material or solvents affix itself to the contacts which caused my eyes to turn crimson. He gave me antibiotic steroid drops and said it should be better in a few days. I have used diving goggles when I have previously painted hazardous materials- didn't worry about common epoxy spray paint from Home Depot.

My daughter is a fan of the walking dead and said I looked like a creature from the show.

Per my doctor: DON'T use airborne paints with contacts.


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## precisionworks (Jun 12, 2014)

gt40 said:


> ... bad reaction to epoxy based spray paint. I wore regular safety glasses and a p95 filtering face piece ...


That is frightening.

I used to use the same PPE as you until refinishing a big DS&G (24" swing, 12" headstock bore):






The disposable masks have never fit my face well so I switched to a half mask twin filter respirator with P100 cartridges (99.97% aka HEPA). No longer smelled the paint (big improvement) but the overspray still hit & stuck to my safety glasses. Then switched to a full mask with P100's & tear off lens covers - that was the ticket.


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## hank (Aug 20, 2014)

> Hook type earpieces

Also called "cable temples" in the trade.

I refit those on my glasses because of this problem (and from having lost my glasses several times growing up doing one wild thing or another)

I've had optometrists make them but they glue the cable/wire to stock earpieces -- and I had one break off once. Yeah, I was upside down at the time but still ...

I found and really like the "heavy duty" type I now buy from http://optometristattic.com/temples.htm

-- N6VSB


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## Monocrom (Aug 20, 2014)

Missed this topic the first time around. Hope you are healing up properly.


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## jtr1962 (Aug 21, 2014)

Just came upon this thread. Hope everything is getting better. Rust in your eyeball definitely does not sound like fun.


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## KC2IXE (Sep 1, 2014)

Yep, healed with no side effects. Got lucky


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## Monocrom (Sep 4, 2014)

KC2IXE said:


> Yep, healed with no side effects. Got lucky



Good to hear.


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