power tool safety

[EddieM]

When my wife bought me my small lathe she also bought me all manner of safety equipment. Full face shield, cut proof gloves, tough canvas trousers, arm sleeves for when I don't have close cuffed shirts on etc etc.
The rule is, if I come in with more than a minor scratch/cut she has the right to 'put me in time out'. Which means I don't get to play with my 'toys' for a few days. LOL

I have to admit that when she talked about buying me them I promised I would use them correctly and safely and use any PPE recommended.
She wants me around for a long time and I want to be around for a long time to 'play with my toys' and make things with them.
I have never felt daft wearing PPE. Look it? Maybe, but feel it? NEVER!

Look at it this way, have people laugh at you looking like a bit of a noob, or have people look worried at you in a hospital bed.

 

[opps]

Plunge saws are a relatively recent invention (1980s, Germany, Holz-Her as it happens - but more widely only over the last 10 years or so in the UK)

I thought it was Festo. The give that impression on their website.

My initial web searches lead me to your posts on FOG and other sites.

However, I found this on ebay

https://www.ebay.de/itm/prospekt-bl...uch-saege-mosquito-70er-werbung-/263331521599

And the advertising literature is from the 70's.

The google translation refers to it as a "diving saw" which sounds like a plunge saw.

 

[opps]

They've been around for at least 20 years in various forms, originating (I think) in Oz. Used by wood carvers, etc for hogging away large amounts of wood quickly before starting with the chisels and gouges. Personally, I'd only consider using one if I were wearing full chain saw gear (including the titanium "cricketers box")! - and maybe not then. My understanding from talking to a user of such devices is that when sharp they cut well, with little or manageable kickback but that knots can be sort of...... interesting.

AFAIK it is illegal to sell them in the EU.

See http://www.slough.gov.uk/consumer-advice/product-recalls.aspx?docId=326479


"The circular saw blade may be mounted on an angle grinder and could therefore, against its intended use, be used as a hand-held circular saw.

As a consequence, this could cause kickback or loss of control over the tool, resulting in serious injury.

The product does not comply with the requirements of the Machinery Directive and the relevant European Standards EN 60745 and EN 62841."

The above references those dangerous circular saw blades sold for angle grinders but my lay understanding and interpretation of the ruling is that it is an offence to supply attachments to tools that result in them deviating from their intended use, taking in to account that power tools need to comply with their initial CE application/accreditation. Unfortunately the relevant EN documents listed above seem to be costly to download, so I might be wrong. Frankly I do not understand the justification for charging people £660 to access the documented regulations mentioned in the ruling.

I contacted trading standards in March to complain about the sale of those angle grinder saw blades, I did get a reply saying that the fellow was looking in to it. I sent him the link towards the end of April. I haven't had a reply since...

If I were allowed to look at the laws that apply, I might have been able to point him to the relevant legislative infringement.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

I thought it was Festo. The give that impression on their website.

Yes, but seeing as Festo bought the power tool division of Wilhelm Reich (aka Holz-Her) around 2001 or so, they could well say that and not be telling porkies. I believe that Holz-Her were about to go into or had just gone into receivership (sorry, my German isn't good enough to differentiate on the stuff I've read) and that they were already making their belt sanders for Festo at that time. Interestingly they also made a laminate trimmer (the 2350) which became the Festool OFK/MFK series (albeit with a new, Festool designed motor - the gearbox, etc remained the same) - as well as the SYMMETRIC bisecting compound mitre saw (still in Festool's line-up). A number of other Holz-Her products were hived off into a new Festo/ToolTech subsidiary, Protool, which continued to manufacture some more specialised products such as collated screwdrivers until relatively recently.

Holz-Her not only made their own tools, but also subcontract designed and manufactured tools for other firms; quite a few Bosch industrial drills and circular saws in the 1970s were rebadged and re-coloured Holz-Her items, Holz-Her jigsaws were rebranded and sold as both Mafell and Kango in the 1980s and 1990s and Kango in the UK also took other Holz-Her products to fill gaps in their non-core product range (and allegedly manufacturing some under licence here in the UK for a while in the late 1980s/early 1990s - I have a belt sander, planers and jigsaws from that period, all marked "Made in GB"). When Holz-Her came to an end their jigsaw designs were taken-over by Mafell, possibly because Mafell at that time shared some manufacturing with Festo (Mafell made the original 2000 watt Festo router whilst Festo supplied the small LO50e plunge router to Mafell, for example). I've stated all this to illustrate the interwoven nature of German power tool manufacturing

And the advertising literature is from the 70's.

The google translation refers to it as a "diving saw" which sounds like a plunge saw.

Yes, the Mosquito was a plunge saw and later ones (late 1990s) even had a track system available for them. They weren't the only ones, though. Elu were manufacturing a small 25mm depth of cut plunge saw in the mid- to late-1960s, as indeed were Mafell (there may have been others, not sure). These were primarily sold for rapid breaking-down of sheet stock on site, cutting shadow details on ceilings (the Germans liked planked ceilings back then, apparently), etc

This one is missing the 2-arm side fence you need to cut shadow gap details, but you get the drift, I'm sure

 

[Deleted member 174758]

AFAIK it is illegal to sell them in the EU

Well, I hope you noticed that I said I wasn't keen on them! The two original versions of the chain saw grinder tool were manufactured by an American firm called King Arthur Tools who are still around. I seem to recall that at one time even Axminster Power Tools used to stock them, but they are potentially dangerous and have to be used two handed with the material adequately secured and with extreme caution, and preferably not at all by the inexperienced or unwary, as this thread from Wood Workers Institute shows. Strictly speaking, though, I don't think they are circular saws. I do, however, agree that the sale of toling for use on an angle grinder which increases the uncontrolled kickback potential, such as a circular saw blade or a chain saw blade should be banned.