Proper grinding goggles, USE 'EM!!!

[Browser]

Hi, I'm Browser, and I'm a muppet!
So there I am, in A & E last night, with eyes streaming with the effort of keeping them open whilst a very competent-looking doctor fishes about the front of my right eye with first a cotton bud and second a fresh large-gauge syringe needle, trying to remove the 'embedded foreign object' stuck in it.
He couldn't get all of it out and was reluctant (obviously) to keep fishing about so made me an appointment at the eye clinic for 15:15 today so they can dilate the eye and hold it open properly etc, all of which sounds as hilarious as root canal dentistry.
The cause? In the middle of making a fire pit for my wife's pre-school so they can take the kids stick collecting then, to a well-cordoned are where said fire pit is set up where two at a time and very strictly controlled they will be allowed to toast marshmallows on the stick fire they've built, I was welding the legs on and saw I'd missed a bit of pre-weld grinding, so grabbed the Bosch and did the squint-and-it'll-be-OK-'cos-I'm-in-a-hurry-and-it's-only-a-few-seconds thing, in the course of which a tiny piece of metal or grinding media hit me in the eye. Though I'd just copped a bit and scratched my eyeball until I looked int he mirror whilst readying for bed and saw the thing in there.
The worst thing? I'd been wearing grinding glasses all morning and got on OK (I know, safety glasses aren't goggles, another idiot trick, my excuse being goggles always steam up on me within about 5 seconds) and I'd taken off my flip-front welding screen to position the leg of the firepit and as it's a flip-front it has a grinding screen built-in!!!!
Do I feel a complete two-hat? YES!
Will I be doing it again in a hurry? NO!
Will I now be buying some new PPE including a pair of goggles and decent full-face screen which will be harder to steam up? ABSO-FERKIN'-LUTELY!!
Feel free to heap scorn and contempt upon my idiot head

 

[Browser]

p.s. the fire pit turned out nice for a first attempt, another recycled gas cylinder jobbie, I'll post some pics later.

 

[PTvor]

It's easily done.

It just needs a couple of seconds with the grinder to take off a bit of flash, not worth fishing out the goggles for that....

You'll usually get away with it but you only need to be caught out once.

The other thing which is tempting is to chip off arc slag with no goggles. I got hit with a piece on the lower eyelid and it hurt for days. I took it as something firing a friendly warning shot and took notice.

 

[tttonyyy]

I hear exactly what you're saying. I also did a "missed a bit, this'll be quick" with a grinder equipped with wire wheel. Only a length of the wire flew out and took a nick out of my face just below the eye. Any higher and that would've been serious damage. Took that as a warning shot too...

 

[stuvy]

not too long ago i had a grinding disk explode and a shard hit me in the upper eye lid. I was amazed how much it hurt!! hope your eyes feeling better soon.

And consider yourself severely lesson learned!

 

[BoatBuilderDave]

High speed spinny things are perfectly safe,
so long as you remember just how dangerous they are......

 

[slim_boy_fat]

....l so they can take the kids stick collecting then, to a well-cordoned are where said fire pit is set up where two at a time and very strictly controlled they will be allowed to toast marshmallows on the stick fire they've built,........

That'll be a H & S nightmare!! By the time the school have done a Mission Statement and Risk Assessment it'll be half-term, then it'll start pouring down with rain and someone'll discover they've left the marshmallows back at base........

 

[Browser]

Funnily enough that's what I thought slim_boy_fat but her boss said yes and as long as she completes a risk asessment, cordons the area properly and the kids (as they always do) have adequate supervision there's no problem.
Update: No dilation jollop needed, just a quick whizz in me eye with the opthalpic specialists equivalent of a dremel with a tiny metal burr on it (sounds so delightful doesn't it) and that's me. Eye drop 4 times a day for the next five days and job done.
Needless to say Browser's off to BOC Gas & Gear tomorrow for a full face shield and some goggles for onlookers. Nothing like the old stable-door approach eh?

 

[Engineer1964]

This is so important, It happen to me twice in one week and i was using safety specs, never again, Uvex googles for me from now on

 

[chunkolini]

A lesson learned.
I never ever grind without an eye shield.
Well hardly ever.
Fire pit? sounds great and congrats to wifey for getting through the H+S nonsense.
Has she thought about political correctness though?
Do the marshmallows want to be melted?

 

[Browser]

Here's what my eye looks like, post-hospital:-

 

[stuvy]

Has she thought about political correctness though?
Do the marshmallows want to be melted?

dont worry chunko' there illegal immigrants anway
http://inventors.about.com/od/foodrelatedinventions/a/marshmallows.htm

 

[undertaker]

Here's what my eye looks like, post-hospital:-

Ah yes. I remember; only last weekend - Freezus did that hurt! Skipped the a&e bit though as I couldn't bare sitting in there on a Saturday night. I must have just scratched mine as it cleared itself up in 3 days thankfully.

Now a preacher of the Uvex and a full face shield. Again - took it as friendly fire and I'm not risking it again. 3 years and never had a problem but time I called bluff. NEVER AGAIN!

 

[ibrooks]

I had one the other day just on the edge of my pupil - managed to get it myself with a magnet removed from an old hard-drive that had been holding some of my niece's artwork to the fridge door. Fortunately it was a bit of steel and not some of the grinding media.

My problem is (and it's the second time It's happened to me) that it wasn't whilst grinding that the bit got in there. I'd finished in the garage and come into the house and was watching TV. Obviously I'd washed my hands and whatnot but since I was planning to go back out to the garage after eating I hadn't had a shower. The bit must have been stuck to me somewhere as it dropped into my eye when I reached up to scratch an itch.

Iain

 

[Browser]

I always do a 'wet dog shake' when I stop grinding for just that reason. Worse by far than angle grinders is a die grinder with a burr fitted, tehy produce thousands of needle-like shards which get everywhere, bloody things!
I tried the magnet but I don't think the ones from my sons Magnetix set were strong enough. I have a Bolle Blast goggle/mask combo on order from BOC, will try to see if I like as I found the full face screen meant I couldn't wear earmuffs and I always end up with sore/manky-skinned ears when using plugs so this was the best compromise.

 

[PTvor]

One thing I've noticed is little bits flying off the disc and hitting me when I've finished grinding and been a bit careless about the grinder as spins under power or is slowing down. Angle grinders are just dangerous things and familiarity tends to breed contempt.

The magnets from hard drives are super powerful and are dangerous things in themselves. If you've seen two come together, there's enough force there to do horrible things to your fingers.

 

[Drains]

Well I always wear safety specs, but last night about an hour before bed I noticed my eye was sore. A good look in the mirror revealed a gurt black thing in me eyeball (in addition to the pupil, wags) which gentle prodding wouldn't shift. No idea when it got there or how long it's been there. It's not been at all painful today but I'm off to the eye hospital tomorrow for some gouging work to be done.
Nice.

 

[Country Joe]

I reckon a lot of the stuff you get in your eyes comes out of your hair - "wet dog shake" or not. Even washing it doesn't always seem to get rid of it. No matter what - it will find your eyes!

I've got hair like a "brillo pad", and what gets into it seems to want to stay - I can poke pencils/pens in it, if it's long enough, and they'll stay, whereas a pencil behind the ear always falls out, almost immediately.

I find it happens quite a bit less if I have no hair at all, so if I know I'm going to be doing a load of grinding or any other dusty type work, I get rid of it all, in advance.
All the Best,
CJ

 

[zardoz]

I was grinding only the other day, when I felt a bit of metal fly up underneath the tiny gap between my nose and the goggle base. Fortunately it didn't go in the eye. Made me realize even with goggles its still dangerous. Better off with a full face grinder helmet and goggles if you are not grinding at a wheel with a guard to take the brunt (and using goggles as well of course)

 

[ukracer]

This is so important, It happen to me twice in one week and i was using safety specs, never again, Uvex googles for me from now on

I have done a search for Uvex googles on ebay and only found a few listed, none with clear lenses so is there an equivalent alternative?