Good Morning Friends,

Some folks have their tools hard wired directly to the panel box and in a way this is a nice set up to a degree but when it comes time to pull some maintainance on said tool they fail to trip the cuircut breaker and this is a good set up for a bad situation.

 

What are your feelings on such a set up?

Mine are hard wired Ralph. And your right, if your not in the habit of tripping the breaker, then your setting up for disaster. Every time I switch out the blade on my TS, I flip the breaker switch before I do. It's just habit. I learned this habit years ago when I worked in a carpenter maintenance shop. We were very strict on "Lock Out Tag Out" procedures. Meaning, we were required to even put a lock on the breaker switch while performing blade changes or maintenance on the machinery, and put a wire tie tag on the lock with our name on it. Since we were a 5 man shop, the lock prevented some one from accidentally flipping the breaker while you were working on the machine.

Except for the lock, that habit has stuck with me ever since.

John,

I have seen some folks who just jumped right in and started working on the tool and as you said they were just asking for trouble and cold chills would run up and down my back when I saw them. I would ask them,"did you trip the breaker?"

Then and only then would they do so while saying ,"I forgot."

I left out a little tidbit of info as well Ralph. At the same shop, we had a 14" Delta Table Saw from the 70's. It developed a nasty habit of starting up by itself. At least once or twice a week it would just turn itself on. We actually had some guys changing blades out under those conditions. We had a repair man come out and it was determined that there was a few years of dust build up in the switch mechanism. The dust was acting as a conductor, carrying electricity to the positive side of the switch, and causing false start ups. I believe it was after a conference with the machinery repair man, that we went with a lock out tag out procedure developed by OSHA. And that was the start of a years worth of upgrades and bringing our shop in line with OSHA and CAL OSHA guidelines. We even started the mandatory "Tail Gate" meetings required every two weeks by OSHA.

It's amazing how dangerous our shop was looking back on it all, until we became OSHA compliant. It's a miracle no one was seriously injured or died before our OSHA compliance days came upon us.

John,

You are right and what gets me is that some folks find fault when OSHA would come to the areas but they don't realize that they are only doing it to help keep people from injurying them selves. I always liked it when they came out for while we were in the shops everyday there were things that were unsafe that we didn't notice till OSHA came out to the site. Then they would grumble if they were fined.

And you know guys even if you don't have them wired in directly, it amazes me how often people will change blades, bits and other fast spinning things with sharp edges without un-plugging the machine. As John stated, dust build up behind the switch caused the machine to start by its self. You never know when those type things can happen and you can never take it for granted.

 

Always, unplug or flip the breaker which ever way you have it before doing anything to a machine. I like it when I go to make a cut and turn it on and realize I didn't plug it back up. I know then I had it unplugged to make whatever change I was making.

Amen to that John, and the surprise is when after you made the change and it started right up and then is when another cold chill runs down the back.

the only tool I do not unplug to change bits on is my drill press. I even go as far as to unplug my saws, grinder, bandsaw etc when I'm done in the shop for the day. One never knows when somone or something may happen while we are away.

You also have to remember that switches were different in the old days as well as motor wiring.  There was alot of "Open" wiring that would let dust into switches and motors, along with 3 phase wiring that was left open by shop owners that were constantly moving machines and not closing up fuse boxes (old screw in fuses) or had throw handles with cartridge fuses that required you to throw a switch to provide power to the machine.

 

Nowadays there's sealed motors, explosion proof switches and lights, and lots of safety switches.

I unplug for the day also. Just a little added protection for lighting.  From Spring until the fall we have so many thunder storms that pop up I just got in the habit of unplugging when I leave for that reason as much as someone not walking in and just turning something on.

 

John Hechel said:

the only tool I do not unplug to change bits on is my drill press. I even go as far as to unplug my saws, grinder, bandsaw etc when I'm done in the shop for the day. One never knows when somone or something may happen while we are away.