This weekend I experienced kickback from my Dewalt 735 planer. I didn't
know those things would kickback, but wham! Pieces hit my little finger on
my left hand and I was certain it was broken, but only a bruise and couple
of scratches resulted.
I am a hobbyist who is fairly new woodworking. I had made feet (6) out of
hard maple for a cabinet that I'm building. They measured 5"X7"X7/8". I
thought I'd try to hand-cut dovetail the corners and decided to plane them
down to 3/4" to make them a little easier to cut.
I ran each of them through my planer at least twice, one at a time. On the
third and last run, I placed two of the feet on the infeed table and pushed
them in. Crash! They both came out the back in very high velocity and in 4
pieces.
It seemed odd to me that the pieces were gouged about 1/4" deep in the
middle of each piece. The only explanation I can come up with is perhaps
the pieces got caught under the cutter blades but not in contact with either
of the infeed or outfeed rollers. I don't understand why it waited until
after 12 pieces ran through with no problem, or why it gouged so deeply into
the ejected pieces.
I guess I'm lucky injuries weren't any worse than they were. I've learned a
valuable lesson, never plane anything less than 12" long. I'm also thinking
about all that power equipment in my shop, I bet Roy never experienced
kickback. I did nick my thumb with a chisel later that day though.
Gary
Pieces were too SHORT to feed thru a stationary or even a tabletop
planer. Check your specs, but I betcha there is a caveat/spec saying
what the minimum length to plan in that machine is.
If you gotta plan short pieces, build a carrier that is long enough
and hold the short pieces in place with a stop to keep the short
pieces from moving while planing
John
On Tue, 31 May 2005 13:13:33 -0400, "Gary" <[email protected]>
wrote:
>This weekend I experienced kickback from my Dewalt 735 planer. I didn't
>know those things would kickback, but wham! Pieces hit my little finger on
>my left hand and I was certain it was broken, but only a bruise and couple
>of scratches resulted.
>
>I am a hobbyist who is fairly new woodworking. I had made feet (6) out of
>hard maple for a cabinet that I'm building. They measured 5"X7"X7/8". I
>thought I'd try to hand-cut dovetail the corners and decided to plane them
>down to 3/4" to make them a little easier to cut.
>
>I ran each of them through my planer at least twice, one at a time. On the
>third and last run, I placed two of the feet on the infeed table and pushed
>them in. Crash! They both came out the back in very high velocity and in 4
>pieces.
>
>It seemed odd to me that the pieces were gouged about 1/4" deep in the
>middle of each piece. The only explanation I can come up with is perhaps
>the pieces got caught under the cutter blades but not in contact with either
>of the infeed or outfeed rollers. I don't understand why it waited until
>after 12 pieces ran through with no problem, or why it gouged so deeply into
>the ejected pieces.
>
>I guess I'm lucky injuries weren't any worse than they were. I've learned a
>valuable lesson, never plane anything less than 12" long. I'm also thinking
>about all that power equipment in my shop, I bet Roy never experienced
>kickback. I did nick my thumb with a chisel later that day though.
>
>Gary
>
Yes, all of the planners (at least the big boys) speak of possible
kickback in warnings in the manual and tell you to never stand directly
behind them. I try to comply but sometimes I am shoving big long boards
through and it is unavoidable (I know, I know but the the feed systems
never work perfectly and it just has to be done sometimes). I've never
seen it but it seems it could be pretty dangerous.
You should of course never feed anything shorter than the prescribed
minimum lenght... ever. I found a reference for the 734 that says 8"
max thk, 1/4" min thk, and 9" min lth. If the 735 has the same spec
then your pieces were just too short to be planned by this unit. Almost
all planners have this info written in big red letters right on top of
the unit. It's not a suggestion, it's a fact.
FYI, I usually plane all material at convienient lenghts but not when
they are totally broken down into the part sizes. This is for speed as
well as consistency. A planner never planes exactly the same. Even just
the heat of the blades will change the thickness slightly. So for
furniture, I like to get all the stock to the same thickeness before
breaking down into parts to help things square up better down the line.
Yes somethimes you have small pieces that need to be dimensioned but
maybe a wide belt or drum sander would be better. Regardless, never go
less than the machine is spec'd to handle.
Glad to hear you have all your fingers. I've seen TS kickback take a
finger and I imagine a planner could do the same.
BW
On Tue, 31 May 2005 22:44:33 -0700, Mark & Juanita <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Tue, 31 May 2005 21:41:46 -0700, Lee DeRaud <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>
>>On Wed, 01 Jun 2005 03:10:06 GMT, "John Grossbohlin"
>><[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>>>That is pretty basic stuff. One of the first shop lessons my father taught
>>>me when I was a kid was to never stand where the machine could throw
>>>material or tooling at you... always stand off to the side. Also, never
>>>clear metal chips with your hand! Early in his career he served an
>>>apprenticeship and became a journeyman tool and die maker. He has stories to
>>>tell about people who disregarded the basics... One that still gives me the
>>>creeps is about another tool and die maker who was missing most of the
>>>fingers on one hand. He had a bench top table saw at home that was not
>>>clamped down. The saw fell off the bench while he was sawing and he tried to
>>>catch it... There's another rule, clamp or bolt your work or tools down! ;-)
>>
>>Which brings up yet another rule: if you drop something, LET IT FALL!
>>
> .... and move your feet out of the way.
...and be wearing steel toes in case that plan fails.
"RonB" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:bN8ne.48930$gc6.23008@okepread04...
>I posted a note here several weeks ago about a friend of my son's who
>suffered critical injuries from a tablesaw kickback. As it turns out it
>was a planer not a tablesaw. The fellow was running a couple of long
>pieces of thin stock through the machine when it caught one of them and
>jammed it back into and through his abdomen. He ended up with much of the
>length proturding from his back. He fought effects of blood loss and
>infection for a week before being released from ICU. Doing ok now but
>lucky.
>
Again, basic shop safety.
Never stand where a machine can throw a chunk of wood at you. In terms of
planers and tablesaws, it is very obvious where the "kill zone" is.
I stood there once and got it in the gut. Everything that my old shop
teacher ever said on the topic came back to me in one sickening moment. I
have never done it since. Luckily, I got away with some extensive bruising.
That must have been a nightmare situation in terms of the emergency first
aid and getting him to the hospital. And I am sure the surgery was no picnic
either. The fact he was in ICU for that long is an indicator of how serious
the injury was.
I hope he recovers fully and has learned from his ordeal. I have a healthy
respect for anything that can hurt me. I am polite to people and machines
alike.
I was suprised to see that some planers include anti-kickback devices.
Could you have accidently pushed them in too far and tipped the leading
edge up?
Dave
Gary wrote:
> This weekend I experienced kickback from my Dewalt 735 planer. I didn't
> know those things would kickback, but wham! Pieces hit my little finger on
> my left hand and I was certain it was broken, but only a bruise and couple
> of scratches resulted.
>
> I am a hobbyist who is fairly new woodworking. I had made feet (6) out of
> hard maple for a cabinet that I'm building. They measured 5"X7"X7/8". I
> thought I'd try to hand-cut dovetail the corners and decided to plane them
> down to 3/4" to make them a little easier to cut.
>
> I ran each of them through my planer at least twice, one at a time. On the
> third and last run, I placed two of the feet on the infeed table and pushed
> them in. Crash! They both came out the back in very high velocity and in 4
> pieces.
>
> It seemed odd to me that the pieces were gouged about 1/4" deep in the
> middle of each piece. The only explanation I can come up with is perhaps
> the pieces got caught under the cutter blades but not in contact with either
> of the infeed or outfeed rollers. I don't understand why it waited until
> after 12 pieces ran through with no problem, or why it gouged so deeply into
> the ejected pieces.
>
> I guess I'm lucky injuries weren't any worse than they were. I've learned a
> valuable lesson, never plane anything less than 12" long. I'm also thinking
> about all that power equipment in my shop, I bet Roy never experienced
> kickback. I did nick my thumb with a chisel later that day though.
>
> Gary
>
>
Gary says...
> I guess I'm lucky injuries weren't any worse than they were. I've learned a
> valuable lesson, never plane anything less than 12" long. I'm also thinking
> about all that power equipment in my shop, I bet Roy never experienced
> kickback. I did nick my thumb with a chisel later that day though.
>
> Gary
Thanks for the heads up. I've been tempted to do that many times, but I
won't now.
Gary wrote:
> This weekend I experienced kickback from my Dewalt 735 planer. I didn't
> know those things would kickback, but wham! Pieces hit my little finger on
> my left hand and I was certain it was broken, but only a bruise and couple
> of scratches resulted.
>
> I am a hobbyist who is fairly new woodworking. I had made feet (6) out of
> hard maple for a cabinet that I'm building. They measured 5"X7"X7/8". I
> thought I'd try to hand-cut dovetail the corners and decided to plane them
> down to 3/4" to make them a little easier to cut.
Minimum length rule....
>
> I ran each of them through my planer at least twice, one at a time. On the
> third and last run, I placed two of the feet on the infeed table and pushed
> them in. Crash! They both came out the back in very high velocity and in 4
> pieces.
>
> It seemed odd to me that the pieces were gouged about 1/4" deep in the
> middle of each piece. The only explanation I can come up with is perhaps
> the pieces got caught under the cutter blades but not in contact with either
> of the infeed or outfeed rollers. I don't understand why it waited until
> after 12 pieces ran through with no problem, or why it gouged so deeply into
> the ejected pieces.
>
> I guess I'm lucky injuries weren't any worse than they were. I've learned a
> valuable lesson, never plane anything less than 12" long. I'm also thinking
> about all that power equipment in my shop, I bet Roy never experienced
> kickback. I did nick my thumb with a chisel later that day though.
Lot of places send people home after a minor accident. It usually
prevents the second accident. If it's serious everyone goes home for the
day -- mining accidents etc.
Guess you know why now.. ;-)
You lose your concentration and start thinking of avoiding accidents
instead of doing the job -- and accident is usually the result.
>
> Gary
>
>
--
Will
Occasional Techno-geek
I posted a note here several weeks ago about a friend of my son's who
suffered critical injuries from a tablesaw kickback. As it turns out it was
a planer not a tablesaw. The fellow was running a couple of long pieces of
thin stock through the machine when it caught one of them and jammed it back
into and through his abdomen. He ended up with much of the length
proturding from his back. He fought effects of blood loss and infection for
a week before being released from ICU. Doing ok now but lucky.
In article <[email protected]>,
Mark & Juanita <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Tue, 31 May 2005 21:41:46 -0700, Lee DeRaud <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>
> >On Wed, 01 Jun 2005 03:10:06 GMT, "John Grossbohlin"
> ><[email protected]> wrote:
> >
> >>That is pretty basic stuff. One of the first shop lessons my father taught
> >>me when I was a kid was to never stand where the machine could throw
> >>material or tooling at you... always stand off to the side. Also, never
> >>clear metal chips with your hand! Early in his career he served an
> >>apprenticeship and became a journeyman tool and die maker. He has stories
> >>to
> >>tell about people who disregarded the basics... One that still gives me the
> >>creeps is about another tool and die maker who was missing most of the
> >>fingers on one hand. He had a bench top table saw at home that was not
> >>clamped down. The saw fell off the bench while he was sawing and he tried
> >>to
> >>catch it... There's another rule, clamp or bolt your work or tools down!
> >>;-)
> >
> >Which brings up yet another rule: if you drop something, LET IT FALL!
> >
> >Lee
>
> .... and move your feet out of the way.
>
my soccer playing instincts are working against me on that one....
"Gary" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> This weekend I experienced kickback from my Dewalt 735 planer. I didn't
> know those things would kickback, but wham! Pieces hit my little finger
> on my left hand and I was certain it was broken, but only a bruise and
> couple of scratches resulted.
>
> I am a hobbyist who is fairly new woodworking. I had made feet (6) out of
> hard maple for a cabinet that I'm building. They measured 5"X7"X7/8". I
> thought I'd try to hand-cut dovetail the corners and decided to plane them
> down to 3/4" to make them a little easier to cut.
>
> I ran each of them through my planer at least twice, one at a time. On
> the third and last run, I placed two of the feet on the infeed table and
> pushed them in. Crash! They both came out the back in very high velocity
> and in 4 pieces.
>
> It seemed odd to me that the pieces were gouged about 1/4" deep in the
> middle of each piece. The only explanation I can come up with is perhaps
> the pieces got caught under the cutter blades but not in contact with
> either of the infeed or outfeed rollers. I don't understand why it waited
> until after 12 pieces ran through with no problem, or why it gouged so
> deeply into the ejected pieces.
>
> I guess I'm lucky injuries weren't any worse than they were. I've learned
> a valuable lesson, never plane anything less than 12" long. I'm also
> thinking about all that power equipment in my shop, I bet Roy never
> experienced kickback. I did nick my thumb with a chisel later that day
> though.
>
> Gary
>
>
The 7" pieces were just barely long enough to be in contact with the cutter
and one of the feed rollers at one time. The feet are typical of what you
see on the bottom of a dresser or chest of drawers; 5" tall in the corner
and scroll out to 0" on each end.
I think what happened was one of the pieces turned while going under the
cutter to where it wasn't long enough to reach a feed roller, resulting in
the piece being slammed out the back of the planer.
Gary
On Tue, 31 May 2005 21:41:46 -0700, Lee DeRaud <[email protected]>
wrote:
>On Wed, 01 Jun 2005 03:10:06 GMT, "John Grossbohlin"
><[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>That is pretty basic stuff. One of the first shop lessons my father taught
>>me when I was a kid was to never stand where the machine could throw
>>material or tooling at you... always stand off to the side. Also, never
>>clear metal chips with your hand! Early in his career he served an
>>apprenticeship and became a journeyman tool and die maker. He has stories to
>>tell about people who disregarded the basics... One that still gives me the
>>creeps is about another tool and die maker who was missing most of the
>>fingers on one hand. He had a bench top table saw at home that was not
>>clamped down. The saw fell off the bench while he was sawing and he tried to
>>catch it... There's another rule, clamp or bolt your work or tools down! ;-)
>
>Which brings up yet another rule: if you drop something, LET IT FALL!
>
>Lee
.... and move your feet out of the way.
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
If you're gonna be dumb, you better be tough
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
>
> That must have been a nightmare situation in terms of the emergency first
> aid and getting him to the hospital. And I am sure the surgery was no
> picnic either. The fact he was in ICU for that long is an indicator of
> how serious the injury was.
>
> I hope he recovers fully and has learned from his ordeal. I have a
> healthy respect for anything that can hurt me. I am polite to people and
> machines alike.
Yeah. Luckily the guys who where helping him remodel knew what to do. They
left the piece in place, called 911 and started treating shock.
On Wed, 01 Jun 2005 03:10:06 GMT, "John Grossbohlin"
<[email protected]> wrote:
>That is pretty basic stuff. One of the first shop lessons my father taught
>me when I was a kid was to never stand where the machine could throw
>material or tooling at you... always stand off to the side. Also, never
>clear metal chips with your hand! Early in his career he served an
>apprenticeship and became a journeyman tool and die maker. He has stories to
>tell about people who disregarded the basics... One that still gives me the
>creeps is about another tool and die maker who was missing most of the
>fingers on one hand. He had a bench top table saw at home that was not
>clamped down. The saw fell off the bench while he was sawing and he tried to
>catch it... There's another rule, clamp or bolt your work or tools down! ;-)
Which brings up yet another rule: if you drop something, LET IT FALL!
Lee
"Lee Michaels" <leemichaels*nadaspam*@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
>
> Never stand where a machine can throw a chunk of wood at you. In terms of
> planers and tablesaws, it is very obvious where the "kill zone" is.
>
That is pretty basic stuff. One of the first shop lessons my father taught
me when I was a kid was to never stand where the machine could throw
material or tooling at you... always stand off to the side. Also, never
clear metal chips with your hand! Early in his career he served an
apprenticeship and became a journeyman tool and die maker. He has stories to
tell about people who disregarded the basics... One that still gives me the
creeps is about another tool and die maker who was missing most of the
fingers on one hand. He had a bench top table saw at home that was not
clamped down. The saw fell off the bench while he was sawing and he tried to
catch it... There's another rule, clamp or bolt your work or tools down! ;-)
John
In article <[email protected]>, "Gary" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>I guess I'm lucky injuries weren't any worse than they were. I've learned a
>valuable lesson, never plane anything less than 12" long.
Yep - and if you look in the owner's manual, I think you'll find that it warns
not to do that . :-)
> I'm also thinking
>about all that power equipment in my shop, I bet Roy never experienced
>kickback. I did nick my thumb with a chisel later that day though.
Worst shop injuries I've ever had have been from chisels...
>Gary
>
>
--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)
Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt.
And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?
"Gary" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> This weekend I experienced kickback from my Dewalt 735 planer. I didn't
> know those things would kickback, but wham! Pieces hit my little finger
> on my left hand and I was certain it was broken, but only a bruise and
> couple of scratches resulted.
>
> Gary
I believe the instructions for my Ryobi states nothing shorter than 13".
--
Paul O.
[email protected]