Republic Lagun General Safety General Safety Precautions for Mills, Lathes & Other Products

General Safety Precautions
When operation the machine, think about what you are going to do before you do it. Go over a safety checklist.

1. Do I know how to operate this machine?
2. What are the potential hazards involved?
3. Are all guards in place?
4. Are my procedures safe?
5. Am I doing something that I probably should not do?
6. Have I made all proper adjustments and tightened all locking bolts and clamps?
7. Is the work piece secured properly?
8. Do I have proper safety equipment?
9. Do I know where the stop switch is?
10. Do I think about safety in everything I do?

Clothing, Hair and Jewelry Wear a short sleeve shirt or roll up long sleeves above the elbow. Keep your shirt tucked in and remove your necktie. It is recommended that you wear a shop apron. A shop coat may be worn as long as you roll up long sleeves. Do not wear fuzzy sweaters. If you have long hair, keep it secured properly to avoid your hair being entangle in a moving machine. Removed wristwatch and rings before operation the machine. These can cause serious injury if they should de caught in a moving part.

Hand Protection Use a brush to remove chips. Do not use your hands. Resift the temptation to grab chips as they come from a cut. Chips should not be removed with a rag. The metal particles become imbedded in the cloth and they may cut you. Gloves must not be worn. If a glove should be caught in moving a part, it will be pulled in along with the hand inside it. Various cutting oils, coolants, and solvents may affect your skin. The results may be a rash or possible infection. Avoid direct contact with these products as much aspossible wash your hands as soon as possible after contact. You may be tempted to blow chips from the machine by using compressed air. This is not good practice. The air will propel metal particles at high velocity. They can injure you or someone on the other side of the machine. Do not blow compressed air on your clothing or skin. The air can be dirty and the force can implant dirt and germs into your skin.

Electrical If you are adjusting the machine or accomplishing maintenance, you should unplug it from the electrical service. If it is permanently wired, the circuit breaker may be switched off and tagged with an appropriate warning.

Machine Safety
The machine can be a safe machine only if the machinist is aware of the hazards involved in its operation. Develop safe work habits in the use of setups, chip breakers, guards, and other protective devices. Standards for safety have been established as guidelines to help you eliminate unsafe practice. Some of the hazards are as follows:

1. Pinch points due to movement: Keep your hands away from dangerous positions, such as gears, chuck or rotating cutters.
2. Hazards associated with falling components. Heavy chucks, work pieces vises,etc. can be dangerous when accidentally dropped. Care must be used when handling them. A chuck wrench left in the chuck can become a missile when the machine is turn on. Always remove the chuck wrench immediately after using it.
3. Hazards resulting from contact with high temperature components: Burns usually result from handling hot chips or a hot workpiece. Gloves may be worn when handling hot workpiece, but never worn when the machine is running.
4. Hazards resulting from contact with sharp edges, corners and protections: Shields should be used for protection from flying chips and coolant. These shields are usually made of clear plastic. Stringy chips must not be removed with bare hands; wear heavy gloves and use hook tools or pliers but always turn-off the machine before attempting to remove chips. Chips should be broken rather in a stringy mass or long wire. Chip breakers on tools and correct feeds will help to produce safe, easily handled chips. Burred edges must be removed before the workpiece is removed from the machine. Always remove the tool bit when setting up or removing workpieces to avoid cutting yourself.
5. Hazards of workholding devices: when workpieces are clamped, their components often extend beyond the outside diameter of the holding device. Guards, barriers, and warnings such as signs or verbal instructions are all used to make you aware of the hazards. Never run a geared scroll chuck without having something being gripped in the jaws. Centrifugal force on the jaws can cause the scroll to unwind and the jaws to come out of the chuck. Keep tool, files and micrometers off the machine. They may vibrate off into the revolving chuck or workpiece, or cutter.
6. Spindle breaking: The spindle or workpiece should never be slowed or stopped by hand gripping or any other means. Always used the machine controls to stop or slow it.