#7
Twice !  This first pic I staged, but it is what I found a couple of weeks ago, when I went to change the bit in my router. There was a small screw laying just where you see this one. I used a much larger screw to stage this pic. I have no idea where the screw came from, but there it was. I don't know if the other screw would, or could have fallen in or not, but I didn't want to touch it. I got a magnet and fished it out that way. Had a small screw fallen in, I'm sure I would never know it, and when I turned on the router, I don't think good things would have happened. Now when  I am done with the router, I ALWAYS lower it, and install the blank collar. I think I could have easily been out one $400 router.
   

The second incident involved my Unisaw, I finally got around to making a zero clearance insert plate for it the other day. I make them out of phenolic. I did everything the usual way. After cutting the slot, I removed the plate, and with a small file, widened, and lengthened the slot slightly. Put it back in the saw, and turned it on. I don't know if it was air currents or what, but that saw flung that plate out of the like a cat jumping off a hot tin roof. It went sailing. Luckily, I was not standing directly behind it. There is a little nub on the front of a stock insert plate. Apparently, it's there for a reason. I attached a little nub to my plate, and all my phenolic plates.
   

As a newbie here I will probably bring things up that have been here countless times. If I repeat things, bear with me.

Thanks  Greg
Sometimes it's better to keep your mouth shut, and have the world think you a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt.
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#8
(07-14-2022, 05:23 PM)Gregor1 Wrote: Twice !  This first pic I staged, but it is what I found a couple of weeks ago, when I went to change the bit in my router. There was a small screw laying just where you see this one. I used a much larger screw to stage this pic. I have no idea where the screw came from, but there it was. I don't know if the other screw would, or could have fallen in or not, but I didn't want to touch it. I got a magnet and fished it out that way. Had a small screw fallen in, I'm sure I would never know it, and when I turned on the router, I don't think good things would have happened. Now when  I am done with the router, I ALWAYS lower it, and install the blank collar. I think I could have easily been out one $400 router.

The second incident involved my Unisaw, I finally got around to making a zero clearance insert plate for it the other day. I make them out of phenolic. I did everything the usual way. After cutting the slot, I removed the plate, and with a small file, widened, and lengthened the slot slightly. Put it back in the saw, and turned it on. I don't know if it was air currents or what, but that saw flung that plate out of the like a cat jumping off a hot tin roof. It went sailing. Luckily, I was not standing directly behind it. There is a little nub on the front of a stock insert plate. Apparently, it's there for a reason. I attached a little nub to my plate, and all my phenolic plates.

As a newbie here I will probably bring things up that have been here countless times. If I repeat things, bear with me.

Thanks  Greg
If you didn't notice the screw and turned the router on there's a good chance the bit could fling that screw with some serious velocity. If it hit you anywhere it would cost a lot more than $400. 

Yes, directly behind the blade during a kick-back is a dangerous place to be. However; back in High School a rather short student cutting on a PM-66 had a 1/4" dust panel kick back into his belt buckle. A rather tall student standing 5' away, well to the side, out of the line-of fire, caught the ricochet right in the groin. Earlier that week a shaper cutter embedded itself into a concrete wall about 30' away and about 10' up. If its coarse happened to be more horizontal, the chance of serious injury would be very high. 

Bottom line; This is a dangerous trade/hobby. Stay alert and attentive to everything that could go wrong to increase your chances of enjoying this trade/hobby for a long time.
Sign at N.E. Vocational School Cabinetmaking Shop 1976, "Free knowledge given daily... Bring your own container"
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#9
I have made several of my own zero clearance inserts for my Unisaw, using corian or composite for vertical cuts, plywood for dado/bevel. I have to start with an 8" blade to start to blade kerf, then move to a 10" for the final cut. I may have learned it here, I forget, but I always slide my fence over the insert, but to the side of the kerf, when starting the process. Likewise when making an insert for a dado or for a bevel setting...This is not meant to underscore/downplay the need for the nib or pin as I have not tried, nor would I suggest trying, to operate the saw without it.
Might be worth noting that there's a place in PA called MLCS that has pre-fabricated inserts for a very reasonable price, and always free shipping (price has gone up a bit since I last purchased one)...
https://www.mlcswoodworking.com/shopsite...=table+saw
Glad to hear that crises were averted...
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#10
About 20 years ago one of my employees had a router bit come out. The butt end went about an inch into his arm. 1/4" shaft. can't imagine what the cutting side would have done.
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#11
That shaper cutter in the concrete wall was one of a pair of knives designed to be securely clamped between the upper and lower collars. Judging by how far it was in the wall, I'd say it would pass completely through a human body.
Sign at N.E. Vocational School Cabinetmaking Shop 1976, "Free knowledge given daily... Bring your own container"
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Disaster narrowly averted


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