As Norm said, [t]here is no other more important safety rule...

C

ChuckM

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Joined
Sep 7, 2015
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5,732
than to wear THESE... safety glasses...and also HEARING protection when necessary.
https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2021/hearing-loss-and-the-dementia-connection

There're two things in life you wouldn't wish on even your worst enemy: cancer and dementia. If you're over 55 or experience symptoms of hearing loss, book for a hearing test.
https://www.theguardian.com/society...uld-help-cut-the-risk-of-dementia-study-finds

I have over a dozen of hearing protectors of one kind or another scattered in my shop (so I have no excuse not to wear one). Recently I found out that cordless drills are rated around 99 dBA, and so have since been wearing hearing protection whenever using any of them -- as a precaution.
 
My Apple Watch is set to notify me any time decibel levels are at or above 80 for even a few seconds.  I assume other smart watches have a similar  feature.

Now, the vast majority of the time I already have my hearing protection on when I get a notification but it is a still a good reminder. When I first started using the feature, It was rare that my hearing protection was on.

 
What operations in the shop generate enough noise to trigger the alarm.  At what DB level does it trigger?

The noisiest device in my shop is the dust collection.  It is across the room and does not seem very noisy at that distance.  I have a DB meter.  I will check the DBs at the saw and at the dust collector.
 
Packard said:
What operations in the shop generate enough noise to trigger the alarm.  At what DB level does it trigger?
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As [member=78000]twistsol1[/member] said, 80db.    Mine triggers when using the router+Festool dust extractor, table saw + dust collection, J/P + dust collector, etc.    Normally I am wearing ear protection, so I can mute it for a hour or day.

Bob
 
The Apple watch sounds like a great reminder idea. Since I use every machine with a dust extractor or dust collector or shop vac, whenever I use a power tool (now including the cordless drill IF I can remember), I wear hearing protection.

Because it's quite an hassle, most woodworking YouTubers I see don't wear any hearing protection in their videos, or any masks.
 
Packard said:
What operations in the shop generate enough noise to trigger the alarm.  At what DB level does it trigger?

The noisiest device in my shop is the dust collection.  It is across the room and does not seem very noisy at that distance.  I have a DB meter.  I will check the DBs at the saw and at the dust collector.
Click to expand...

I have mine set to trigger at 80Db, but it is configurable from 80 to 100 in 5 DB increments. The average sound level over a 3 minute period has to be over the configured threshold. It is a little skewed since my hands are usually closer to the source of the noise than my head, but better safe than sorry.

If I'm standing next to my 3HP dust collector, that will trigger it, anything at the router table or any of my routers, RO150 sander if it is up all the way, RO90 very rarely. The table saw will often trigger it and my Kapex, but only if I use the hand my watch is on when running it.

 
Don't forget the acute high-dB sounds from pneumatic nailers.

I'm better now with glasses, even though I've always hated wearing them, but I never work without earplugs.  I try to keep dust dealt with through engineering controls (dust collector, ambient air cleaners) but for some things like metal grinding or solid surface, I wear a dust mask.
 
ChuckS said:
The Apple watch sounds like a great reminder idea. Since I use every machine with a dust extractor or dust collector or shop vac, whenever I use a power tool (now including the cordless drill IF I can remember), I wear hearing protection.

Because it's quite an hassle, most woodworking YouTubers I see don't wear any hearing protection in their videos, or any masks.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but those are the same idiots who hold a measuring tape between the rip fence and the blade rather than using the scale that is on the machine itself. I assume this is a "for the camera" thing, but it makes me shudder every time. Back in the day, this was a thing with saws that weren't so equipped, but modern ones with Bessmier type fences......just no. Most of them have SawStops anyway.
 
Was renovating my son's bedroom last year and I was packing up when I noticed a nail sticking out of a bottom plate. Without thinking I grabbed my hammer and hit it so no one would stand on it - the end of the nail broke into tiny fragments, a number of them hitting me in my left eye. Thought that I had just scratched my eye, but it was unbearable overnight, so ended up in emergency. They held my head in a type of adjustable jig and removed the fragments one by one, by hand, with an extremely fine needle. No pain, because of a numbing drop they put in, but very disconcerting. But, a very, very painful recovery, that took weeks and two more visits to remove a 'rust ring' that was left.
Nearly 30 years in the trade and by far my worst injury. Wear your glasses!
 
Crazyraceguy said:
Snip. rather than using the scale that is on the machine itself. Snip.
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There is a very good reason why not using the scale on the saw, but a tape measure is the right thing to do.

If you measure, for example, an opening and need to cut a piece to the exact width of the opening, you must set the fence with the tape measure (unless the tape measure used is the same as the scale on the saw, which is usually not the case).

If I start a project and rip or crosscut something based on the scale on the table saw, then I'll cut everything else for the whole project based on the saw's scale, and not on any tape measure.
 
ChuckS said:
There is a very good reason why not using the scale on the saw, but a tape measure is the right thing to do.

If you measure, for example, an opening and need to cut a piece to the exact width of the opening, you must set the fence with the tape measure (unless the tape measure used is the same as the scale on the saw, which is usually not the case).

If I start a project and rip or crosscut something based on the scale on the table saw, then I'll cut everything else for the whole project based on the saw's scale, and not on any tape measure.
Click to expand...

Excellent point or guaranteeing repeatability that matches your tape measure. For the other guy: it does not matter how you set a tablesaw fence as long as the fence has been calibrated to be parallel to the blade.
 
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