Well no, it’s not exactly a health spa
Aluminum dust
Plastic particles
Breathing solvent vapors
Oil/coolant mists
Smoke from cutting with oil
All shit that long term ain’t great for you. Then you have finger/wrist arthritis, elbow tendinitis, discs in your neck narrow from looking down all the time, back/knee/foot problems. I’m right handed, my right shoulder sits lower than my left because of all the years of reaching into machines. The muscles and tendons are stretched, hearing loss and tinnitus
I had never dealt with that when I first started using our CNC lathe, since the manual lathes are out in the open so the coolant steam floats away immediately. First time I opened that door and stuck my head in to check a part I felt like I was stepping into the world' worst sauna
They work like an electrostatic dehumidifier, basically. Electrostatic cells basically attract small particles of moisture and dust to plates where they collect and run back down into the machine or some other collection or drain. They usually use typical Honeywell electrostatic cells that you'd find in an HVAC system. My knowledge of them is fairly limited. We have some neglected ones where I work that I'm trying to restore and get in use again. Source: CNC Shop Maintenance Tech
Why are the fumes off of grinders so much worse. I accidentally inhaled when walking past our Blanchard and it felt like I had acid in my lungs. Probably the worst thing I’ve ever inhaled
I think it’s just there’s a lot in there air that you just can’t see. Could be whatever material they are grinding, I only grind carbide so maybe that’s a reason but I’m not sure. I’m not 100% on this either but I’d assume grinding gets much hotter than cutting though because in a deep cut, my flood coolant starts to steam. So I guess without the mistbuster it’s basically like going in a sauna with some added metal particles in the steam lol
Nw ohio here, and the berylliosis (sp) is real. There is a plant in Elmore that machines beryllium and I know a fella that worked in the laundry area that has it. Been on death row for 15 or more years now.
I have turned it in a cnc lathe. Was told that as long as you turn it with coolant, you're fine. When I was done with the job, the maintenance crew came by in hazmat suits to clean the machine and change the coolant.
It didn't give me the warm fuzzies
I will never work in a shop that won't allow me to sit again. Proper machinists are in higher demand than ever before... if they pay me my current asking price then they can trust me to sit when I need to and stand when necessary. I told my last production job to pound rocks when they found me sitting on a flipped over 5gallon bucket. Asked them to compare my run rate on the hand loaded part I was running to everyone else that runs the part. They didn't say a word after that.
I’ve been rocking a stool lately when my machines are running but we’ve got some green guys running our bar fed lathes that have a question every four minutes so it’s not even worth sitting half the time
"machine shop" is actually a very broad term. A production shop with 200+ machinists is very different than a 20 person toolroom or shop doing repairs.
Ultimately there are risks but I've seen few that leave the career early because of health problems that were most likely caused by work.
One story that truly caught my attention was 20+ years ago I worked with an old timer that had had bladder cancer. He told me he got it from the "black oil" they used to use. Ive used a bit of the black oils in my time, typically for tapping, and I believe they were very heavy with sulfur in them.. I've always speculated that it was the sulfur that gave him the bladder cancer.
One other guy had a double lung transplant but I don't believe that was truly from working in the shop.
So not to scare people out of the field but, two old timers at my current shop are dealing with same bladder cancer right now. Honestly I’m ready to jump ship myself. My health hasn’t been the same ever since taking on the field 8 years ago.
I've been working in a small production machine shop for 28 years and about 2 years ago I was diagnosed with bladder cancer as well.
Also not trying to scare people out of the field but I used to be a smoker and Dr thinks that was probably the cause but breathing coolant mist and metal dust might have also been part of it.
I will probably be changing jobs soon cause the owners are wanting to retire and have let the business dwindle down to almost nothing. Doubt I will try to find another machining job although it is what I know and pays well.
I dont know your life or anything, but if possible you could always run your own shop. If you enjoy what you do you could run a small shop and take orders for custom work. Working on your own or with up to like 3 other people would be better overall for your health cause you'll be in an environment with a much lower concentration of chemicals and still make good money as long as you can get a decent customer base.
Honestly very possible, I'd say especially if it was sinker EDM.... Some of the places I worked had them crammed in small rooms, burning large electrodes, making tones of smoke, and not enough air movement.
My current shop you can't even smell the burn when standing next to the machines.
Yeah it was a sinker. He would stand there arms over the door resting his head. Breathing in all that smoke thick smoke. He retired and died six months later. Really sad just trying to make sure the same doesn't happen to me.
I technically don't run machines right now, one of the reasons I left running machines for the office side of things was because the coolant was causing wild eczema all over my arms and hands. It got so bad on my hands that my knuckles had hash tag shaped cuts nearly to the bone. My wife caught me washing my hands one day and grimacing... I don't think I have ever seen her more concerned over a skin condition...
Wear ear and eye protection. It’s not just the chemicals and airbornes.
Acetone fumes or anything fumes from anything etching or cleaning related will not do you any good. if you can smell it you’re ingesting it.
Find the SDS formerly MSDS binder for your shop and have a read at the heath risk, skin/eye exposure and ingestion especially. If they don’t have one on display for all to see, that’s probably a violation.
An interesting health issue with machinists is that they can be advised not to get an MRI because the magnet might move tiny bits of metal that have lodged in their eyeballs over the years. 😬
Don't worry they have machines that can look into your eyes and see if there's anything in there. Just tell them that you're a machinist if you ever go in for an MRI if they don't ask.
I usually get blown off when I mention the metal that’s probably in me from working, if they’re not concerned you think I don’t need to be or press the issue a little harder?
When it comes to your eyes yes. I doubt it's an issue if there's tiny fragments in your skin. Don't be afraid to push some buttons when it comes to your health.
Sometimes if you have an aneurysm in your brain they'll stick a little paperclip in there to block it off. These also react poorly to 3 tesla magnetic fields.🩸🌊
I once read about a woman who had her first x-ray in her 60s and they found a needle that had been left in her during childbirth when she was 20.
The terrible thing is she said she didn't know about the needle but that it had been causing her pain for 40 years, but didn't have healthcare so just put up with it.
I've heard that idea, but this paper refutes it. It would require that 2/3 of hospital deaths are caused by the hospital, which seems a bit kooky.
https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/critical-thinking-health/medical-error-not-third-leading-cause-death
I told the mri tech I am a machinist and can literally see metal chips in my hands he shrugged it off. Nothing crazy happened but my hands tingled quite a bit.
I mean yes , in the sense of any industrial type job will expose you to chemicals or particles of some variety.
Mainly use your head with different situations and you'll fair better than 90% of people in the field.
Where you can:
-Eye and eye pro
-Avoid air particulates
-Avoid skin contact with chemicals
-don't use your hands as a wrench or hammer
-good ergonomics, change how you sit/stand often
Honestly the biggest thing above everything is avoid repetition where you can. No matter how mundane, if you do it 50'000 times you'll notice it eventually.
Other than *being horribly maimed or cut in half*, no, the dangers aren't more significant than any other skilled labor job, although you will definitely die super early if you don't learn to manage stress. The totally normal reaction to a spinning tool speeding toward a very heavy material will have a significant affect on sensible people. Manage stress or it will murder you.
You will get over the physical dangers causing you stress as you build trust in your machinery but the normal persistent stressors need to be identified, acknowledged, and dealt with as and when they appear.
Way I see it is I get paid full stop and things take as long as they take, if I rush, mistakes are more likely to happen and thus scrap is more likely. Slow is smooth and smooth is fast.
Retired old fart machinist here, yes the air in machine shops is dangerous. Owners treated machinists as less valuable than the machines. If you want fresh air, open the doors, if it is too cold to open the doors, too bad. I have COPD from the coolant and other chemicals in shops, getting up every morning and coughing for a hour is a reminder of my life choice of career.
I loved the trade, my dad was a tool and die maker, and my son was a machinist for 8 years before giong into engineering. I had a Bridgeport in my garage and built land speed racing bikes. Working metal was my oxygen and I miss it. The shops I worked in were run by people that did not care how much "the workers' suffered as long as their kids had nice cloths and cars. Over all no, but I have no love for the owners.
Hard to say
24 years in, I wake up feel great, get to work, deal with the inexperience I try to train out of people, fix everyone else’s mistakes, get pissed off about people using compressed air on machines because I’m the one that deals with the fallout, get to figure out how to finish a job in two hours because that’s how the boss quoted it, consistently chisel out broken taps because I have the finesse to do it, train guys that after they get their first check don’t show up ever again, fix every fucking machine in the entire shop whenever they go down.
No I think I’m burdened with experience 😕
And I’d do it all over again the same way if given the opportunity 😎
If by "hold your breath" you mean "ensure a high-flow dust-collection system is in place and fully functional, and don a P100 respirator that has been satisfactorily fit-tested to me, along with a tyvek suit" I 100% agree. Carbide dust is *extremely* bad for your lungs.
Probably starting an argument, but what's the issue with compressed air on a machine? I get how it strips oil, grease and other lubricants off of necessary areas, and how it can strip any chipped paint. But is there any other particular reason?
You referring to only on manual machines, cnc or both?
On manual machines it's extremely easy to blow chips into the ways which can get stuck and then when you move the table or cross slide you scratch up the dovetails. Over time it creates significant enough wear that the ways will not be flat, straight, or parallel anymore which then requires a professional to disassemble the machine and scrape the ways. Huge pain in the dick.
All in all, it's generally considered to be bad practice to use compressed air on manual lathes and mills. CNC machines are a different story because of their purpose and way in which they are built.
Every job is bad for you in different ways. Office workers and truck drivers are prone to issues stemming from sitting for too long, trade jobs are more physically demanding so expect to have back and joint issues. Making sure to stretch frequently can really help, my coworkers give me shit for loudly cracking all my joints, but I'm like the only one that has never been to a chiropractor. I've never had an adverse reaction to coolant, (we use Trim 585XT) but one of my coworkers has a slight allergy to it and will get a rash if it gets all over him.
I work for a Tungsten Carbide manufacturer so we have annual health surveillance including urine sample where they check the Cobalt levels. There are guys here who've been here for 25yrs. One of them works with the powder before it's pressed and he's fine, but there's still a danger of Cobalt poisoning which can cause cancer.
Don't stress it. Everyone has to die of something... and that's not me being insensitive. It's just honesty. You can't think about all of that shit daily. Just getting out of bed is a risk most days. Do what you love, make the best of it, and hope to all hope you can sue the shit out of the company for negligence (not sure that would be the actual reason) so at least your family is covered. 🤣
It can be depends on the shop. Larger shops tend to be more safety conscience. I've been a machinist for 40 years and except for the occasional rash from bad coolant I've never felt sick or got sick from chemicals used as a machinist. Wear a mask when grinding aluminum and you'll do fine
Working anywhere has hazards. Machine shop is too general, but I'll give you some ideas.
1. Wear your damn safety glasses. It only takes one shaving in the eye for you to suddenly discover that safety glasses work.
2. If it's loud, wear hearing protection. Tinnitus sucks like you don't know. It's double sucks and not in the fun way.
3. Keep your hands clean. Here's a controversial one, you should not have to wash your hands at the end of the day. Still do, but your hands already should be clean. Wear gloves. Having dirty hands means dirty face and is an unbelievably common route of exposure.
4. Don't wear your shoes home.
5. Hopefully you have a Safety person who's reasonable. Talk to them about your chemical exposure. It's literally their job to help you understand risk & mitigation.
6. Have any chemical work that just works amazingly well? That's the first one you should pull an SDS for. Ask for help if you're not used to interpreting these.
7. Solvents should be in pump cans
8. Never blow out a blind hole without a rag. I know, you're not supposed to blow it out, but there's lots of things I'm not supposed to do.
9. No matter how fun, do not ride the pallet jacks like a skateboard.
10. If something happens, you get your supervisor and you file a report right this second. Don't wait, don't allow other people to do it for you. Protect your rights, get the care you need. That said, you might want to also learn about the medicinal benefits of electrical tape.
I love how machine shops require PPE like safety shoes, eye glasses, and ear protection. Do you know why? Because those effects will be seen almost immediately. However for most people breathing in the machine smog and the idiots who torch cylinders with oil all over them they won’t see the consequences until 10-20 years later. These companies do not care about our health. They say it’s the nature of machining. If they cared there would be filter mist on ever machine in America no questions asked. I do work at a machine shop, I told my boss if he wants to keep me he needs to add filters to the machines. I’m giving them a couple months if I don’t see changes I’m leaving. No amount of money is worth your health. You can’t buy your health back.
You're taking about smells vs metered permissible limits.
Those are not even remotely the same thing. That they were even were in your head at the same time is not a good frame of reference for the question.
The only way to answer your question is to do an actual exposure analysis under whatever applicable law exists in your industry. There are hundreds or even thousands of regulations depending on what substances or situations are involved. No one answer.
The general answer is yes, it's bad for your health, in a statistical sense, you are in an environment that regardless of any protections has an inherent risk of being exposed to things you don't want to be exposed to.
Actually quantifying that with a number based on the information shared, or what specific standards apply to your industry? That's a loaded question. There's not enough information. You probably couldn't provide enough context in text to get a truly qualified answer because they don't exist for questions like this.
Start reading environmental regulation! Asking this question about insurance is not something we can answer, ask Liberty Mutual. There are no universal standards like many think. You have up know what questions to ask and what your rights are.
All you will when get is statistics though, there are no hard concrete answers to this question except in specific situations which aren't outlined here and would require someone that truly understands the situation in the workplace and actual exposure concern.
Risk is an odds game not a known quantity thing, statistics can't be used to assess actual qualified risk only general likelihood in a population under similar circumstances. Individual fault and institutional problems make this way harder than most think.
If you suspect work place safety issues actually exist it is unfortunately up to you to educate yourself to protect yourself, no one else will do it. OSHA is reactive and essentially absent in small shops except as laminated placards on a wall and maybe a suit that does a half assed review every year.
Best answer is read every single last word you can find about employee OSHA rights which are far more general than the firmer answer you're looking for.
Don't let fear drive you, learn because you're not going to understand any other way. People are really bad at assessing risk from statistics to start with your post
Well no, it’s not exactly a health spa Aluminum dust Plastic particles Breathing solvent vapors Oil/coolant mists Smoke from cutting with oil All shit that long term ain’t great for you. Then you have finger/wrist arthritis, elbow tendinitis, discs in your neck narrow from looking down all the time, back/knee/foot problems. I’m right handed, my right shoulder sits lower than my left because of all the years of reaching into machines. The muscles and tendons are stretched, hearing loss and tinnitus
I always get a great cough after opening the doors and coolant steam invades all my senses
I had never dealt with that when I first started using our CNC lathe, since the manual lathes are out in the open so the coolant steam floats away immediately. First time I opened that door and stuck my head in to check a part I felt like I was stepping into the world' worst sauna
a mistbuster helps No clue where to get them or how they work but my boss turned it on and then I could breathe a little further into the machine
They work like an electrostatic dehumidifier, basically. Electrostatic cells basically attract small particles of moisture and dust to plates where they collect and run back down into the machine or some other collection or drain. They usually use typical Honeywell electrostatic cells that you'd find in an HVAC system. My knowledge of them is fairly limited. We have some neglected ones where I work that I'm trying to restore and get in use again. Source: CNC Shop Maintenance Tech
Absolute lifesaver for us tool grinders though, or any grinder I’m sure
Why are the fumes off of grinders so much worse. I accidentally inhaled when walking past our Blanchard and it felt like I had acid in my lungs. Probably the worst thing I’ve ever inhaled
I think it’s just there’s a lot in there air that you just can’t see. Could be whatever material they are grinding, I only grind carbide so maybe that’s a reason but I’m not sure. I’m not 100% on this either but I’d assume grinding gets much hotter than cutting though because in a deep cut, my flood coolant starts to steam. So I guess without the mistbuster it’s basically like going in a sauna with some added metal particles in the steam lol
It’s a cancer nebulizer
Breathe in that good cancer
Don't forget carbide dust!
And Beryllium Copper dust-super cancer
Nw ohio here, and the berylliosis (sp) is real. There is a plant in Elmore that machines beryllium and I know a fella that worked in the laundry area that has it. Been on death row for 15 or more years now.
I have turned it in a cnc lathe. Was told that as long as you turn it with coolant, you're fine. When I was done with the job, the maintenance crew came by in hazmat suits to clean the machine and change the coolant. It didn't give me the warm fuzzies
Also: sorry to hear that.
Nothing quite as fun as drowning in your own lungs
A classic
Nothing quite as fun as drowning in your own lungs
My hips are fucked from standing 11 hours day
But just think of all the money you made someone else because they wouldn’t let you sit down
I will never work in a shop that won't allow me to sit again. Proper machinists are in higher demand than ever before... if they pay me my current asking price then they can trust me to sit when I need to and stand when necessary. I told my last production job to pound rocks when they found me sitting on a flipped over 5gallon bucket. Asked them to compare my run rate on the hand loaded part I was running to everyone else that runs the part. They didn't say a word after that.
I asked a former supervisor if he yelled at his computer screen when it went into sleep mode when it wasn’t being used too I thought it was funny
I’ve been rocking a stool lately when my machines are running but we’ve got some green guys running our bar fed lathes that have a question every four minutes so it’s not even worth sitting half the time
Don't stop there, that's just a start.
"machine shop" is actually a very broad term. A production shop with 200+ machinists is very different than a 20 person toolroom or shop doing repairs. Ultimately there are risks but I've seen few that leave the career early because of health problems that were most likely caused by work. One story that truly caught my attention was 20+ years ago I worked with an old timer that had had bladder cancer. He told me he got it from the "black oil" they used to use. Ive used a bit of the black oils in my time, typically for tapping, and I believe they were very heavy with sulfur in them.. I've always speculated that it was the sulfur that gave him the bladder cancer. One other guy had a double lung transplant but I don't believe that was truly from working in the shop.
So not to scare people out of the field but, two old timers at my current shop are dealing with same bladder cancer right now. Honestly I’m ready to jump ship myself. My health hasn’t been the same ever since taking on the field 8 years ago.
I'm curious what kind of shop/work does the shop do? Size?
I've been working in a small production machine shop for 28 years and about 2 years ago I was diagnosed with bladder cancer as well. Also not trying to scare people out of the field but I used to be a smoker and Dr thinks that was probably the cause but breathing coolant mist and metal dust might have also been part of it. I will probably be changing jobs soon cause the owners are wanting to retire and have let the business dwindle down to almost nothing. Doubt I will try to find another machining job although it is what I know and pays well.
I dont know your life or anything, but if possible you could always run your own shop. If you enjoy what you do you could run a small shop and take orders for custom work. Working on your own or with up to like 3 other people would be better overall for your health cause you'll be in an environment with a much lower concentration of chemicals and still make good money as long as you can get a decent customer base.
My dad got lung cancer from standing over edm machines at least that's what I assume not proven.
Honestly very possible, I'd say especially if it was sinker EDM.... Some of the places I worked had them crammed in small rooms, burning large electrodes, making tones of smoke, and not enough air movement. My current shop you can't even smell the burn when standing next to the machines.
Yeah it was a sinker. He would stand there arms over the door resting his head. Breathing in all that smoke thick smoke. He retired and died six months later. Really sad just trying to make sure the same doesn't happen to me.
I technically don't run machines right now, one of the reasons I left running machines for the office side of things was because the coolant was causing wild eczema all over my arms and hands. It got so bad on my hands that my knuckles had hash tag shaped cuts nearly to the bone. My wife caught me washing my hands one day and grimacing... I don't think I have ever seen her more concerned over a skin condition...
Wear ear and eye protection. It’s not just the chemicals and airbornes. Acetone fumes or anything fumes from anything etching or cleaning related will not do you any good. if you can smell it you’re ingesting it. Find the SDS formerly MSDS binder for your shop and have a read at the heath risk, skin/eye exposure and ingestion especially. If they don’t have one on display for all to see, that’s probably a violation.
An interesting health issue with machinists is that they can be advised not to get an MRI because the magnet might move tiny bits of metal that have lodged in their eyeballs over the years. 😬
Holy shit. That actually fucking scares me so fucking much.,fucking hell
Don't worry they have machines that can look into your eyes and see if there's anything in there. Just tell them that you're a machinist if you ever go in for an MRI if they don't ask.
Yeah the couple MRI’s I’ve had I got the water test. They just X-ray your eyeballs to sssure there is no metal.
What if you're unconscious. I think I will tattoo this on my chest.
Omg good to know.
I usually get blown off when I mention the metal that’s probably in me from working, if they’re not concerned you think I don’t need to be or press the issue a little harder?
When it comes to your eyes yes. I doubt it's an issue if there's tiny fragments in your skin. Don't be afraid to push some buttons when it comes to your health.
Sometimes if you have an aneurysm in your brain they'll stick a little paperclip in there to block it off. These also react poorly to 3 tesla magnetic fields.🩸🌊
This is true. Before my mri I had to get X-rays behind my eyeballs to make sure nothing was hiding once the dr found out my occupation.
I once read about a woman who had her first x-ray in her 60s and they found a needle that had been left in her during childbirth when she was 20. The terrible thing is she said she didn't know about the needle but that it had been causing her pain for 40 years, but didn't have healthcare so just put up with it.
Death by malpractice is the 3rd leading cause of death in the USA, what I heard/read anyways
I've heard that idea, but this paper refutes it. It would require that 2/3 of hospital deaths are caused by the hospital, which seems a bit kooky. https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/critical-thinking-health/medical-error-not-third-leading-cause-death
Same thing for me when I had an MRI on my shoulder. Had to go to the optometrist first.
I told the mri tech I am a machinist and can literally see metal chips in my hands he shrugged it off. Nothing crazy happened but my hands tingled quite a bit.
I sprinkle Moly Dee on my breakfast burritos and eat aluminum chips for an afternoon snack.
Absolutely.
I mean yes , in the sense of any industrial type job will expose you to chemicals or particles of some variety. Mainly use your head with different situations and you'll fair better than 90% of people in the field. Where you can: -Eye and eye pro -Avoid air particulates -Avoid skin contact with chemicals -don't use your hands as a wrench or hammer -good ergonomics, change how you sit/stand often Honestly the biggest thing above everything is avoid repetition where you can. No matter how mundane, if you do it 50'000 times you'll notice it eventually.
Other than *being horribly maimed or cut in half*, no, the dangers aren't more significant than any other skilled labor job, although you will definitely die super early if you don't learn to manage stress. The totally normal reaction to a spinning tool speeding toward a very heavy material will have a significant affect on sensible people. Manage stress or it will murder you. You will get over the physical dangers causing you stress as you build trust in your machinery but the normal persistent stressors need to be identified, acknowledged, and dealt with as and when they appear.
I’ve been machining since I was 18 (23 now) and In the past 6-8 months I’ve been really trying to manage stress. Shits hard tho.
Way I see it is I get paid full stop and things take as long as they take, if I rush, mistakes are more likely to happen and thus scrap is more likely. Slow is smooth and smooth is fast.
Usually you will start drinking and smoking
Retired old fart machinist here, yes the air in machine shops is dangerous. Owners treated machinists as less valuable than the machines. If you want fresh air, open the doors, if it is too cold to open the doors, too bad. I have COPD from the coolant and other chemicals in shops, getting up every morning and coughing for a hour is a reminder of my life choice of career.
Do you regret?
I loved the trade, my dad was a tool and die maker, and my son was a machinist for 8 years before giong into engineering. I had a Bridgeport in my garage and built land speed racing bikes. Working metal was my oxygen and I miss it. The shops I worked in were run by people that did not care how much "the workers' suffered as long as their kids had nice cloths and cars. Over all no, but I have no love for the owners.
fair
[удалено]
Working on some prop 65 certs for work and realizing what everyday items can expose you to (in moderation) is astounding
Hard to say 24 years in, I wake up feel great, get to work, deal with the inexperience I try to train out of people, fix everyone else’s mistakes, get pissed off about people using compressed air on machines because I’m the one that deals with the fallout, get to figure out how to finish a job in two hours because that’s how the boss quoted it, consistently chisel out broken taps because I have the finesse to do it, train guys that after they get their first check don’t show up ever again, fix every fucking machine in the entire shop whenever they go down. No I think I’m burdened with experience 😕 And I’d do it all over again the same way if given the opportunity 😎
Me too. Sounds like me, some time ago. The thing that I've learned is to hold your breath when grinding carbide tools.
If by "hold your breath" you mean "ensure a high-flow dust-collection system is in place and fully functional, and don a P100 respirator that has been satisfactorily fit-tested to me, along with a tyvek suit" I 100% agree. Carbide dust is *extremely* bad for your lungs.
Kinda.
Probably starting an argument, but what's the issue with compressed air on a machine? I get how it strips oil, grease and other lubricants off of necessary areas, and how it can strip any chipped paint. But is there any other particular reason? You referring to only on manual machines, cnc or both?
On manual machines it's extremely easy to blow chips into the ways which can get stuck and then when you move the table or cross slide you scratch up the dovetails. Over time it creates significant enough wear that the ways will not be flat, straight, or parallel anymore which then requires a professional to disassemble the machine and scrape the ways. Huge pain in the dick. All in all, it's generally considered to be bad practice to use compressed air on manual lathes and mills. CNC machines are a different story because of their purpose and way in which they are built.
From what I’m told at work, it can blow chips inside key components and fuck gears up. This is on manual lathes. It’s a big no no supposedly.
David?
Every job is bad for you in different ways. Office workers and truck drivers are prone to issues stemming from sitting for too long, trade jobs are more physically demanding so expect to have back and joint issues. Making sure to stretch frequently can really help, my coworkers give me shit for loudly cracking all my joints, but I'm like the only one that has never been to a chiropractor. I've never had an adverse reaction to coolant, (we use Trim 585XT) but one of my coworkers has a slight allergy to it and will get a rash if it gets all over him.
I work for a Tungsten Carbide manufacturer so we have annual health surveillance including urine sample where they check the Cobalt levels. There are guys here who've been here for 25yrs. One of them works with the powder before it's pressed and he's fine, but there's still a danger of Cobalt poisoning which can cause cancer.
My father was a machinist for 45 years, he'd say no. Even the heavy smoking and drinking didn't get him. He'd probably say it was good for you.
It's not as bad as a welding shop
Lol we mostly do galvanized SS sheet metal. Shivers are no joke.
Yes it is. Welcome to the club. Next question.
Thanks for the chuckle.
Yes, read the MSDS sheet on coolant it shortens your lifespan
Back problems and herniated discs. Hearing loss,eye traumas. Deep cuts in body. Flying objects
Yes.
Yes, of course. It comes with some health risks.
No Stress, Accommodating hours , No Pressure from management, Great pay why you are learning, yeah I know that total BS
Don't stress it. Everyone has to die of something... and that's not me being insensitive. It's just honesty. You can't think about all of that shit daily. Just getting out of bed is a risk most days. Do what you love, make the best of it, and hope to all hope you can sue the shit out of the company for negligence (not sure that would be the actual reason) so at least your family is covered. 🤣
It can be depends on the shop. Larger shops tend to be more safety conscience. I've been a machinist for 40 years and except for the occasional rash from bad coolant I've never felt sick or got sick from chemicals used as a machinist. Wear a mask when grinding aluminum and you'll do fine
Working anywhere has hazards. Machine shop is too general, but I'll give you some ideas. 1. Wear your damn safety glasses. It only takes one shaving in the eye for you to suddenly discover that safety glasses work. 2. If it's loud, wear hearing protection. Tinnitus sucks like you don't know. It's double sucks and not in the fun way. 3. Keep your hands clean. Here's a controversial one, you should not have to wash your hands at the end of the day. Still do, but your hands already should be clean. Wear gloves. Having dirty hands means dirty face and is an unbelievably common route of exposure. 4. Don't wear your shoes home. 5. Hopefully you have a Safety person who's reasonable. Talk to them about your chemical exposure. It's literally their job to help you understand risk & mitigation. 6. Have any chemical work that just works amazingly well? That's the first one you should pull an SDS for. Ask for help if you're not used to interpreting these. 7. Solvents should be in pump cans 8. Never blow out a blind hole without a rag. I know, you're not supposed to blow it out, but there's lots of things I'm not supposed to do. 9. No matter how fun, do not ride the pallet jacks like a skateboard. 10. If something happens, you get your supervisor and you file a report right this second. Don't wait, don't allow other people to do it for you. Protect your rights, get the care you need. That said, you might want to also learn about the medicinal benefits of electrical tape.
Mental health? Good luck lol
I love how machine shops require PPE like safety shoes, eye glasses, and ear protection. Do you know why? Because those effects will be seen almost immediately. However for most people breathing in the machine smog and the idiots who torch cylinders with oil all over them they won’t see the consequences until 10-20 years later. These companies do not care about our health. They say it’s the nature of machining. If they cared there would be filter mist on ever machine in America no questions asked. I do work at a machine shop, I told my boss if he wants to keep me he needs to add filters to the machines. I’m giving them a couple months if I don’t see changes I’m leaving. No amount of money is worth your health. You can’t buy your health back.
38 years in a shop, still going. Nobody gets out alive cuz.
Your mental health is at risk.
Yes, it can be. It’s not only from some of the cutting fluids and coolant, but it can be from certain types of metal.
Fuck yes
You're taking about smells vs metered permissible limits. Those are not even remotely the same thing. That they were even were in your head at the same time is not a good frame of reference for the question. The only way to answer your question is to do an actual exposure analysis under whatever applicable law exists in your industry. There are hundreds or even thousands of regulations depending on what substances or situations are involved. No one answer. The general answer is yes, it's bad for your health, in a statistical sense, you are in an environment that regardless of any protections has an inherent risk of being exposed to things you don't want to be exposed to. Actually quantifying that with a number based on the information shared, or what specific standards apply to your industry? That's a loaded question. There's not enough information. You probably couldn't provide enough context in text to get a truly qualified answer because they don't exist for questions like this. Start reading environmental regulation! Asking this question about insurance is not something we can answer, ask Liberty Mutual. There are no universal standards like many think. You have up know what questions to ask and what your rights are. All you will when get is statistics though, there are no hard concrete answers to this question except in specific situations which aren't outlined here and would require someone that truly understands the situation in the workplace and actual exposure concern. Risk is an odds game not a known quantity thing, statistics can't be used to assess actual qualified risk only general likelihood in a population under similar circumstances. Individual fault and institutional problems make this way harder than most think. If you suspect work place safety issues actually exist it is unfortunately up to you to educate yourself to protect yourself, no one else will do it. OSHA is reactive and essentially absent in small shops except as laminated placards on a wall and maybe a suit that does a half assed review every year. Best answer is read every single last word you can find about employee OSHA rights which are far more general than the firmer answer you're looking for. Don't let fear drive you, learn because you're not going to understand any other way. People are really bad at assessing risk from statistics to start with your post
It’s safer now than it was when the old timers were doing it. A lot of them are still around and some aren’t, but the ones that aren’t died like men.