Ultimate Safety Guide for Working with a Drill Press
Anytime you are about to work with heavy machinery, you need to make sure you take extra care, so you do not hurt yourself. Things can get out of hand rather quickly, and you should always keep safety at the top of your mind. Before you start using a drill press, consider these tips so you can stay safe in the process.
Learn About the Drill Press
Before you do anything, you want to make sure you understand the drill press and exactly how it works. This is especially true if this is your first time using a drill press or even a specific model. One of the things you should do is go through the manual for your drill press to understand how everything works, how you should use it, how it cannot be used, and any safety hazards associated with it.
Wear Safety Protection
When you are ready to start working with the drill press, you should make sure that you put on some safety goggles and maybe even a face shield. Even when you are safe, things can go wrong. You want to protect your face and eyes from any mishaps that can happen while working.
Take Care Removing the Cuttings
Once you have started to work with the drill press, you want to be very careful with the cuttings that result from the work. They will be very hot when they come off of what you are working with, and they can also be dangerous. As a rule, you should never try to remove these with your bare hands. Instead, you should use a vacuum, rake, or brush to remove them.
Use a Clampáor Drill Vise
One of the things to be very careful with is how much what you are working on can move. Not only will that mess up your work if it moves from where you need it to be but it can also cause injury to you in the process. One of the things that people do to prevent their work from moving while they are using the drill press would be a clamp to keep it in place or even a drill vise. This way, everything will stay in place as you work and you can avoid injury.
Things to Avoid Doing
There are also a few things that should avoid doing. When it is time to work with your drill press, you should avoid wearing any loose clothing. You do not want it to get caught in the drill press and result in you getting stuck or even hurt. While you do want to protect your face, you do not want to wear any gloves while working with the drill press. You also do not want to wear any jewelry including a necklace, rings, or a watch. You also do not want to hold your work by hand because then you run the risk of slipping up and causing major injury to your hands. Asámentioned before, you want to make sure you are using a clamp or a drill vise to keep everything in place while using the drill press. You want to make sure that you turn off the drill press when not in use, not only when you are done for the day, but when you are simply changing your work over. You should turn it off if you are not actively using it and you never want to leave it running unattended.
When it comes to using a drill press, you always want to be as safe as possible. Using these safety precautions and knowing a bit about what you should not do is a start but you should also use your knowledge of this type of machinery to help to better protect you. Use your best judgment and spend some time learning about how you can better protect yourself while using it. Drill press accidents happen, but you can avoid a lot of them with these tips.
