Last night I was sanding some of my lexan fins. I had gotten through about 4 of them and was on number 5. half way through, the sander just stopped. I checked to make sure i didn’t knock out the plug but it was still in. I then walked over to the wall where the extension cord was plugged and checked that. no luck, it was plugged in also. I then went to check the main breaker for the house, it had been tripped. I reset the breaker then went back to the sander. i tried to turn it on but it wouldnt. So, i thought maybe my cat clawed/chewed through the wire. So, I started to trace the power line looking for a break. again, no such luck. so, I tried flicking the ower on and ff the sander. Nothing. so I picked up the power chord fromt he sander and started to inspect it. I got about half way up before I realized… ZAP! I fell over and hit my head on the aluminum boat I had been leaning against. I had trouble standing back up after having a 200+ volt jump start to my nervous system. apparently the power chord close to the sander had been sitting underneeth the sanding pad and had sanded all the way down to wire. when I was tracing it, I accidentaly grabbed the exposed wire while leaning against a 15’ aluminum boat. I shocked myself so bad my entire arm went numb. and to top it, I wasnt wearing shoes at the time (no rubber insulation) so i got the full brunt of the shock. Fun to tell in retrospective, not fun at the moment i got shocked. Now i learned to unplug EVERYTHING before i touch it. and not to lean against large metal objects while looking for a shorted out wire.
You were lucky this time, Scott. Think to always have the cord pass over your shoulder, be it sander, planer or whatever, so as not to run into it with the tool. Or have it come from the ceiling, using some sort of hook.
it was a bench mounted belt sander, someone had moved the chord out of its original position (getting to something) and had left it leaning against the back side of the sander (out of my view)
Howzit Scott, You say it was over 200 volts, does that mean your sander is a 220 volt tool? Actually getting zapped by 220 is better than 110 since 220 will knock you away from the source but 110 will hold you connected to the source. I belive more people are killed by 110 than 220.Aloha,Kokua
ya it was 220 and it knocked me backwards into the boat i was leaning against… thats how i hit my head.
You are very lucky it was a 220V tool. 220V is much safer, as Volts & Amps run in inverse proportions and its the amps that’ll kill you.
220V tools are much cheaper to run as well…
thats why i bought it… it was cheaper than a 110 ($150 cheaper)
Lucky break, usually the tools are more expensive but are much more energy efficient. With high-hour tools you usually get your money back in energy savings within a short time…
Glad you lived to tell about it. You mentioned your lessons learned included unplugging the power cord and not to lean against metal objects. I think the most powerful lesson to learn is never to operate electrical equipment barefoot, as you also mentioned wearing no shoes. I once had a 220V bandsaw plug wired incorrectly (no ground). I leaned down to flick on the switch and the side of my finger welded against the metal frame of the saw. My finger stuck to the metal apparently because I was the ground to the damp cement floor due to NO SHOES. So much for the theory that 220V bounces you away. If I had grabbed around the metal with my hand, I’d still be stuck to it. The electrician who corrected the wiring told me I came very close to frying myself. I’ve been buzzed many times by 110V that ouched, but that incident which left a burn scar on my finger for decades still has me hesitant around electrical tools.
I’m not a trained electrician so I can’t give technical advice about what tools are “safer”, but don’t make the assumption that higher voltage is better for you. My wife is a surgery nurse in a burn hospital and has seen it all. Some of the most violent burns are from high voltage electric lines. She has seen kids arms and legs literally blown off where the power exited their bodies. Gotta treat all power tools with respect!
Howzit Richard, I'll bet that hurt, I think being barefoot may have been what caused you to not get blown away. I was a saw man on a framing crew years ago and it was my job to start cutting 2 days before the rest of the crew came to the job. Well the electrician forgot to ground the 220 volt 16" radial arm saw I used and when I flipped the switch it blew me about 6 feet awayand boy was I seeing stars. Aloha,Kokua
220 V is safer IN A HOUSE because you’re looking at usually 5 A or less…
Industrial-strength electricity is dangerous as all hell. I am a good electrician - I do a lot of 480 V wiring on equipment at work - and I never work hot. I’ve got 800Amps of power coming in at work…multiple transformers…one machine draws 324 full load amps at start up (2 75 hp motors + arrorted 5’s & 10’s)…big big stuff. Very hot.
Nobody understands all that much about electricity. Electricians & EE’s and physicists just know how to be safer around it.
Benny, You’re so right about not many people not understanding electricity (self included). I admire guys like you who “get it” because it’s a scary mystery to me. Most all my stationary shop tools are 220V which draw between 8 - 20 amps though I have a 5 hp bandsaw that draws 50 amps. Even the plug on that thing scares me. All I know is barefoot is for the sand and shoes (at least flip-flops) are for the shop.
Kokua, if you’re like me, you still lie in bed at night once in a while and re-live that near blow-up! Makes me sweat thinking about it. Time to get back to the shop…yikes!