Crappy day in the shop and a nice kickback to the forehead.

Wow looks like you got it in spaides :-)) I don’t know if cordless drills have brushes or not but it might be worth checking out. as far as your trunnion is concerned I would see if it’s gummed up with pitch. If it is you can use so goof off to clean it up. If that’s not the problem I would see if you trunnion is coming loose from your saw. Yes the waste know as fall off is always on the outside not against the fence, that’s why it’s called fall off. If you need to make a cut that won’t allow this cut move your fence and use a sled or miter gauge I’m glad the kick back didn’t cause more injury.

-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop Southern Oregon

Man, I’m sorry to hear that. I’m just glad it hit you in the hardest part of your head! Seriously, a few inches down and you would have been really hurting.

My Dad always says that the best lessons learned in life are either expensive or painful. I’m sure you’ll be able to make a safer cut next time.

-- Premium firewood created daily.

There are those days… Good to hear you are roughly ok. As we learn, we grow, we move ahead. (It would be nice if the road was not so bumpy.)

-- Never board, always knotty, lots of growth rings

Yesterday my computer started acting up for no reason. I looked at my wife and said Iam not going into my wood shop today it’s just one of those days. Glad your ok.

-- Billp

Glad to hear that your injury (while scary) wasn’t to serious. I learned growing up in a machine shop that doing anything with machine should never be considered ‘relaxing’. It only takes an instant of ‘relaxing’ to get really hurt.

-- criticism: the art of analyzing and evaluating the quality of a artistic work...

What you describe happening to your saw is called “galling” (appropriately), and once it starts, it feeds on itself, and there’s pretty much nothing you can do. You might try taking everything apart and seeing if you can have the parts re-machined, but since you forced it, it might need so much taken off that there will be excess clearance in the slot. The only other recourse is to replace both mating parts.

-- Measure twice, then try to figure out which one was right.

I think a lot of us can relate to your “accident”. We have been in similar situations. I am just glad that you were not hurt any more seriously than you were. These “gentle reminders” help reinforce safe practices when using our power tools.

I hope you are able to get back into the shop soon.

-- With God's help all things are possible- even woodworking. Woodworking is not just a hobby, it is an (expletive deleted) expensive hobby.

Sometime everything goes wrong in the shop. It happens to me more than occasionally. The Norwegians call it “kverk”. We all have those days including the minor injuries.Glad you weren’t seriously injured. Don’t get discouraged. Instead view your negative experiences as a learning tool (I guess that means I’ve learned a lot over the years). And thanks for reminding us that compared to you we had a really good day!

-- Mike, American in Norway

Glad your ok. As far as your drill, I’ve used Milwaukee almost exclusively for commercial use for almost 15 years and swore by them. Starting with the recall of batteries a few years back their customer service and quality have gone down hill. I’ll be doing a reveiw of the new 18V cordless i bought shortly, and I will never buy another tool from them thats for sure.

-- FMG

Well for good news? Milwaukee has a 5 year warrantee so you should be covered there (I had their circular saw break due to the spindle lock – self lockiing in the middle of a cut – the saw was 2.5 years old…they replaced the whole saw and gave me another battery for the bother. I don’t know about the TS but you might look there for warranty also. Otherwise, as the folks mentioned above, I would look at the mounts and see if they have shifted or loosened.

Lastly, we always have to take the good with the bad…..good here being you were not hurt badly….you will recover…and learn from the excercise – You can replace a tool…but you can’t replace the person…....as an old sky diving buddy of mine used to tell me….”in my hobby….if I walk away from a mistake…I’m one lucky sob!”

-- Woodworking.....My small slice of heaven!

Boy… you really had a lame day!

I had one of those last week. Flooding garage, fatigue, power issues.

I just bought a face shield from Rockler for $25ish bucks. It fits excellent and has been comfortable to wear for hours… might save you some reconstructive surgery. ;]

-- Lisa Chan, custom cafts and yarn accessories, http://www.grippingyarn.com

Sorry dude. Things suck sometimes.

Yesterday I was routing some dovetails with a 1/4” shank bit in a 1/2” router using a collet adapter. Well it didn’t hold too well and the bit started sliding down. It did not come out, nor did I get hurt, but it sucked none the less (read that as really sucked). But what was wasted time and effort, I decided to convert into lessons learned and came out on top.

Hope you can turn your experience around as well,
Steve

-- Stevethepeeve -- I'm no rocket surgeon

Hey Jocks,

Thanks for the encouragement. I admit that a lack of patience is one of my most serious character flaws. If I ever learn anything from attempting to be a woodworker it will either be patience or failure. I think it might be common for some of us to feel rushed when we are in the shop because of what little time we spend out there. I know I hate to spend time working on a tool instead of using it.

If anyone is interested, part number 6 (the rear table trunion) in this pick is where my cradle assembly is cutting.

-- Wipe the blood stains from your blade before coming in.

I’m glad you weren’t hurt more seriously – I’ve had similar sized pieces fly off the lathe – and that’s where I’m glad I use an inexpensive face mask – it sure makes a noise when that block hits – but that’s all it does – perhaps I could recommend …?

On the saw – yeah I’d be cleaning out any old tree sap resin that might be affecting your saw set up.

Happy woodworking
Cheers mate :-)

-- Jerry, Australia

I’m glad you didn’t get hurt more than you did!
A little “warning” so you can fix the problem before something major happens.

Scary stuff.

-- ~ Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

Sounds like you had a day. Personally when ever I start to have one of those I do what my wife calls a “Walk-Away” just walk away before some one or something gets really hurt. Sit back have a beverage of your choosing and mentally regroup.

-- Dave- New Brunswick

I contacted Ridgid and was told to contact a local service center. Turns out any goof ball can be a Ridgid warranty service center. The guy in my city didn’t seem to know what a trunnion was and would only work on the saw if I brought it in. Its just a contractor saw but still thats not a job site saw. Its heavy. I had to sell my truck and have no way of taking thing anywhere. So I took it apart in the garage and I the problem was a lose trunnion. If the rear one comes lose on this saw there is a spring in the back that will pull the cradle into the rear trunnion. With the weight of the motor riding on this assembly also I think it found a way to get wedged in the rear trunnion and start cutting into the metal as i tilted the blade. I called back and explained this to the guy at the “service” center and offered to bring the parts in. He said he’s never heard of anyone “taking this stuff apart on their own” and refused to help me. I was getting discouraged with Ridgids warranty at this point. It is supposed to be an awesome warranty but I’ve never used it. I was a bit worried about how this might be handled so I tried a different tactic. I called Ridgid on the phone and said “I need a replacement for a defective part on my table saw.” The guy asked for the part number. I gave it to him. He verified that I registered the saw. I had. He says “you will have it mid next week”.

Sweet! We all know that in the end we are going to be doing the labor of the repair ourselves anyway so just call Ridgid direct. Its really the only way to go.

-- Wipe the blood stains from your blade before coming in.