Or, in this case, maybe they needed a blast shield.
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For the record, I was wearing PPE as seen in this video:
(sorry for portrait)
Where’s the :rekt: emote when you need it?
One of the students on my team was using wire cutters to cut an axle and the 1/2" long piece flew 30 feet across the room and hit the wall. Had it flew up and hit him in the eye, it could have been serious.
suit seems to be invisible on the dude’s hands in the video for some reason
The most serious injuries I’ve ever had from vex have all been on my hands, but especially with flywheels and punchers I’ve seen some small flying parts that could have been dangerous if they had gone in someone’s eye. Safety googles ftw!
And this might give you some idea of why regular eyewear won’t help very much. Surgeons have a really hard time digging all those shards and slivers out of your retina and/or frontal lobes of your brain.
Most glasses nowadays (including mine) are made of polycarbonate, which are shatter resistant, and are the same material that safety glasses are made of.
Edit: Also, that’s an advertisement for their companies glasses, of course they picked the least safe lens types.
I was wearing it, not him.
Maybe so, but are they rated for impact?
One way to find out…
Time to drop a metal spike into my eyeball.
the person actually launching the metal spike should prob have safety gear too…
Most serious injury I had in vex was when my teammate left a cut axle in a vice and it slit the inside of my elbow.
Most serious injury I have seen in vex was when my team builder was watching me (driver) compete in the finals match 3 (good old days) and we won, he started celebrating by jumping up and down. Only thing was that he was standing on a stool so he could get a better view.
It could have been worse.
Worst thing I have seen in a vex classroom was when 2 8th graders got into a fight for I-have-no-idea.
With wire cutters??? What kind of scary wire cutters do you have?
Just regular electricians side cutters. When the student applies enough force to cut the axle and damage the cutters leaving a notch in the cutting edge.
Wire cutters “mangle”, not cut axles. Wire cutters are no longer part of team tool sets. I will be giving out nail clippers to cut zip ties, the only thing that should be cut without proper machine tools and safety equipment. I also discourage any pliers; pliers tend to round off nuts and mare axles. Brass pliers can be used without damaging axles and wrenches or nut drivers should be used for nuts.
Cyberguys.com have Smart Pliers with serrated jaws design specifically for removing stripped screws.
Otherwise pliers are removed from tool sets.
If you really want to be able to cut the axles quickly, bolt cutters would probably do the trick.
Bolt cutters can cut the axle and probably will also cut the 1/4" axles. Our recommended procedure is to to use a hack saw with the axle held securely in a vice (safety glasses are recommended, you don’t know what the person next to you might be doing). This leaves a nearly square end that can be easily filed clean and square. Bolt cutters generally leave a pinched off end. The square end provides better engagement in the motor.
I sometimes use wire cutters to quickly snip off metal bars. I file them afterwards of course, but it seems to be a lot more efficient than a hacksaw, which requires a vice and adequate space. But as far as axels go, I would never even attempt to cut something that thick with such an ill suited tool.
Really? I use pliers (needlenose) to get washers into hard to reach areas all the time. Even just for this I would include pliers in any competition set I prepare. Although for nuts, you are absolutely correct. I just stick some tape on the end of a wrench whenever I have to get a nut into somewhere hard to reach. It works pretty well.