What NOT to do when using your DremelMar 03 '01 Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line Long hair MUST be kept in a bun when using power tools!!!
OK. This is gonna be relatively short so bear with me. I really fell the need to keep others from making the same mistake. I bought my Dremel toolkit in 97 when I was feeling an urge to get into sculpture. I also purchased the flexshaft for it. I was so enthusiastic to get started that I never even thought of one very obvious thing. A multitool is very much like a drill, in that it serves some of the same functions and works on a rotary principle. It is, however, much smaller; and as a result may cause a false sense of security when working with it. I feel really stupid talking about this, so laugh if you want; just take my advice. Multitools have small ventilation areas in them, just a few tiny slits; while a drill has much larger ones which actually expose the motor to some extent. In High school shop class I learned a valuable lesson in working with drills. One girl in our class had hair down to her butt. The teacher was constantly telling her to put it up so it wouldn't get caught in something. Reluctantly, she did. We assumed she was safe with her hair in a pony tail and didn't give it another thought. About two weeks into the class, the young lady was working with an automatic drill. I don't know exactly what kind of tool it is, since I never used it. You have to switch it off to stop it, just like a Dremel. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail, but hung over her shoulder. The next thing I knew the drill was screaming and smoking and my classmate was screaming and bleeding. The drill had sucked her hair into the vents and wound it around the motor. In turn, the drill had quite literally climbed her hair, slammed into her face and spun around the back of her head. The poor girl stood there screaming as the drill tightened pulling out her hair, but luckily having moved into a position in which the bit posed no immediate threat. The instructor had the presence of mind to pull the plug before more damage was done. The now weeping girl was led off to the nurse's office with the drill still in her hair. She was OK, but the next day she came back with her hair cut to her ears, and stitches in her jaw where the drill hit her as it sucked up her hair. I never saw a drill in quite the same light. Unfortunately I didn't apply this lesson to my multitool. Three days after I bought it I was working on a chess piece when the bit itself snagged in my own long hair (even in a ponytail) and wound itself all the way up to my scalp. I now had the flexshaft dangling from my head as I fumbled to turn the damned thing off. It was biting in to my head, but luckily I had a grinder on it instead of a cutter. I'm sure a cutting bit would have been MUCH worse. I tried getting it out, but couldn't even see it. Finally, in abject humiliation, I was forced to ask for my husband's help. He laughed at me and took a total of twenty five minutes to get it loose. Although I only ended up with a small abrasion and some lost hair (embarrassment too)after my classmate's ordeal, I'm positive it could have been so much more dangerous than it was. In conclusion, I have to say that if you have long hair and work with ANY power tools PLEASE keep it completely tied up (read bun) so you don't have to go through either of these ordeals. Now you can laugh...hehe  |
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