On Aug 22, 4:33 pm, "Karl Townsend"
wrote:
I gave blood this morning. All over my radial arm drill that I got a couple
months ago. The part snatched as the drill broke though. it rode up the
drill and then popped the vice grip holding clamp off and threw it. Then the
work made made a quick revolution before i could get out of the way.

Radials are serious machines and you *MUST* clamp every part. A guy at
a customer's shop (about two years ago) had his arm PULLED OFF as his
shop coat got caught in a radial. (Since reattached - has some feeling/
movement)

Try and train your eye to be able to see if you've clamped the head
over your center punch/drill mark when you're drilling. Eventually you
don't need to stop the machine. By plunging the drill bit into the
hole, clamping the head, and retracting it, you can tell if the bit is
off center just be watching it come out of the hole. They will spring
away if they're not right. You'll be able to drill quite accuratly,
but it does take some practice.

I used to have to drill and tap hundreds of M16 holes in the trim die
shoes during fitting. If I had stopped the machine to realign the head
every time, I would have had my ass chewed hourly.

Good luck.

Regards,

Robin