Have You Ever Been Indexed?

[Inkworks]

I've seen many shops where guys duck under the safety cables to re-ink, adjust etc. and shudder to think what it would be like to be caught in there if someone hits the foot pedal or pushes the button at the wrong time. The closest I've seen is an 18 year old apprentice get thrown 5-6' to the ground when he turned into the danger zone while unloading a shirt. He wasn't hurt bad, but seeing someone one the wrong end of an index sure re-enforced how bad it would be to be between print heads if that happened.

Anybody have any stories?

[jsheridan]

Duck a safety cable.. That's grounds for immediate termination under my watch and you will not get unemployment for shucking safety measures put in place to protect the employee. No amount of saving time is worth the potential injury.

The new servo driven machines will cut a man in half at the bare minimum, a broken back is guaranteed.

The older air driven servos you can hold back to get outa the way, had to do it once.
I have also been hit in the forehead by a pallet that knocked me out, old air driven challenger that I didn't duck under quick enough. Still have the scar from that one as it also cut me pretty good.

My scariest encounter was with an 18 color american, touch screen. For some reason the machine stopped mid-index. Under the carousel in the center was a hand crank wheel.. I started turning it.. a few turns then suddenly the machine indexed while my head was inside the carousel frame work... I have never ducked and hit the floor so fast in my life.

The very first auto I worked on, american centurian 8 color, chain driven was acquired in a sell off because a women was bent in half and paralyzed from the waist down when she got caught between the heads.

[Nick Bane]

since you asked, thankfully i never have been indexed.  bumped a few times but nothing bad.

but thats not a real interesting story.

now once in 94-95 watching a crew run a big 16 color all over precision oval.  wing pallets, so two guys loading, and the guy in, well the bad spot, was a good sized guy and somehow got himself inbetween the pallet and the first head and he mustve had his foot on his safety switch without being safe and the machine indexed.  picked the guy up like a ragdoll and slammed him into the print head, which triggered the safety bumps and e-stopped the machine and let the guy just crumble onto the floor.  thank god he wasnt seriously hurt, but it was enough to shut production down for the night.  guy showed up to get a check a few days later and was bruised from his waist to his chest.  never saw him again after that.  so glad he wasnt hurt as that couldve been a really ugly scene, but ill never get that image out of my head, its burned in for life, no question.

[brandon]

I met a production manager on vacation in Hawaii that no longer worked on the floor, just behind the desk. She too ignored the safety features one day and broke her back as a result. Several months in hospital/therapy and will never walk the same. Lucky she can even walk! Super nice lady, hope she is doing well

[jasonl]

I was under the machine adjusting the up and down shock once while the machine was indexing, I raised my back up to high and the screws that mount the pallets to the arms cut through my shirt and gashed my back open.  Never did that again.  Another time one of our workers got his arm caught between the screen and the pallet as it indexed, bent it in half.  Scared me to death, we took him straight to the hospital.  Another time at another shop I worked at, a manager that liked to stick his nose where it didnt belong, put his hip in front of a pallet as it indexed.  We all laughed as he limped out of the shop. 

[alan802]

John, I used to have to do the same thing to our centurian, it would stop mid index and I'd have to crawl underneath it and turn that wheel.  Sometimes it would take off, sometimes it wouldn't.  Luckily the first time I went under there the printer at the time warned me that it might index and to keep my head down and out of the way.  It might have had a bad ending if he didn't warn me, cause I had no idea about automatic equipment at that time, much less how a mosier drive worked.

[Homer]

heard a story from New Buffalo. A girl was working on an older gauntlet, for some reason she leaned into the press a bit too much, got caught and she was pinned in the press with her arm on the platen, under the flash.  From what he was saying, she was stuck for about 2 minutes before they could get her out . .  said he just went home and wept like a baby, watching this poor girl get wrecked like that

[jsheridan]

As of right now.. I know of only one company who has put a load limiter on their machine to help prevent index related body damage.. Sroque.
They claim that if a person happens to step in a head.. which is almost impossible with the safety bars and safety lasers.. but just in case they do, the sudden increase on the load will cause the servo to stop dead in it's tracks.   

I know that when you hit the e-stop or safety cable on an M&R machine that is servo driven mid index.. the clevis fork disengages allowing the carousel to free wheel as well. How the new CH III and it's belt driven fanuc drive work, I do not know as that servo has more power behind it than some cars on the road.

The best practice is training and awareness. I always had a chat with new operators and made dead certain they understood the dangers involved with the machine. I've used a cantaloupe melon a few times to exhibit what can happen to a head or a hip should it ever get between a platen and screen holder during index.. the eyes wide open on their faces and scattered melon on the floor usually got my point across.

[Shawn (EIP)]

I was pulling shirts on my contract printers auto and the dude loading shirts was flipped up over the pallet and almost broke his leg. Played it off before the owner came back . I couldn't help but laugh dudes face was red with embarassment. I felt like a d-bag but couldnt help it.

[mk162]

our gauntlet is air driven, so not bad.  that being said, there is no reason to get in the middle of a machine while it's running.  I re-ink outside the platen travel area and if I am under the press, I NEVER NEVER NEVER get high enough to get in the platens.  I stay low.

I've been hit in the hip while loading or unloading.  It knocks you back and that alone lets you now the power of the press, even though it's not near what servo presses are, you still respect it.

[bimmridder]

John, I believe the e stop on new M&R equipment will stop the index immediately, even in mid index. It doesn't finish the index. It's an instant stop. I know there are safety features coming that are almost ridiculous though.

[mk162]

I think touting safety is a big thing and I am glad to see manufacturers going beyond the minimums.

[alan802]

I think our machine has a 2.5hp motor running the servo, I don't see how it could do much damage but I'm sure it does.  I've never tried to stop it from indexing so I don't know how much force it puts out, it just doesn't seem like it would be much.  When you do hit the E stop, it goes into free wheel mode but I wonder if there is a force against it if it will still go as easily into free wheel? 

[Inkworks]

I think our machine has a 2.5hp motor running the servo, I don't see how it could do much damage

Gear reduction is powerful stuff! I saw mine go free-wheel when a safety cable got bumped mid-index, the thing spun about 10 full revolutions before we even wanted to attempt to slow it down. That was part of what drove home just how powerful the servo really is, to not only accelerate the whole platen hub assembly, but to slow it down too. Well that and seeing it hip-check a 200lb. guy 5'+ to the floor and not even slow down.

[Prosperi-Tees]

On my Javelin I believe I didn't have the indexer lined up right and hit start and that sucker reversed indexed and came back free wheeling like a bat out of hell. I couldn't believe how fast that table spun.