CNC Safety equipment

When I first built and started using my machine I didn’t have any safety equipment (hell I didn’t even have a stop button) the first item I thought it would be a good idea to get were safety glasses other things followed out of necessity I guess and that’s probably going to be the same for you but seriously this CNC hobby is great but you don’t want to hurt yourself or anyone else for that matter.

Safety Glasses

I got safety glasses because of the amount of stuff that was flying off the spindle when it was cutting stuff. I started off by cutting plastic, the acrylic stuff and that was bad enough but once I moved on to wood and MDF debris and dust took on a whole new meaning.

It was clearly evident that dust was getting everywhere, you could see it in the air and also my eyes were getting soar and dust was getting in them, I got a pair of goggles as they were enclosed around your face so stopping anything get in. they do tend to fog up though and I’m not too sure if they would protect against anything hard hitting them.

You can get safety glasses that look more like traditional glasses but have reinforced lenses.

They might be better for you in terms of protection and comfort if you can get the dust problem sorted out using some form of dust extraction.

Laser safety glasses

If you use a laser engraver, even a low power one you have to use safety glases to protect your eyes from the laser light. In almost all cases you get laser safety glasses when you get a laser engraver. If you use a laser frequently I would advise you to invest in a proper pair of glasses and not rely on the free pair.

Mask

The mask came about for the same reason, dust, after cutting a job from wood blowing your nose would reveal just what you were breathing. It’s also worth noting that MDF dust can be very bad or extremely bad, depending on what you read, either way it’s not good to be breathing that dust in.

Again if you can get some form of dust extraction you might not need a mask. I have an article on CNC dust extraction here, but when I’m using MDF I’m going with dust extraction and a mask. Anyway masks have suddenly become widely available in all sorts of colours and styles, you should be able to find exactly what you want.

Ear defenders

After cutting a few lengthy jobs it became apparent that although the spindle, which was a mains router, didn’t appear that noisy, after being close to it while it was cutting for over an hour defiantly had an effect on my ears so I decided to get some ear defenders.

There are loads of different designs and some are intended for some serious noise reduction like pneumatic drills and stuff. I just used a basic ear defender as the problem wasn’t huge but you can tell they certainly work. Since I’ve enclosed my CNC machine in a box the noise has gone down even further however I still use ear defenders.

So when I for a job on the CNC machine I’ve got eyes, nose and ears covered. With the enclosure I’m thinking of putting a light inside and a USB camera and connect that to the same laptop running the CNC software and I might be able to get away with using just ear defenders.

What no gloves?

Gloves should not be worn while using a CNC machine, this is because of the revolving spindle, and you don’t want to get them caught as it could pull your hands in. This is a common requirement with drill and most revolving tools.

I would also not wear jewellery or any loose fitting clothing and or course long hair should be tied up.

You shouldn’t leave the machine while it’s running although I must admit to being guilty of leaving the room when it’s running jobs that last nearly an hour when I’m just repeatedly running it and replacing sheets of material.