Safety: Yes! It’s That Important

Hey guys! I want to take a few minutes of your day to talk about safety when modding. Yeah, yeah. I have heard it all: “But we are being careful” or “I know what I’m doing, I’ve done this a million times.” Just be patient with me for a few minutes. It will be painless I assure you. We don’t wear safety gear because we don’t know what we are doing. We wear safety gear because things happen. I have personally had a 4″ cutting disk break and piece fly right past my face and stick an inch deep into the sheet rock wall behind me. Another inch to the left and I would most likely have been in the hospital.

Many times I get asked what is the most important tool I have; the one I can’t live without everyday. Most would think it’s a bending break, vinyl cutter or scroll saw. All of those would be wrong. My favorite tools are my safety goggles and respirator. I don’t know how many times a piece of metal/acrylic shrapnel have bounced off my goggles escaping what would have been a possible blinding situation. With all the paint I shoot I would probably be dead or at least have Metallic lungs if it wasn’t for my respirator masks. The light paper ones are fine for spray paint, but for automotive paint, cartridge style respirators by 3M are recommended.

A good pair of gloves should be in every modder’s tool box. Mine are mechanic’s gloves. There are quite a few times they have saved me from a sharp metal edge or the wrath of a spinning grinder. In addition to that, these are also heat resistant so they work well for bending rigid tubing.

These are just the basics every modder should have before they even think about getting started. Remember you only have one set of eyes, hands and lungs and I don’t know about you but I plan on modding for a little bit longer. ;)