Working with Woodworking Machinery

Hello Everyone, Hope all is well. I just joined this group, Thank you. I was wondering if anyone has heard of some sort of protection that my husband can wear over his shoulder maybe to cover his PM/DEFIB so he may be able to work with his woodworking machines. I have read that working with certain machines he needs to stand 2ft away! That will make it impossible for him to operate the machines from that distance! If anyone can help me with an answer that would be wonderful!
Thank you

4 Comments

Many Thanks

by ladyzee - 2015-05-14 06:05:30

Thank you Angry Sparrow. He has had the PM fofor about 2 yrs now has never kicked in thank Goodness. Just scared I guess. Thank you again for your comment.

Woodworking not a problem

by Theknotguy - 2015-05-14 09:05:27

volunteer at a charity that has a woodshop. I have a dual lead Medtronic PM implanted in 2013. I can operate every machine in the woodshop without any problems. That includes running a 220 volt table saw. I also put out a previous post where I was using a larger DeWalt power drill to drill pocket screws, forgot about my PM and was leaning directly on the drill while it was running with no problems. Forgot my PM was on my left side and had used my shoulder with the PM to push on the drill. No problems.

Most of the warnings you see are over cautious. Put there to protect someone from a possible lawsuit. You have to have a very big and strong EMF field before it will bother the PM. So far the only thing I've found is the magnet they use in reading a PM and that has to be directly over the PM before it takes effect.

I did have one problem in the woodshop. Forgot about the PM, picked up a Sawzall saw and proceeded to clip off the corner of some planks. Leaned into the saw a little too hard and the vibration went up my arm and kicked off the accelerometer in my PM. What a rush! One of the guys came over an asked me if I was OK. "You had the strangest look on your face.", he said.

You should be able to run every machine in a woodshop, power buffers, all sorts of stuff. Standard safety precautions apply. Safety glasses, hearing protection, gloves, etc. You can still lose a finger, put out an eye, lose your hearing (My wife complains about that all the time. But she goes into the other room and mumbles.), and get cuts. The PM doesn't protect you from those standard safety hazards.

I keep telling my wife that dishwater corrodes the PM leads but she doesn't buy into that. Still have to dry the dishes and run the vacuum sweeper.

Hope you enjoy doing work in a woodshop.

what to do and not to do

by joelcr3 - 2015-05-14 10:05:14

I'm still under a year with a PM but whenever I have a question I ask my Dr but ALWAYS ALSO I call the manufacturer for advice. They know more than any other source.

Another woodworker

by Lurch - 2015-05-14 10:05:30

I use all kinds of power tools for woodworking; table saw, band saw, scroll saw, drills, sanders, etc., etc. no problems.

I also have an ICD.

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