Anti-vibration gloves; any good?

[shih tzu faced]

Extensive work today with the angle grinders left me with bad pins & needles, both hands affected but especially the left one that holds the auxiliary handle.

Had this before when using the multi tool and mentioned it on here at the time. I always wear gloves when using power tools but nothing special, today it was just those basic knitted orange & yellow ones see you see everywhere.

Anyway it’s got me thinking about these anti-vibration gel gloves you can get. Anyone tried them, are they any good, does the extra bulk put you off actually wearing them?

Seems to be quite a variation in price from Chinese cheapos on eBay up to Dewalt / Stanley sort of level (and above).

Any input appreciated, cheers

[Drumroll]

shih tzu faced said:

Extensive work today with the angle grinders left me with bad pins & needles, both hands affected but especially the left one that holds the auxiliary handle.

Had this before when using the multi tool and mentioned it on here at the time. I always wear gloves when using power tools but nothing special, today it was just those basic knitted orange & yellow ones see you see everywhere.

Anyway it’s got me thinking about these anti-vibration gel gloves you can get. Anyone tried them, are they any good, does the extra bulk put you off actually wearing them?

Seems to be quite a variation in price from Chinese cheapos on eBay up to Dewalt / Stanley sort of level (and above).

Any input appreciated, cheers

I have used them when using a vibration hammer, my feeling is they were fine for what I was doing (standing in one position and compacting cubes etc) but found them awkward when doing other things.

You need to look up hand-arm vibration (vibration white finger) and limit the amount of time you're using the angle grinder.

[shih tzu faced]

Thanks Drumroll, you’ve pretty much summed up my thoughts there.

Tools like grinders and multi tools, you tend to move them around quite a lot to get into different positions and made me wonder if bulky gloves would be more of a hindrance.

Vibration white finger had also been on my mind, but needed to cut a fair bit of concrete today, followed by taking out a wall of mortar ready for the-pointing and an angle grinder is just the obvious choice. Definitely overdid it today though, went through my full battery collection twice. Even factoring in angle grinders’ taste for lithium that’s a lot of batteries!

[defblade]

I use an old pair of gel-palmed cycling gloves under my work gloves for this sort of thing (although using my cheapy 2 stroke strimmer/hedge cutter last weekend, I noticed that my "old" gloves are in better condition than my currently-in-cycling-use "new" ones!)

[wolfracesonic]

They do seem to work, I use them when chipping off rendering or grinding out mortar for any length of time. I’ve got a pair of Ergodyne ones, the heavier duty ones. Not much use for anything dexterous, though there are lighter ones in the link.

[shih tzu faced]

Thanks all, I’ll stop messing about and just get some ordered up and see how I get on.

The cycling gloves, that’s a good call actually. I’ve got some fingerless ones kicking about somewhere so will give them a try. Might be good if switching a tool on & off regularly to give better access to the switch.

[Jimbo.]

We looked at these in my job. Verdict was they wasn’t that good when measuring vibration received at the hand. Or at least my employ wasn’t satisfied with them as a control measure. They felt the only effective way of managing this is to use the lowest vibration tools you can and reduce trigger time as much as possible.

Cycling gloves won’t work that well. The vibrations from tools are way, way above that you get through the handlebars.

[Evoluzione]

shih tzu faced said:

Thanks all, I’ll stop messing about and just get some ordered up and see how I get on.

Yes this.

Coming from someone who has used vibrating tools for much of his working life i'd say get some and wear them as much as possible. I don't know if they do any good or not and yes, they can be awkward, but if you're doing a pretty dumb operation for any decent length of time then wear some. This goes for other PPE items too, safety glasses, decent pair of working boots, ear defenders etc.
None of this stuff was known or catered for when I started work and when I went self-employed flew under the radar as do DIYers.
Now my hearing is not so good and i've got serious issues with my fingers. They fill up with pins & needles when I sleep and wake me up, sometimes it starts to come in when I'm driving long distances on the motorway and keep my hands on the wheel for X amount of time.
The problem is the only useful part of me is my hands, or at least, my body and what I can do with it. Without them i'm pretty much fked.
I should have the op, but i'm worried which way it will go and am just about to embark on a large building project (our last home) so am putting it off.

So yeah, do what you can to protect yourself.

[paulwirral]

Evoluzione said:

Yes this.

Coming from someone who has used vibrating tools for much of his working life i'd say get some and wear them as much as possible. I don't know if they do any good or not and yes, they can be awkward, but if you're doing a pretty dumb operation for any decent length of time then wear some. This goes for other PPE items too, safety glasses, decent pair of working boots, ear defenders etc.
None of this stuff was known or catered for when I started work and when I went self-employed flew under the radar as do DIYers.
Now my hearing is not so good and i've got serious issues with my fingers. They fill up with pins & needles when I sleep and wake me up, sometimes it starts to come in when I'm driving long distances on the motorway and keep my hands on the wheel for X amount of time.
The problem is the only useful part of me is my hands, or at least, my body and what I can do with it. Without them i'm pretty much fked.
I should have the op, but i'm worried which way it will go and am just about to embark on a large building project (our last home) so am putting it off.

So yeah, do what you can to protect yourself.

I was just about to post exactly the same thing , and just last night was saying I’ll get the operation when I’ve finished this house as it is our last .
I have all the same probs including the driving , I fixed my petrol hedge trimmers last week and cut half the hedges back but the next day I remembered why I stopped using them , tingly numb fingers and I’ve not slept properly since , worst thing is I have contracture on my little finger too , I spend more time picking tools up off the floor than I do using them these days , luckily I was able to retire at 50ish and I don’t need to risk working for other people now , id end up owing the customer money for broken bathroom or kitchen items !

[shih tzu faced]

Evoluzione and paulwirral, that settles it, going to get some and use them. Got to be better than what I did today, and has to be worth a bit of inconvenience. Thanks very much for posting, can’t put a price on experience like that.

[V1SAE]

In my steel fabrication days we found the best way to reduce vibration was to fit auto balancers and anti vibration handles to all angle grinders.

The effects from vibration are serious. If you can’t avoid using the grinders perhaps consider taking frequent breaks. The job might take much longer but you’ll be better for it.

[shih tzu faced]

Thanks for all the input in this thread, it is much appreciated.

Clearly there is long term damage that can be done from excessive exposure to power tool vibration. Sounds obvious but I bet loads of us have done the ‘just get this job finished’ without thinking of the future effects. I’m definitely going to take note and learn from my mistakes.

[darreni]

I think a lot a the guys working as detailers will suffer over the longer term, using rotary/ DA tools all day every day.

[jagnet]

Jimbo. said:

We looked at these in my job. Verdict was they wasn’t that good when measuring vibration received at the hand. Or at least my employ wasn’t satisfied with them as a control measure. They felt the only effective way of managing this is to use the lowest vibration tools you can and reduce trigger time as much as possible.

If there's one thing that I remember from H&S courses it's hierarchy of controls; PPE is always the last and least effective control


Well two things that I remember: that and the graphic photo of what badly fitting harnesses can do to a gentleman's assets

[shih tzu faced]

Got a pair of gloves ordered up from eBay, less than a tenner inc delivery so we’ll see what they’re like. They look similar to the ones in Wolfracesonic’s link.

It was Saturday when I overdid the angle grinding and now on Monday lunchtime still have a faint tingling in the fingertips of my left hand. Annoying thing is I could be progressing the job this afternoon (bit of spare time) but don’t want to until the gloves arrive.

Anyway will update once I’ve tested them out.

[budgie smuggler]

jagnet said:

that and the graphic photo of what badly fitting harnesses can do to a gentleman's assets

Well that was something I shouldn't have googled.

[vonuber]

We are told not to wear gloves and instead limit time on the tool, and where possible use tools where you don't directly hold it (which is impractical for a domestic situation I guess).

In short- limit the time. Taking a few extra days is less of a inconvenience than buggering up your hands for the rest of your life.