All,
There appears to be some bitterness creeping into this discussion. Please don't let that happen.
While I do not know David L that well, I have a "sense" about him. That sense tells me he is passionate in everything he does. I can relate to that. So am I.
Sometimes the intent of a passionate person does not come across in the light in which it was intended. I think from my perspective, that David's intent ( and I could be wrong) was not to "blast" GeoKnight but to point that the current design of their machine allows for this type of operator injury. However reading the initial post would lead one to believe otherwise.
David, you could have stated your case a little less vehemently..... something along the lines of " Hey gang, I was using a GeoKnight heat press and when I opened it with one hand I smashed my finger. Watch out this could happen to you. In the meantime I'm going to point this out to Aaron Knight and suggest a design change"...... that would have achieved the same thing..... which I believe was your original intent.
In the same breath I must point out that you need to take some personal responibility for your injury, ( in my opinion). You had said in your post........ "When I was satisfied with the tension, I heaved the lever to its full-open position." I have to ask, is it REALLY necessary to HEAVE the lever? If it is, THAT is the design flaw.
As has been pointed out, the machine is not designed for one handed operation. However I can understand that since you are used to using one that is designed for that, that it was simply habit that caused you to "heave" the press open. I am sure that your exhuberance to share your knowledge also contributed to this unfortunate accident, however, the fault does not lie with GeoKnight.
The postive outcome of this is that you "discovered" a reason for a change in design that would improve their product.... and told them about it. I congratulate you for this.
Roaming off topic (maybe), as has been mentioned before, in America the people have become VERY litigous. This is exaserbated by attorney's and insurance companies..... and WE THE PEOPLE have come to expect "The Government" ( Hey wait! That is supposed to be US! We the People) to protect us from EVERYTHING!!!. Well that is an unrealistic expectation. It is, in my opinion up to each individual in America to accept responsibility for their actions. However, common sense in America is just not so common anymore.
The other day I saw a young man on a motorcycle going down the road. He was not wearing a helmet. He was doing about 70 mph, he was standing up on the pegs of his motorcycle, and had the motorcycle up on the back wheel doing a wheely. If he had crashed he would have most certainly been killed. Whose fault was it? Who would have been blamed? The county, the highway engineers, the fellow that made the spoke nipples, the tire manufacturer......the list could go on. The point is that in our society today his family would have tried to blame any body but the rider, although the reality is that he was NOT operating the machine within the design guidlines and had he died it would have been HIS fault
That is what I think the case is here. David, even though David Takes has said he has busted his knuckles a few times, the machine was not designed to be opened with one hand.
I applaud your enthusiasm, your knowledge, your expertise and your sincere caring about this industry and your desire to help other people and improve the state of the art, but my friend, you should have used two hands.
I apologize for such a long post.
My two cents. Want change?
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