Let's hear about your shop accidents

i have a few good ones. i was grinding off some pretty serious brackets at work, and i was using a 4 1/2" angle grinder with the guard off (of course!) so i could get it into tight spots. well my hand slipped down the grinder and right through my glove into the top of my left index finger. it went through the skin and into the meat (luckily not to bone) and cauterized itself! it didn't even bleed, but i was picking little metal pieces out of it for a week or two while it healed.

the other time is just me being an idiot. i was using a pneumatic chain hoist and watching my load, pushing the lift chain out so the load would clear as it came up...and it sucked my finger into the block. DOH! (the hoist had a chain block on the hook).

 

I worked at a Chevy dealer years ago.Guy brings in a truck with an oversized box on the back--it barely fit thru our carport.I take it back and start work on it--order parts for the next day.
Next day,fix the thing and take it for a test-drive--had to go out another driveway cause the carport is full. Get back from the test-drive and pull thru the open carport---well,I didn't PULL THRU the car-port this time. Seems the truck was loaded the day before,and the company came and unloaded the truck --never told me or the service writer.I tore the whole roof off the truck box,and bent the hell out of the carport.But I was the only tune-up / smog / electrician at the shop,so the owner just kinda gave me "the look" ,and walked away. A couple guys that worked there then still give me shit about it.

 

Never try to stop a grinder with a thumb, or a cut off wheel with your thigh. Dont try to extinguish welding sparks in your ear canal or inside your cool machinist boots. Also when jumping a starter dont let your ring get in the way and fuse to the bolt and watch for the exhaust bracket when you raise up to see why you cannot remove your hand/finger from the above mentioned starter.

 

ok this is more of a case of someone not thinkin
my 2 uncles had a bodyshop in my mums garage which was in our back yard
this in the late 70s
mum and i are on the deck facing the back of the shop
uncle pete walks out the door with a 3/8s drill down the front of his pants
and does his best dirty harry impression and pulls the drill out
guess what still plugged in
ripped out a huge chunk of hair skin out just above his bits
my mum taped the hair covered drill bit to the shop wall
we remind him about every time we see him
hey i gotta call him

 

I was in the begining stages of building my 55 F-100 back in the late 80's. I didn't have a shop at the time and I built the frame in my single car carport. I had to unhook the window a/c for the house to hook up the welder. Anyway on to the mishap, I had built a rotary stand for the frame and was ready to take the frame loose from the stand. Well the wife was at the back of the frame to steady it and when I lifted it with the cherry picker, the weight shifted and pinned her to the back wall of the carport, scared the crap outta me, I thought I had done her in. She was briuised up pretty bad for a week or so and sorry to say we aren't together now but she still has some pain ever once in a while from my mishap......wish she was here!!

 

I almost let a Ford into my garage once.
Luckily it was only an incident, this accident...

 

Haven't had mine yet. I hope this thread keeps me from having any the ones listed here. Keep em coming guys.

 

If you drop a paint cup thats half full of paint thinner, dont watch it hit the floor.

 

That's a good one.

I once dropped a bottle of champagne and was stupid enough to watch it land.

Same principle, aided by carbonation in this case. Still a bad move. Those shoes and shirt were never same. lol But I digress. . . . . .

On a more topic oriented note, six or eight years ago, I had a banjo fitting on my dirt modified rupture on me while I was bleeding the brakes. Got a snoot full of Wilwood brake fluid. FYI, it tastes VERY bad, and it will dissolve whatever soft contacts are made from in about three seconds flat.

Took me damned near an hour to get all the goopy contact jelly out of my eye. The taste took a week to fade away.

The next day I swapped out all the banjos in favor of oring type AN adapters.

Just lucky I had the failure bleeding the brakes (during the mid-season pad and fluid swap), instead of cranking over into a turn at 120 mph. I'm pretty sure that would have left a far worse taste in my mouth.

 

I didn't do it, but when you have a paint shaker where the clamp likes to come loose, don't get distracted by other things and forget to keep tightening it up. especially when it's bright red paint. This happened at the school,there's stlil paint all over the ceiling and walls, but lots of plastic sheeting up now.

 

way funny

 

My brother put some gas soaked rags in my double 55 gal barreled shop stove a couple of years ago, went to lunch and came back to a cold shop. He lit it off----BOOOOOOOOM , still haven't found all the parts, he is missing a substantial amount of facial hair and looks like he fell asleep in the sun for 48 hrs.
He blames me for not telling him about the exciting things that happen when gas fumes come alive with a match. He got a few blisters, lost his 15 yr old beard, had curly hair, and learned a lesson in launching a stove.

 

School accident, wish I had pictures

In welding class we were learning to TIG weld chromemoly tubing. We had an old trusty bridgeport with a tubing notcher bit. We had to cut the tubing to length and then notch it and then weld it. Well, a few of us (me included, although I'm not the one in the incident) tended to get tired of cutting and fitting the pipe because we just wanted to practice welding. So, we did that part of the job as quickly as possible. This meant not always removing your welding gloves when going to the mill. And, this also meant not always stopping the mill when backing off the table to check the fit. And this also meant not always backing off the table enough to give propper clearance between the spinning tubing notcher and your gloved hand. Needless to say one kid did this with a new (new as in this is the second piece of tubing the bit machined) bit and it grabbed his glove and sucked him in. Fortunatly another student was behind him in line and was paying attention. He shut the mill off right away and hung on the brake to stop it. It caught the cuff of the glove on the outside of his right hand, ran around to the inside of his forearm, up the inside of his elbow, and ended around his bicep. It took A LOT of meat out, could see the bones in his forearm. You can't imagine the amount of blood there. Everyone reacted quick with no panicing and the kid got to the hospital. I don't know if everything was cool with him afterwards because I never checked up, but he didn't die, lol. We were cleaning blood for a while, and the bit was just evil looking with all the teeth and flesh hanging off of it. I take my time now...

 

same thing with one of the old guys who used to work in the machine shop at work, nothings going to happen if I wear gloves!! 150 stitches later he's not so cocky. If you cut yourself without gloves it's just a cut,but the gloves will wrap up and tear your hand to pieces

 

Indeed.

Where spinning spindles are involved, you will find on me no:

Gloves
Ties
Unbuttoned Shirts
Unzipped Coats
Aprons
Necklaces
Ear Rings (none of these at any time )
Bracelets
Rings
Watches
Or anything with Draw Strings

The machine don't care.

If it gets a hold of you, it'll tear big chunks out of your ass and never even flinch, or grind you up into little pieces, or mash you flat, or . . . . . well, it's best just not to pick fights with machinery, ya know?

I got real lucky that mine ended in a draw, it could have gotten real ugly. Like say if the spindle was a ten horse instead of a three? Or say I'd been wearing anything but the t-shirt I was? Or if it'd been the lathe that grabbed me instead of the mill?

Any of those things change, and I'm in a fluffy red pile instead of setting here making the keyboard smoke.

But, as with all things, you learn and move on.

If a fellow never did anything dangerous, he'd never get anything done (or have any fun ).

 

I should quit telling all the stupid crap I've done.... several years ago I am finishing some remodling on the house. I am using a power miter saw and am actually cutting the last piece of trim. Its a short little piece and for some reason I am holding it with my left hand but on the right side of the saw table DUMB! Anyway my wife who can't stand the sight of blood is standing there and when I feel the blade hit my wrist I just grab and hold my right hand over the cut and tell her to go get a towel and the car keys, of course she says why? and I tell her I just cut my wrist and she freaks out but finally takes me to the hospital and gets me sewed up, thankfully it was not too bad. Anyway we get back home and I tell the wife I'm going to finish cutting the piece so I can finish the job and she's like no no do it later but I go to the saw and get ready. Of course she is standing there watching so I grab the piece(properly this time) and hit the trigger on the saw, and then I get this brilliant flash of ornery and I yell and grab my wrist again. Holy crap, you should have seen the look on her face I thought for sure she was going to faint, then I start laughing my a&& off and the look on her face changed completely and she storms in the house. I think it was several days later when she finally spoke to me and her first words were something like a&&hole, SOB, etc.

 

true story.. friend was welding underneath a 65 Nova in his garage. Its about midnite, wifey comes into the shop and tells him shes going to bed. Hmm. he thinks thats strange they rarely even speak.. he peeks out found under the Nova to see his wife entering house with a sheer nighty on....Whow.. my friend gets the message bails it into the house and jumps in bed!
Hes a vol. fireman... gets a firecall that he ignores.. then hears/sees firetrucks in his yard as his shop is on fire!
(wasn't me)
Pontiac Slim

 

I have cut myself on numerous occasions, and some required stitches, but so far so good. I always liked this little list... often mimics real life doan it?

Automobile Tool Definitions

<DL><DT>Hammer: <DD>Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays is used as a kind of divining rod to locate expensive car parts not far from the object we are trying to hit.
<DT>Mechanic's Knife: <DD>Used to open and slice through the contents of cardboard cartons delivered to your front door; works particularly well on boxes containing convertible tops or tonneau covers.
<DT>Electric Hand Drill: <DD>Normally used for spinning steel Pop rivets in their holes until you die of old age, but it also works great for drilling rollbar mounting holes in the floor of a sports car just above the brake line that goes to the rear axle.
<DT>Hacksaw: <DD>One of a family of cutting tools built on the Ouija board principle. It transforms human energy into a crooked, unpredictable motion, and the more you attempt to influence its course, the more dismal your future becomes.
<DT>Vise-Grips: <DD>Used to round off bolt heads. If nothing else is available, they can also be used to transfer intense welding heat to the palm of your hand.
<DT>Oxyacetelene Torch: <DD>Used almost entirely for lighting those stale garage cigarettes you keep hidden in the back of the Whitworth socket drawer (What wife would think to look in _there_?) because you can never remember to buy lighter fluid for the Zippo lighter you got from the PX at Fort Campbell.
<DT>Zippo Lighter: <DD>See oxyacetelene torch.
<DT>Whitworth Sockets: <DD>Once used for working on older British cars and motorcycles, they are now used mainly for hiding six-month old Salems from the sort of person who would throw them away for no good reason.
<DT>Drill Press: <DD>A tall upright machine useful for suddenly snatching flat metal bar stock out of your hands so that it smacks you in the chest and flings your beer across the room, splattering it against the Rolling Stones poster over the bench grinder.
<DT>Wire Wheel: <DD>Cleans rust off old bolts and then throws them somewhere under the workbench with the speed of light. Also removes fingerprint whorls and hard-earned guitar callouses in about the time it takes you to say, "Django Reinhardt".
<DT>Hydraulic Floor Jack: <DD>Used for lowering a Mustang to the ground after you have installed a set of Ford Motorsports lowered road springs, trappng the jack handle firmly under the front air dam.
<DT>Eight-Foot Long Douglas Fir 2X4: <DD>Used for levering a car upward off a hydraulic jack.
<DT>Tweezers: <DD>A tool for removing wood splinters.
<DT>Phone: <DD>Tool for calling your neighbor Chris to see if he has another hydraulic floor jack.
<DT>Snap-On Gasket Scraper: <DD>Theoretically useful as a sandwich tool for spreading mayonnaise; used mainly for getting dog-doo off your boot.
<DT>E-Z Out Bolt and Stud Extractor: <DD>A tool that snaps off in bolt holes and is ten times harder than any known drill bit.
<DT>Timing Light: <DD>A stroboscopic instrument for illuminating grease buildup on crankshaft pulleys.
<DT>Two-Ton Hydraulic Engine Hoist: <DD>A handy tool for testing the tensile strength of ground straps and hydraulic clutch lines you may have forgotten to disconnect.
<DT>Craftsman 1/2 x 16-inch Screwdriver: <DD>A large motor mount prying tool that inexplicably has an accurately machined screwdriver tip on the end without the handle.
<DT>Battery Electrolyte Tester: <DD>A handy tool for transferring sulfuric acid from car battery to the inside of your toolbox after determining that your battery is dead as a doornail, just as you thought.
<DT>Aviation Metal Snips: <DD>See Hacksaw.
<DT>Trouble Light: <DD>The mechanic's own tanning booth. Sometimes called a drop light, it is a good source of vitamin D, "the sunshine vitamin", which is not otherwise found under cars at night. Health benefits aside, its main purpose is to consume 40-watt light bulbs at about the same rate that 105-mm howitzer shells might be used during, say, the first few hours of the Battle of the Bulge. More often dark than light, its name is somewhat misleading.
<DT>Phillips Screwdriver: <DD>Normally used to stab the lids of old-style paper-and-tin oil cans and splash oil on your shirt; can also be used, as the name implies, to round off Phillips screw heads.
<DT>Air Compressor: <DD>A machine that takes energy produced in a coal-burning power plant 200 miles away and transforms it into compressed air that travels by hose to a Chicago Pneumatic impact wrench that grips rusty suspension bolts last tightened 40 years ago by someone in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, and rounds them off. </DD></DL>​

 

don't forget about Odins701, one I wish never happened, All the encouragement we leave in that thread will be taken to him so he can hear it. Bad stuff. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=419492 thought I would bump it for those who didn't know. Sometimes the outcome isn't funny at all sometimes it's terrible. everyone be safe and be careful.

 

its amazing how fast that shit goes when it breaks.you would think it is so heavy it woudnt go anywhere. i almost had my head taken off by a 3 '' shackel while breaking down a tow wire. the captian was in a rush n throttled too hard when we had it half way apart n it blew up.

 

I second the "dont' rush". I was in a hurry to complete some wooden trophy bases using a router and stuck my finger in the spinning blade.
I managed to drip some blood on one of the bases dusring the accident.
When it was all over, I wrote "DON'T RUSH" on the base under the blood stain and mounted it to my wall as a reminder.

 

probably a factory making cheap tools south of the border,sure looks like it.

 

A week ago tonight I was replacing the passenger side framerail on my Brother's CJ-5. I had done the driver's side the night before. We were squaring everything up so we had both the back tires off the ground. In our hurry to get done we had not chocked the front wheels. Actually we had just both figured the other one did it. It ended up sliding off the jack stands. Just about the time I dropped my hood for the first weld I feel the frame of the jeep digging into my back. I fought that fucker and managed to get out from under it somehow. At one point I felt the Jeep's frame slipping down my back to my ass. It felt like I'd never get out from under that thing.
I've ate a bunch of Vicodin this week and my ass/back are both a blue/green/yellow collor. Several of my ribs are bruised, and my knee is a skinned up bastard. The bitch of the deal is we were just making fun of people doing this exact same shit the week before at work. I guess I should have knocked on wood or something.
I'm sore, but lucky I was working on something that didn't weigh as much as a normal car or truck. Even with the Jeep's lifted springs the rear of the body was awful close to the ground when it stopped moving.
Be careful out there guys, I'm going to slow down a bit from now on.......

 

My first chance at some real wrenching came when I was almost 13 years old. Timing chain went out on my dads old dodge and i told him that I could get one of the big chiltons manuals from school and fix it if he got me the parts. Lets just say working on a vehicle barefoot when the radiator is leaning up against the bench with outlets facing out is not a good combo. I turned and went to get some bolts off the bench and took the end of my little toe completely off.

 

It is funny, we all have these stupid stories we can look back on and laugh.....funny now, but not at the time. Just imagine what the bosses went through with all this silliness going on...... how did we survive.

 

Now that I'm a dad, I would never let my son do some of the things I did.

 

When I was 16 I worked at a Chevron station. The owner would leave his F250 4x4 parked in the center bay with the keys. Late one night it was pretty slow and I was goofing around with the radio and hit the starter. The F250 was in gear, lunged forward and hit the work bench with a steel top tossing tools everywhere. Lucky the F250 had this massive bumper that escaped without a scratch. The work bench was another story. I spent most the night fixing what I could. I came in early the next day to tell him what happened. He didn't fire me! I couldn't believe it. But he was sure to take the keys to F250 home after that.

 

So, when someone gives you an old Gravely with a snow blower attachment and you want to get it running, only the clutch sprocket is all bent up because someone tried to mount the chain without loosening the starter, so you pull the clutch sprocket and go over to the anvil to pound it straight, and you are all in a hurry to get the thing started.....

....so you don't notice that for some unexplainable reason you stacked your two 2" x 4" x 18" solid steel billets that you use on your press on the edge of the oak stump that your anvil sits on......

.....and you are wearing soft leather moccasins....

.....and you start swinging away with the sledge, not noticing that the two billets are edging over the edge......

.....and then one of them falls and bitch slaps your toes straight across, and you yell "SON OF A BITCH" at the top of your lungs, except......

.....that you don't notice that billet #2 is about to fall, and no sooner than the words were out of your mouth but goddamn if that second slab of steel does not fall exactly onto the exact same spot on the exact same big toe as a moment ago....

....except this time you yell "MOTHER FU""ER".....

...and all you can think about is the pain and the loss of toe nails and blood squirting into your nice white sock and how of how Wile E. Coyote must have felt all those times.....

....this is what you should never, ever do when straightening a clutch sprocket.

 

my accident was .
i was trying to make myself a cool shifter knob out of a cool old pair of steel brass knuckles .so i ground them down where i wanted to weld a nut on,so i weld the nut on the bottom of the knuckles and let it cool down ..i guess i didnt wait long enough. so i go to cool them off in a bucket of cool water i dip them in and the damn weld start to pop and fizzle and smoke .i think its fine and cooled off so i go to check and see how the weld looks and as i bring them close to my face to get a better look the weld explodes off the nut i had just welded and shoot into my eye..the freakin ball of hot steel melts to my pupil i had to get rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery ..now i have like 20/10 vision it sucks ..
yes i had a mask on
yes i had clear work glasses on
did everything i thought to prevent a accident the ball of steel shot over the lense of the glasses..go figure ...lol