Let's hear about your shop accidents

I pulled the frame out from under my 35 and got it up onto saw horses in preparation for removing 65 years worth of gunk. Decided the best way to accomplish this was to use my 2-3/4 horse grinder with an eight inch coarse cup wire brush. I put on heavy coveralls, heavy leather gloves, goggles, breathing and hearing protection. I went at it with the trigger locked. About 20 minutes in I hit a body mount the wrong way and it bounced that big bastard back at me whereupon the wire wheel caught my coveralls at 8000 rpm. It tore the coveralls off my shoulders and wound the pantlegs up, gathering everything up and jamming that wire wheel right into my crotch. I managed to stiff arm the grinder while it hummed loudly at my nuts. Everything was pulled up so tight I could only take teeny steps trying to unplug the fucker. Fortunately the thermal overload cut the power. When my wife determined I wasn't hurt she had a pretty good laugh. Took about ten minutes to unwind/cut the coveralls off. Just suffered scratches to my inner thighs (oh my!) Plan B involved a trip to a blaster and losing that S.O.B. of a grinder.

 

When I was a "New guy" it was our job to prep new cars for delivery. In the early 60's all the new Chrysler products came with the optional stupid chrome wheel opening moldings in the trunk. So there I was late one night trying not to loose any of the TINY Phillips head screws that you needed to install those moldings.

I was squatting next to the wheel and usually the first screw you put in was the one straight up in the center of the wheel opening and that held it in place so the other were easy.

I hate the stupid engineer that designed them as the holes in the fender were so small compared to the screws that you really had to put some muscle in to them to get the screw started.

So I'm putting some muscle into the screw that is straight up off the ground with my trusty Phillips screwdriver pointing toward the sky when it slipped out of that tiny screw and the next thing I know I'm laying on my back with a Phillips screwdriver sticking out of my forehead.

Had a nice x scar on my forehead for years they all called me charlie like in Manson because of that x on my forehead.

 

Which one ? OK the OT one-
I blew 250 gallons of a popular Bourbon down the road by popping the cap on the storage tank, throwing in a bucket of dry ice and then closing & locking the lid.
Couldn't force the lid back open due to expansion as the ice melted to gas- pretty soon the tank's stainless weld seams start bustin' open, various old dents are poppin' back out ( ping !)- and bourbon's hissin' out onto the floor. Watched it & smelled it- couldn't even lick it - the boss watching as it all went down. Yep.

 

Yeh Claymore- you gotta watch out- especially with those little screwdrivers.

 

Sorry man - but brass knuckles & bad karma are likely twins..

 

you need to look out for those sharp objects...........

 

had a small piece of thin wall tubing 1" diameter - going to drill a 1/8" hole in it - just bought a new drill index - instead of putting it on the drill press, i decided to hold it - the bit caught metal & shot through the tube instantly, with my index finger underneath - the bit hit my finger just above the 1st knuckle - i knew i was bleeding, so i grabbed a paper towel & put on my finger - i happened to look down at the floor & blood was everywhere - i looked at the other side of my finger & the bit had went completely through my finger - i figured that i was in for a long miserable heal time, but the finger healed up nice with no infection in about 7 days - duh?

 

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i here ya ...it sucks now i need glass to see at nite

 

Several eye injuries and ground a nuckle down with a 4" grinder. Witch reminds me How often do you need a tetnis shot?

 

i think every 3 to 5 years ..ive got 2 in 1 year ..lol...

 

KBs didn't come out until 1946, after the war.

BTTT, recently tried to force a leaf spring into the shackle with a 36" wrecking bar. The wrecking bar won when it sprung back and busted my face open at the ear. Deepest cut I've ever had on my face, couple shop rags, band aids and tetnis shot later, only a keloid scar.

 

I spend a bit too much time out in the shop so I have a bunch, Ill kick ya a few.
1949 Chev truck stock 6 am went to start it ya know three pedals and a stomp start guess what one I forgot, yup clutch. She fires on the first kick and does the big lerch into the mini fridge in the front of the shop knocking everything off the wall onto the hood and smashing the shit outa the fridge.

Picked up a parts car a 70 electra fourdoor trailered it home time to offload er and I'm alone so I figure I'll give er a push and ride it into the shop, she comes off hard and fast! Into the shop ! Hit the brakes nothing, e brake nata, toss it into park ya right. By this time I have a vintage pepsi machine were the mini fridge was and it was all that kept me from blowin out the other side of the shop duke boy style. Pepsi machine wasted.

Pullin outa my shop in a 65 ss Impala with the driver door open???? Yea I tommy boyed that one on the front end of my 62 cad. Folded er backwards.

That is all I will go into for now I'll keep the rest for later.
Keep er safe guys and get some sleep at nite
Dude

E

 

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you have worse luck than i do ...

 

I could go on for days. One more haulin a 62 Impala sedan. Ting ting tin ta ting ting, that sounds like the tiedown draggin on the ground, and that is a stop sign. I figure its too close to stop I'm gonna blow threw it. Too many cars and nowere to go, roll on the brakes and take a look in the rearview as the Impala keeps going on its way to restyle the ass end of my truck... Bammo
Yes sir I'm a dipshit

 

this happend to a buddy while trailering a car ..came off the off ramp from the highway with a car on the trailer so he thought, the straps must have came loose somewhere along the way .and the car rolled off the trailer into the off ramp ad smashed a shit load of cars ...what a freakin mess that was ..all for a free car so he thought ..it cost him a bundle in the long run ..

 

drilled through my finger on my brand new drill press from harbor freight!...at least the bracket looked good

 

Here is my horror story

3 of us working to take an engine apart that we pulled out of a car -- My friend's wrench came off a bolt he was trying hard to get off--The force caused wrench to come off bolt and wrench went through me eye glasses, shattered my glass and had to go to hosp and many doctor visits to get broken glass removed from eye.

All this over a fricken small block chevy -SHIT HAPPENS


* Where do we get the Purple Heart Medal for pain and suffering in the war of hot rodding


Carl

 

Stupidity without pain...

Set the timing on my 69 GP 180 out. DOH.

Was in the wife's garge bay doing the job, hurrying of course.

Hit the key and teh Pontiac 428 with 10.75 compression coughs out a big boom.

Suddenly it's snowing in the garage....Blew two HUGE holes in the styrofoam lined garage door panels......


I did not have the mess cleaned up prior to the wife's arrival.

Slept in the garage that night.

 

The hood on my shoebox opened on me on the highway and wouldn't close anymore, so I drilled some holes in the hood support and was using a pair of ratcheting tie downs to hold the hood closed. Well, one night I had to open the hood to prime the carb. Stupidly, I left the straps hanging from the hood support. You guessed it. The engine fired up, the fan sucked the straps in, and I watched my hood implode and my radiator get pulled into the fan. I hang my head in shame

 

Just 3 days ago a friend was working inside a garage, draining race fuel out of an old Vette. He was using a kerosene heater to heat the garage and the vapors from the fuel ignited! He couldn't open the door because the fire changed the pressure in the garage. He finally did get the door open and when the fresh air rushed in the whole garage went up in flames. He was very lucky to escape with his life and minor burns.

 

......like your belly button piercing !!!

 

I was replacing the rotted T-111 on my shed with Hardi-board. One sheet of T-111 was really struck at the top so I tried to wedge the head of the hammer under the sheet as high up the wall as possible. While I balanced the hammer on the tip of my fingers, I pushed the bottom of the sheet away from the wall with my foot as far as possible and then released it. I didn't notice that my hand, holding the hammer in place, was right under one of the nails in the panel. The top of the panel came part of the way loose, the nail went through the back of my hand and re-attached itself and me to the stud. I managed to get my foot back under the sheet and un-nail myself. Only took a tetnus shot to fix me up but a good size crowd gathered at the emergency room to see the one-armed guy who nailed his only hand to the wall.

Not being the owner of a company, I have been unwilling and unable to repeat this feat.

 

G'day, While working at a dealership as front end guy I was elongating the alignment slots in a strut. Anytime I used my die grinder for this I wore safety goggles over my glasses. Somehow a hot piece of steel got through the goggles, past my glasses, and into my eye. That hurt a lot. The service manager had already had a tech lose eyesight in an eye and drove me to the emergency room himself.

Anyway, my eyes are very sensitive (can't wear contacts or do drops) so I am quite nervous when the doctor has to numb my eyes and starts poking around at bit. He keeps at it and the next thing you know my right hand goes back and launches a punch at the doctor. Didn't even realize I had done it. However, the punch never lands as the young well endowed nurse had noticed and had pulled my fist into her wonderful cleavage. She cautioned the doctor to please hurry.

mitch

 

I had a cable snap on a 4 poster hoist. The left side platform dropped and the car on top rolled over and wedged itself up against the hoist beside it. I was walking over to my tool box to grab a 5/8" socket or else I still would have been standing underneath it. Thank god someone had changed a bolt at one time and the head was a 5/8" and not 13mm or else I would have not needed that socket. The funny part was that the car was on the hoist after just completed collision repair. The paint was barely even dry yet.

 

It's not really a shop accident but funny. I was knocking out part of a cinder block wall to frame it back in for a garage door. The garage was built in the side of a hill so 3 walls were buried and the wall I was working on joined those. It was in the Summer and, unknown to me, there was a HUGE yellow jacket nest in the ground. I had disturbed the wasps with the sledgehammer. I got stung about 30 times, mostly in the face, head and arms as I did have gloves on. I blacked one eye beating them away, my wife nearly soiled herself watching me. She thought I was having a seizure, I guess. I looked like Hellboy for a few days. She still laughs about that even though it was 5 years ago. I did get rid of the nest that evening in a plume of fire, so I guess I won?

 

A friend and his pop were unloading a car (non-runner) off their trailer. After a semi-heated argument over whether it would safe / sane to unload the car on their fairly steep - sloped driveway, they unlatched all the straps, causing the car to roll forwards on the trailer.

Pops jumped in between the (rolling) car and the truck, thinking he could stop the car from jumping the gap and crushing the truck's tailgate. You can see where this is going.

What stopped the car was Pops' hand and wrist getting crushed in between the car's bumper and the truck's tailgate. A quick 911 call was made, then my friend got to work with some tow straps to ratchet the car back up on the trailer enough to get it off his pop's hand.

Paramedics decided it was too bad for the local hospital to fix, so pops had to take an ambulance ride down to the U of A hospital in Birmingham. Final score was a fractured wrist, some tendon and muscle damage. He's currently going to physical therapy twice a week but looks like he'll make a 100% recovery.

Nobody has had to tell him that as bad as it was, it coulda been a lot, LOT worse. Or even fatal.

 

This is the story of how always having a good cold beer around, makes good sense and saved my life.I was in the garage, grinding on some parts for my T coupe, I was building at the time.The grinding wheel I was using had finally became so small, it was no longer, getting the job done.So I look to my normal grinding wheel stash, nothing there, then I became desperate and did a more intensive search, and found a wheel, that was designed to be used on a lower speed grinder, than the air grinder I was using? Well being the smuck, I am, and too lazy to go to the store, right now and buy the correct wheel, why not? Wrooonnggg! thing to do! I installed it,bent over and hit the trigger on the air grinder, the grinder revved up to what seemed to be 10 cazillion RPM and the wheel became 100s of small fragments instantly, of which one of the larger pieces, hit my ankle at light speed! I fell to the floor, rolled in circles, crying like a baby, and speaking of God in a very wrong way! Have you ever been injured so bad, you really dont want to even look at the damage, I had a feeling this was one of those times! And as usual, none of you local, pests, that always seem to be dropping by or visiting when you dont want company, was anywhere to be seen. I couldnt walk, but I did drag myself over to the shop fridge and as luck would have it, I had several good cold brews in there, and 2 bags of ice. I finally got the courage to look at my injury and saw, my ankle was about 3 times larger than normal and a deep purple.So I covered it with the two bags of ice and then proceded to down the cold ones! Well within minutes I felt 100% better, and in about a 1/2 hour I could walk on it and I didnt feel a thing! Needless to say, it was a temporary fix, the next few days and weeks,it hurt like hell. But with out that beer and ice, who knows, I might of not made it! And the moral is: When it comes to your safety, Dont do dumb unsafe stuff and if you absolutely feel you have to, make sure you have plenty of good pain killers on hand and some folks around , to watch you make a fool of yourself!

 

I once owned a GM,that was a big accident.

 

theres no such thing as an "accident" ..shit does not just "happen" i think the main theme here is ..watch what the hell you are doing cuz, when shit "happens" it happens...quick

 

No injury (other than his pride), but a co-worker asked to borrow my remote starter button. Sure, why not?

Ten minutes later, he comes back rather pissed off and hands it back to me.

He was 'bumping' an engine (IHC DT466) over to push the pistons to the top for easier removal during a simple inframe re-ring/rod/main bearing job.

Oops....he rolled over onto the button and the crank swung around and smacked the rod (45 degree side bolter) taking a huge chunk outta the crank. $2000 inframe just became a $5500 crank job.

The funny thing is, I had added a toggle switch to it to prevent an accidental activation of it.

He never got another inframe job there again.