Let's hear about your shop accidents

i was in the garage one time and thought i had to fart.........................well you know the rest

 

Yep, Never trust a fart.

 

Haven't read them all yet but had to add one of my own....

So do we all remember the old metal shell trouble lights?

Well one evening I was working under my coronet but didn't have the car jacked up very high. Eventually I bumped the trouble light and it dropped onto my face, we do remember how hot these got right.

It just so happened I was in such a position that I was unable to pull it off quickly. So while I was working my arms around to remove the hot burning metal trouble light from my face I got to listen and smell my flesh sizzle.

 

Ive been dreading to say this! but Shit happens, But I think I take the cake!

72 Chevelle Frame off! $15 G plus in a paint job, Body just showed up from the painters, rolled in and racked on the Lift! Pulling a car cover off the roll! I hear a light Pssss sound, thought a airline blew! unrolling the car cover! I realized the light pssss sound stopped , thought thats funny if it was a airline it would still be blowing. Cut the car cover off the Roll, walk around the car, to my surprise!! a brand new can of blue spray die!! decided to let go at the seam! I have never in my life seen anything like this in a spray can...spraying the whole side of the Chevelle, Door, rear quarter, door jam and all the way across the roof to the other side!

MUTHAF!#!@ER!! think I said it about a 1000 times in a minute!

Stained right through the clear coat into the basecoat!

 

When I was in my 20s I bought an MGB just because I always wanted one. Got it cheap as it needed some work, first on the list was a tune up. As I was leaning on the fender looking around under the hood of my new aquisition I noticed a red button on the starter relay. Of course if you don't know what a button does, its best to press it and find out. Well its a remote starter button, and since the car was parked in gear, it jumped ahead about a foot and parked on top of MY foot. Luckily MGs aren't too heavy so no bones got broken or anything, just made me squawk pretty loud until I hit the button again to get it off. I told a buddy about it and he said he had done the same thing on a Landrover. The discovery benefitted me later during a surfing trip to California when I lost my keys in the ocean, I'd just ground the ignition wire and hit the button.

 

And just one more before I go to bed... here's what happens when you're pulling a wiper motor off a junkyard car with no hood, and you don't notice that someone has compressed the hood hinge and left it that way, just waiting for some unsuspecting bonehead like me to be working on the car and have it unload. 11 stitches outside, 17 inside, and a 7 stitch 'drawstring' in between to close it all up. Never touched my teeth luckily. Went right through so I could stick my tongue out with my mouth closed. Made quite a blood trail and made the guys at the yard get all whitefaced and queasy. Buncha pussies.

 

I've used the oven to "preheat" cans of paint. I still do, but I'm more carefull now. I would set the oven on low, and heat the can to about 110 degrees. One time I forgot a can in the oven and preheated it for a pizza. It blew the door right off. I had to get a new oven..... It works great baking paint onto small parts as well. Just makes the pizza taste a little funny.....

 

Had a bagged '55 chevy I was redoing the tailpipes on. I was just tacking in two hangers in the back, so there wasn't a need for jacks or stands...
After welding one hanger on the trigger on the mig went apeshit and ran the hot wire up through a small quater sized rust spot (the only one in the whole damn car!) and melted into the airline for the rear suspension. The rear was setup with mono-leaf & lowering blocks with bags so it didn't collapse instantly. I made it out in time but the welding helment did not survive.....it got stuck just as I got out from under the car and then was crushed.

Last week I set about 15% of my hair on fire under my shoebox while making the shifter linkage. Didn't get hurt but banged my head up pretty good on the frame trying to put it out.

 

Not really a shop accident, but a reminder to be careful when jumping a battery. The acid fumes are very explosive, and a spark can blow a battery sky high! Me and a buddy had just gotten off work one hot summer day about 20 years ago. We worked installing HVAC ducts and equipment in attics, so needless to say we were pretty hot and needed a cold drink! We each had bought a cold quart of BUD, and just after leaving the store were stopped at a traffic light. Across the median strip. two guys were trying to jump start a stalled Monte Carlo. Suddenly, BOOM! The battery blew and filled one guys face and eyes with acid. He was screaming and pawing at his eyes in agony! We were on a 4 lane bridge over an interstate highway with no water in sight. I hopped outta my truck, jumped the guardrail, grabbed him by his ponytail, and flushed his eyes out with my brand new quart of beer. I will never forget while this was happening, there was an old lady looking at me in horror and asking what was I doing to that poor man?? I am a big guy so it probably looked to her like I was hurting him! LOL
He told me later that was the BEST cold beer he had ever had before they took him to the ER for further treatment.......

 

Was working on my wagon- had the front up on jackstands. I needed to rotate the engine to snug something up. Being the brilliant guy I am, I figured I'd just bump the key.

It's a stick, and it was in gear. Bumped the key; car wanted to jump off the jackstands. Bad news.

Luckily, it didn't move enough to fall off the stands, but it was real close. Only damage was to my boxer shorts.

 

My brother almost lost an eye in Nov. from a bungee cord hook that slipped
off the load as he was stretching it tight.
Never stretch one tight with something you might not want to lose in the line of fire.

 

I have done the same thing. Smacked me right in the cheek.

 

Soon after I had started working at my current job my boss asked me to start a car he was working on. He was in front of it, under the hood, so I just reached in the window and truned the key. Well, it started and was in gear. It lurched forward about 3 feet and smashed him between it and his tool box. He wasn't really hurt, and I was glad I didn't have to call 911. I don't know why he left it in gear or, why the clutch safety switch was bypassed. Since then, I always sit behind the wheel, foot on brake, or clutch to start a vehicle someone else has been working on. I had to rescue the same guy a few years later when he let a running, in gear car on a jack down on himself. Again, his luck held out and he was not hurt. Took me a few seconds to here him yellin' and run to the back of the lot.There he was under the front of the car yelling, holding it from running him over. Not real sure how he accomplished that one.

 

worked in a gas station grease pit. gotta watch those droplites and gas fumes

 

Sonofabitch! That's probably why you see very few grease pits these days! Was that you, or what???

 

yes, that was me. drop lites and pits don't get along. I like to say, the devil grabbed me, and I kicked his balls and escaped.

 

So what you're saying, is that when he finally does catch you, he's gonna be PISSED.

 

And then some.

 

Man it's amazing you can have a sense of humor after suffering like that. You sir are an inspiration!

 

Few years back Baggin my front end I had an angle grinder get caught up, flew out my hands and hit me in the face .

Hurt a lil bit!

 

I dont think I like this thread any more.

 

Thanks. hey, I'm just lucky to still be here. I remember them telling me I was clinicly (spelling?) dead several times. from that day on, I've learned that if you want to do something... go for it. nobody knows how long you've got.

 

Ground the top half of knuckle off with a disc sander,cause the shop clown thought it would be hilarious to throw a bucket of water on me while I was grinding on a part.

 

Thankfully, the worst accident I have had in my shop other than steel splinters, blood blisters, and flash burned eyes, was a shart.

 

ya think

 

Permanantly blind in left eye. No safty glasses. I was a dum ass! Nuff said!

 

How about a death grip on the front of a GM alternator. I was holding it so I could losen the nut to the pully. Thats when the owner of the car turned the key just to listen to the radio. The alt, fan buried it self in the palm of my hand. 32 stitches. Lots of cussing.
UGOTPK

 

Shit, after reading this thread I don't want to go back in the shop..!

 

yesterday my angle grinder took a jump and sliced into my finger, i had a cut off disk on it, looks like it's healing up nicely..lol

 

The first time I pulled the OD section apart on a 46RE (A518/TF8) I didn't have the "proper" tool, so I used the hydraulic press and a scrap differential bearing cap. I got the direct spring compressed (~450PSI) and got the snapring off, and as I was slowly letting the pressure off, something slipped. The spring and retainer flew up and smacked me in the jaw, I didn't even see it coming.

I saw stars for a few minutes, smoked a cig, and got back to cleaning/rebuilding it.

When I got home my GF asked me if I had been in a fight (a few drops of blood had run down my neck, and my jaw was black and blue).