Shop horror stories

[Holysmokes]

I wish someone had taken the time to tell me " Hey, might wanna take those gloves off when using a pedestal grinder... . you could lose a thumb" Any other good advice or stories that might make those people that read this think twice before doing something stupid? :-laf

 

[sardoghauler]

empty tank first

Once while removing the seat belt mounts in the back of a Wrangler... ... . There I was under the jeep and when the second seat belt bolt came loose i suddenly had a full gas tank planted on my chest. WHOODA THUNK they held the gas tank on too!!! Dumb, very dumb. had to wait over an hour for my sister to get home and grab the floor jack that was about 2 inches out of my reach.

 

[RT66DOC]

Wisdom from Dad:

Always unplug the drill before you mess with the chuck.

Never run with a screwdriver in your pocket.

 

[Matt400]

Fuel Fire

A fuel fire in the shop-



The task from what I

recall was to remove a fuel tank on a Dodge Caravan, its

been many years ago and I can't recall why we needed to

pull the tank but remember the incident VERY well due to

what happened. I was running the shop so another tech was

doing the work.



With no way to safely lower the fuel level the tech had an

idea and pulled the fuel line loose at the filter then

rigged up a jumper for the fuel pump and set a 16 gallon

drum under the vehicle that was on the hoist. He figured he

would just pump it down some.



The result of pressurized fuel spraying into the open

barrel created enough static electricity to set it off.

FIRE IN THE SHOP!! was what got me running over there and

what I found was a barrel of flames with what looked like a

flame thrower blowing into it as the fuel was burning at

the hose outlet under unregulated pressure.



3 of us ran for fire extinguishers and emptied the 3, 16

pounders we had trying to extinguish the flames but with no

luck. Just as the final fire extinguisher emptied a fella

from the next door radiator shop showed up with his 50 lb

on wheels and went to work while the tech went back up the

ladder and yanked the jumper on the fuel pump relay he had

under the hood.



No one was hurt, the shop was a mess from all the powder

and the car was unharmed other than needing a full detail

from all the smoke and extinguisher powder that filled the

place. . the tech made a poor choice and didn't even use a

bonding cable, we got lucky.



To this day I always think of that incident when I have to

remove a tank.



An interesting coincidence was this fella's experience with the exact same vehicle but a much different outcome, boy were we lucky.

 

[Signal73]

Jackstands guys

I was replacing a hyd. hose on a JD Z-track mower the other day, Had it jacked by the battery box which is flat metal. had the jack all the way up and I was kneeling on the ground right behind it, when the weight from the mower deck in the front caused it to tilt forward therefore making the jacking surface go at a 45° angle to the jack which in turn rapidly shot out the jack right into my knee Few choice words and a black + blue knee got me thinkin on how I need to do things from now on. .

 

[DieselTweaker]

Brake Clean, and open flames not a good idea!

 

[Island Dodge]

I was in the process of restoring the interior my "64" VW bug when I learned a lesson about contact cement. I had all the new carpeting for the boot, fwd of the rear window, all layed out on the work bench. I applied the contact cement and decided to have a smoke while I waited for it to get tacky. When I struck the wooden match under the work bench the flames instantly shot up to the rafters. :--) Fourtantaly I didn't burn my shop down as the fire extinguisher was handy

 

[Matt400]

Brake Clean, and open flames not a good idea!

For sure! I read a story where a fella used that stuff to clean down an area on the motor he spilled some oil. . the fluid and fumes ran down over and inside the starter motor. When the car was started it blew the starter off the engine.

 

[Matt400]

Dang Island Dodge!! that will get your attention in a hurry.

 

[Island Dodge]

"Dang Island Dodge!! that will get your attention in a hurry. "



Yah, for sure. . and at the time I was a volunteer fireman

 

[Holysmokes]

:-laf :-laf :-laf these are great. So far Ive learned to have PLENTY of fire ext. and to lose the smoking habit. Oh yea, JACK STANDS can save your life! Signal... good thing you were not UNDER IT!

 

[swankmetal]

uhhhhhhh, these are just a couple things i've heard :



do NOT wear gloves while operating a drill press

always STOP the machine before feeling how flush that pass with an end mill made it, even without gloves

think about where that brake cleaner is going to go AFTER it hits what your spraying it at

when using muriatic acid to get mill scale off steel, do NOT put your head over the bucket

and last but not least, do NOT let go of the hammer!!!!!! for it WILL find the frank and beans.



dave

 

[Van Blom]

If you have long hair, keep it tied back. Keep the cuffs on long sleeved shirts buttoned, and don't drink more than 6 beers when operating power tools:-laf

 

[JoshPeters]

I was at the dealership I used to work at. Benz offers a 2 year brake fluid flush under the warranty maintance. So... everyone would pop the tank off the master and walk back to the brake clean drum... fill it about 3/4 full... Shake it to get the fuzzy crap out... and dump it... ... . into the garbage can.



Well apparently someone did this..... and not long after I walked over to use the Bench grinder... ... . Directly over the trash can. Grrrrrrrrrrr... . WHOOF! Luckily all I got was the hair singed off my arms. There weren't enough fumes to continue the flames.



After that a policy was started... . Empty the brake clean into your oil drain ONLY!



Josh

 

[FJfonda]

VW Flame thrower

A blown o-ring in the injection pump had hydrolocked my VW Scirocco by filling the cylinders with gas. My bright idea was to take the plugs out and use a push button starter actuator to empty the cylinders from gas, after of course disconnecting the coil from the distributor cap. Well ----- 1st time the button was pushed gas shot out the plug holes and doused the front of the engine. This should have been my warning---- as it also soaken the connections for the started bypass switch. You can guess what happend the next time I pushed the switch... ... the ignited gas "plume" shot 25 ft in front of the car. I was lucky to not be standing in front of the car and to have parked far enough from the house so I didn't burn it down!!

 

[Matt400]

uhhhhhhh, these are just a couple things i've heard

Those are good. . another is to never wear your wedding ring while in the shop. Catching it on something with all your body weight is bad enough but arching it on 12v to ground on an un fused circuit would leave a mark for sure!

 

[Alphacowboy]

dont try to make your own tool to cut off door casing/frames! Those of you in the know, installing wood floors and tile in existing homes where the casing needs to be trimmed off can be a pain in the butt! Wel, instead of just buying the actually tool made for this, I decided a 5 1/4" carbide blade mounted on a angle grinder would work. Well, it would have, if I would have taken the time to install the handle and gaurd on it, but I wanted to try it quick to see if it would work. it worked alright, like a hot knife through butter, UNTIL, the blade caught! it ran up the wall, no biggy right, haha, except it caught my ring finger!!!



7 stiches later... ...

 

[Matt400]

except it caught my ring finger!!!

7 stiches later... ...

Ouch, plus while bandaged up you had to deal with the single women's looks of... geeze thats the oldest trick in the world, like your not really married :-laf

 

[Alphacowboy]

Ouch, plus while bandaged up you had to deal with the single women's looks of... geeze thats the oldest trick in the world, like your not really married :-laf

actually, I am married, and havent been able to wear my ring since then (over a month and a half ago) It wont fit over my knuckle yet, still kinda swollen. I was lucky the blade didnt catch my ring, as it would have been ALOT worse. The good Lord above was watching over me, thats forsure! It barely nicked the tendon on the side of my finger, so all I ended up with was stiches. I am very greatful I didnt loose any fingers in that moment of stupidity.

 

[nickleinonen]

Always unplug the drill before you mess with the chuck.

same goes rotating air tools [grinder, drill, sander... ]

UNTIL, the blade caught! it ran up the wall, no biggy right, haha, except it caught my ring finger!!!

done something similar before... tore the end of my right ring finger apart 2 times in different "accidents". second time was with a cordless circular saw while plunge cutting overhead [was holding the guard back] nipped the tip of my finger and tore the nail out. first time was drilling some steel blank wall jack plates to accept a 1/4" microphone jack [5/16" or 3/8" hole???] and the bit caught and the steel plate tore my finger open too... i've got 2 scars there that are nearly identical in shape and nearly stacked on each other. them nerves are fubared in that finger tip too. they don't feel much anything other than pain. push down on that finger enough for what you would normally feel as pressure, and it causes burning pain... great eh?



another good tidbit of info. .



when overhead welding rusty metal, make sure your shirt/jacket is tightly fit around your neck and it is NOT tucked into your pants... i have a big ugly scar on my chest from not doing the above. the scar wouldn't be there if my shirt wasn't tucked into my pants, but since it was, i held that big glob of slag there until i could get my shirt untucked. i'd rather a scar there than a burn on my tools.