Weird/Bad/Crazy Shop Accidents

[Mr.Shrek]

Well I'm stealing this idea from the HAMB, but thought it might be some good convo on here.

What's your knuckle busting shop story.

I'll kick it off with some from my HiFi days:

I was installing a radio into a car that needed the dash kit trim ring trimmed up for a better fit. So like so many times before I take it on over to the bench grinder. Is I'm running the top edge along the stone wheel I turn it to get the corner, not paying attention to my finger on the underside of the trim. The stop grabs my left hand middle finger and pulls it in between the stone and guard. Of course I get the knee jerk reaction and pull my hand right back out. The was a nice groove taken out of my finger about 3/8" deep. I got to my toolbox and get my hand to stop shaking long enough to get the pits of melted skin and plastic out of the cut. I got it cleaned and bandaged up and went on to lunch. Now I have a decent 1'' by 3/8" scare left.:doh:

Once I was building a subwoofer enclosure and to tac it together I lined the sides up with my left hand and was lucky enough to shoot a finishing nail through the edge of the box into the thumb keeping the sides flush. Through the face of my finger tip and out the side. Sucked pulling that one back out.

One of the other installers was using the bench top router with a 45 round over. He grabbed a piece of scrap would to check the hieght of the bit. The bit was dull and shot the wood across it followed by the face of his thumb. He was sure to use larger pieces of scrap from then on.

Second hand story:
A new Best Buy had was having it's grand opening and the brand spanking new car audio installation shop had that nice non skid rubber flooring. Well the guys there thought the floor looked so cool and shinny when you cleaned it with armor all. First car gets pulled in to the bay, installer puts on the brakes and the car just keeps sliding until it smashes into the bench.:laugh:

If I can think of anymore I'll post them up. What about you guys?

 

[bigalpha]

I hit my shin with the lug wrench the other day :roflmao:

 

[UNCC_99XJ]

Took a chunk out of my finger on a bench grinder too....sharpening a drill bit that I needed to use in Machine Shop last spring. Not quite as deep as yours but it still hurt like a SOB.

 

[TRAILREADYXJ]

I have heard that Best Buy story before, classic! :laugh:

I also fell victim to the bench grinder, except like an idiot, I was using it unmounted on the floor. Well the wheel came loose and attacked my Knee leaving the ~3/8" groove Mr. Shrek spoke of. Still have that scar.

Besides that, I have been lucky with several close calls. One time I had a hi-lift fall on my leg, thankfully the truck being lifted was not quite off the ground when the jack slipped, so it just left a bruise... could have easily been much worse!

 

[Mr.Shrek]

I know trail rate this has a good window regulator story to throw in here.

 

[shortxjdoug]

used to be a marine tech i had some crazy shop stories from there...

used to have an employee nicknamed "stitch" in his first week on the job unhitched a trailer that he apparently had negative tongue weight on, trailer tongue snapped up caught his hand... stitches.... after that cut healed he was changing a prop you guessed it... stitches...

speaking of changing props, when yamaha was developing their TRP prop system they sent their engineers from japan to work with us on the project... changing a prop one of the engineers cut his hand bad, let me say this taking a japanese man who speaks no english to a walk in clinic in lenoir city tennessee is real adventure.

one tech was hauling a boat prepped for pickup one time with a fork lift up the hill, the customer was in the lot watching it get pulled up for a final engine checkout when the unlatched trailer came off the hitch ball, rolled at great speed across the lot about 150 feet into another brand new runabout putting a hole big enough for me to crawl through in a fiberglass hull


i have more......

 

[~Spanky~]

Weird? You tell me....
About five years ago I was working as the Beach Patrol Supervisor on the (North End). We all needed some rough water Jet Ski training. So I set up some practice scenarios and got some volunteers to play “the victims”. In order to keep it as real and safe as possible a Coast Guard buddy managed to get a boat crew and one of the HH-65 Dolphin Helos on stand-by. Very cool stuff and everyone is pretty stoked about it. It was on a Saturday and as Lady Luck would have it the Seas were fairly rough and we had some mild thunder storms.
We went out about one half mile off shore and when the lightning started the CG Helo headed home. We had a few practice runs that went very well and even the Fire Department and EMS got into it. (Big Toys and all the gang!)
We decided it was not worth the risk and started to head to shore.
We spotted a couple of guys on Jet Skis jumping some waves and getting some big air.
I knew they were very close to a sandbar in one of the inlets, so being the consummate professional; I took my Ski over to warn them of the bar.

Well as with all things; My Ski was red and white and had big blue scotch-light lettering on the side “Police”. As we all know young men, what do you think they did?
Yup…water chase anyone?
Worried they were heading closer and faster to the bar, I turn away and hope they let up.
Did they? Nope. As I looked back over my shoulder one guy got some of the biggest air I have seen. He landed in four inches of water and received a spiral fracture to his leg.

Practice is now over and off we go. He was very cool about it, as we were. He was lucky my guys liked playing in rough water.
To close out this story and in keeping with the theme; we helped them load the Skis on a trailer, we loaded ours on our trailer and hooked both up to the TJ’s! The End.
P.S.
If any of you ever have a chance to be surrounded by Firefighters, Cops, EMS and the US Coast Guard don’t run; we are all in bathing suites and out for the same reason, to have fun and get paid for it. (Thanks to the North Strand Beach Services and all the gang. It was a pleasure.):wave1:

 

[ladywolf]

i watched a dude start taking apart a split rim tire without deflating it first...he was sitting crosslegged with it on his lap. he's lucky he didnt blow his own fool head off. when that tire lost pressure everyone was on their bellies flat in the hangar cuz we thought we had just gotten mortared.


i somehow managed to crack myself in the jaw with a hi-lift jack handle unjacking a piece of farm equipment when i was. i saw stars and thought i bit my tongue off.

and of course its always fun to watch the new pilot do a half gainer off the top of a slick helicopter cuz he's not watching where he put his feet when its been icy out in the mornings.

 

[shortxjdoug]

i watched a dude start taking apart a split rim tire without deflating it first....

one time a forklift tech working on my old clarklift started to take apart one of those splitrims when it broke, shot a piece of the outer lip across the shop and split his shin.... lucky bastard thats all that happened to him

 

[ladywolf]

yea. they're scary.

i HATE airing up split rim tires. army has cases of people overinflating em, things exploding, and chaos ensuing afterwards.

 

[Cnickgo]

I had what I thought was going to be a bad accident that just ended up being funny for the 2 others in the shop.

We were testing/diagnosing the AC on a Ford Tempo, and the recharger/pressure check hose wouldn't stay on the high side valve due to its proximity to the firewall. I ended up holding the hose on the valve having the smallest hands. When they ran the AC compressor the pressure built up and then blew out a rubber o-ring. The result was one helluva scary noise with your arm stuck down next to the firewall and your head in the engine bay.

I was halfway down the driveway before I turned around to see my buddies rolling on the floor laughing.

 

[256offroad]

one of my worst ones and scariest ones was when i was first getting into jeeping. and i was installing some acos on an xj and i didnt have any jack stands to sit the frame up high enough to lower the axle enough to remove the coils. so i used a high lift. well the high lift tipped over and the only thing holding the jeep was a jack that happened to be sitting under the RUSTYS trac bar. saved my damn life!


as for blood. i had my left finger inside of a chevy truck frame rail, i was installing a front receiver hitch and i didnt have my gloves on. well i was lininig up one of the bolt head that had a peice of flat stock to keep the head from spinning inside the rail. well i had an impact on the nut side and accidently bumped it and it spun the nut which spun the bolt head which grabbed my finger pulling my hand towards the frame rail. needless to say i about lost the tip of my finger. and dislocated the finger.

hurt like a SOB!

 

[jtdesigns]

One of the other installers was using the bench top router with a 45 round over. He grabbed a piece of scrap would to check the hieght of the bit. The bit was dull and shot the wood across it followed by the face of his thumb. He was sure to use larger pieces of scrap from then on.

I have a HUGE scar on my thumb from doing the exact same thing.. Didnt hurt until the Doc started to clean it out using a syringe filled with saline like a super soaker... SOB..

When I was a kid I used to take welding rods from my Dads shop, and sharpen the end, then throw them into things like they were darts.. Well one day I was playing "American Ninja" and throwing them into a big wood pile, and then threw one down into the ground, but missed the ground.. I threw that rod right through my big toe. I'm pretty sure that was the last welding rod I ever threw.

 

[JeepAddict85]

I was installing a 2 inch body lift on my explorer, and i had opened the hatch to get to the 2 mounts at the rear. I THOUGHT i had lifted it all the way open...Well what i did was open it and push a bit...usually it would rise up on its own. Well this time it only went about half way. I had crawled under my explorer as soon as i opened it, so i didnt see that it was just hanging there waiting for me. i get done unscrewing the body to frame ground straps, and i hear my phone ringing across the garage. Well, i roll out, and jump up...right into the heavy steel hatch. fell right back down and was out for a few minutes. instant concussion...gotta love those. Ha, i was back to work on it once the tylenol kicked in.

 

[Mr.Shrek]

That reminds me of when I was changing out the interior on my heep. I was replacing the rear hatch trim at the striker. My son's are in the jeep helping unscrew trim. Well the vise grips holding the rear hatch up (Yes I have replaced the lift shocks since) slip and the lock part of the hatch nails me right wear my neck meets the back of my head. Flop on my ass do my best not to curse or black out. Once my vision lined back up I was back to work.

 

[bigalpha]

That reminds me of when I was changing out the interior on my heep. I was replacing the rear hatch trim at the striker. My son's are in the jeep helping unscrew trim. Well the vise grips holding the rear hatch up (Yes I have replaced the lift shocks since) slip and the lock part of the hatch nails me right wear my neck meets the back of my head. Flop on my ass do my best not to curse or black out. Once my vision lined back up I was back to work.

LOL!!!!

Excellent mental picture. What'd your boys do?

 

[Mr.Shrek]

I look up to see their faces pressed against the back glass white faced and wide eyed like "HOLY COW" and yelled "DAD YOU OK?" waved them off and said I was ok, just bumped my head. (As I curse under my breath while rubbing the knot on the back of my head.

 

[bigalpha]

Haha. I bet that was a sight to see. You should set up a video camera whenever you're wrenching. That'd be a great video to see.

 

[Mr.Shrek]

Of course like every dumb thing I do or happens to me, the boys tell their mother the first chance they get.

 

[bigalpha]

Haha, of course. Since I don't have kids, I have to tell my girlfriend, in person, all the dumb things I do or happens to me. Kind of a bummer, really.