Machine Shop "Accidents"
 

ok, so i cut my thumb off last year on the band saw, and now im known as "Thumbs." :ahh: Its been reatatched and everything just no feeling. so im like :confused:

7 stitches inside
15 outside


i know im not the only one that has done something stupid in the shop so SPEAK UP!!!!!make me feel better please!
:rolleyes:

i am proud to say i have all fingers this year, just a few cuts :D

Re: Machine Shop "Accidents"
 

well one kid did all this:
got finger stuck in sander, minor damage
shirt stuck in sander b/c part was too hot to handle with just his hands, broke belt

then a different kid left the wrench on the mill and it flew off across the room.

i broke a belt on the sander because i was sanding to hard i guess what the freak? and the list goes on...

Re: Machine Shop "Accidents"
 

i was steping up some holes in a 1/2 inch plate and went a little bit to big with my step and the alum grabbed slipped from the vise and tore into my thumb. just a small cut but that is as bad as it got

Re: Machine Shop "Accidents"
 

On ship date I was cutting a small peice of metal, and had the bright idea of using the chop saw. Didn't think about how small lengths of metal go nuts with chop saws. So, this 3" long peice of 1" square aluminum stock flew out from the saw, knicked my fingers, flew into a wall, and bounced back at another team member. Thankfully, I only took a small bit out of my left middle finger, nothing big. I kept the peice of metal as a souveneir, its completely warped, I'll post a pic soon.

Re: Machine Shop "Accidents"
 

this wasnt in the shop while building the robot, this was while i was at work, but in a weird and crazy series of incidents i cut my arm on my radial arm saw, it was more of a nic, atleast as much of a nic as a radial arm saw could have been, i didn't get the muscle or tendons or anything like that, but with the way the saw is designed if the sawblade hit the bone, i would have most likely lost my arm, but now i have a really interesting scar on my arm now, and one day it will have a way cooler story than i cut it on the saw at work :p

Re: Machine Shop "Accidents"
 

You work for 17 years on a factory floor you hear some horrible things (The worst I have heard was a woman getting her foot crushed flat by a fork truck and a guy poking his eye out with a screwdriver-when he was wearing safety glasses!). We work very hard to avoid incidents like this with our kids. They are not allowed to work the shop without an adult present and that have to take safety training at the beginning of the season or they cannot be on the team.

Re: Machine Shop "Accidents"
 

agreed, safety first, forgot to mention that this happened in my personal machine shop at home.

as for the scar story, iv cooked up some good ones :D :D

Re: Machine Shop "Accidents"
 

This always seems to be a popular topic from year to year.

2004
2003
2002
2002

I haven't recieved any injuries this year, as I'm not on a team, but I had my fair share of cuts, scrapes, smashes, splinters, etc when I was on team 45.

Re: Machine Shop "Accidents"
 

Electical engineers usually dont have machine shop or tool related accidents

our accidents usually are more along the lines of what happens the first time you power up a new design: capacitors explode like a confetti bomb, diodes are more like a firecracker

resistors tend to smoke, coils smoke alot.

Digital and analog ICs can arc and burn for a surprizingly long time. The first time I tried to design and use an EPROM programmer I actually said out loud "Hey cool, the little circuit in the window glows orange while its being programmed!" - no its not suppose to :c(

we learn quickly, the first time you plug something in, stand back

just in case.

one of the weirdest things I ever did in a lab: I was working on a video projector design, that had a 500W lamp. I was measureing the voltage on a circuit and the Fluke portable Digital Volt Meter started smoking! Im thinking, what the heck, it only has a 9V battery in it, how can it possibly be smoking?

the light from the projector was hitting the back of the meter, focused like using a magnifying glass in the sun, and it was melting the plastic case.

Re: Machine Shop "Accidents"
 

the most painful accident i have had this year was when i was making our telescopic arm. i was sliding the piece up and down the check it for resistance. i had been clamping it up in place but this time i forgot. so i left go and the shaft came down on my finger which was sitting vertically on the larger shaft. it took a good portion of the side of my finger off. i had to get a tetanus shot but no stitches luckily.

Re: Machine Shop "Accidents"
 

Here are my stories:
1. Soldering iron, No matter what i do with a soldering iron, if somehow get burned every time i build a circuit, Nothing major, just a common thing for me, I’m getting better at it

2. Ive blown my share of components, funniest one was when I was playing around with an old electronic keyboard, i was powering it off of a variable power supply, and I screwed up the voltage setting, it worked great for about 30 seconds, then it sounded like a gunshot went off, one of the caps blew and left a huge dent where it hit the outside of the case.

3. Most recent with a machine tool: I was using a drill press to drill some plexi, and i had a team member on the side of the press to make sure I had the alignment right before drilling, i chucked up the bit, and wanted to see if it was centered before drilling. I turned on the press, and the chuck key I had forgotten to take out made a full revolution then flew off towards my teammate. It didn’t hurt him or anything since the drill was set nice and slow. Made us both laugh, and reminded me not to be so careless.

Re: Machine Shop "Accidents"
 

Worst I've had was a small chunk out of a finger due to insane hacksawing.... but my friend got stabbed in the hand with a soldering iron last year. Thats probably it .

Re: Machine Shop "Accidents"
 

I'm rather proud to say we have not had any injuries during my time on the team that could not be fixed with a band-aid. Most of them are just funny like the time a vice flew off the drill press and got me in the stomach.

We did have a pretty good adventure with our practice robot though last Saturday. We ground the positive lead of the battery to C clamp to the frame to the negative lead on a Spike. I've never seen so much smoke come out of a robot and there were enough sparks on it (and I was scared enough) that I thought the whole electronics pannel was on fire at first. Miraculously we only lost the cable that goes from the spike to negative...I still don't know how we got away with that one.

Re: Machine Shop "Accidents"
 

THAT WAS ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D
me and the belt sander are best buds

and to clarify on of the stories, i didnt get my finger stuck. i was sanding a huge gear downa bit cause someone wanted them shinny for our cart(ended up not using them :mad: ) so i had them way up on the sander. for some reason it caught and my finger was slammed between the table on the sander and the hub of the gear. i thought that is was broken but it wasnt, and in true FIRST spirit using sheetmetal, foam and double-sided tape, i made my own splint and continue to work. the only trouble was that it was my middle finger and when ever i had to drive the robot i would well... u know :yikes:

Re: Machine Shop "Accidents"
 

You crazy people!

Nothing's happened like that this year.

Last year two people got their finger sliced by the slides on our lift.

Re: Machine Shop "Accidents"
 

Lets see... I burnt a tiny hole through my hand when I got a shock from an LCD screen that was plugged in, didn't hurt too much but smelt horrible. The bad one I've seen wasn't first related. In middle school a kid cut his middle finger straight off with a sheet metal sheer (The type that has a foot pedal you step on). So they call a ambulance for the kid. Then a second kid goes back, sees the finger, and feints. Needless to say they had to call a second ambulance.

Re: Machine Shop "Accidents"
 

We didn't have any accidents...I mean some, but very horrible accidents...

...so far we only made a mistake when we were creating rewards, and we spelt something wrong on it....We had to do all of them...^^;

Re: Machine Shop "Accidents"
 

well two years ago one member almost cut off all his fingers on a band saw,
last year a team member broke his finger while cleaning off the drill while it was on and the rag broke his finger,
last year one guy tripped and had a steel pole fall on his head-stitches and blood,
our driver has been burned and cut
then theres the cuts that occur and bruising and metal shavings

Re: Machine Shop "Accidents"
 

If you were around me for just a few moments you would see that I am seriously the most accident prone person ever...
this year's favorite:
I got stabbed with a 800 degree soldering iron...

Re: Machine Shop "Accidents"
 

Last year one of our seniors stabbed me in the hand with a soldering gun... I still have a scar.
Some kid in our school's votec program left the key in a lathe chuck, and crushed the top half of his pointer finger off when he turned it on... I now call him "Stubs".


P.S. the soldering thing was an accident ... I think :p

Re: Machine Shop "Accidents"
 

The 5" scar is still there from 2004 season. And just now looking at both of my hands, there are atleast 11 1" scars.

Re: Machine Shop "Accidents"
 

aw it just adds character!

Re: Machine Shop "Accidents"
 

I've received soldering iron burns then I can count. No machine shop injuries outside of the odd aluminum sliver or cut from a sharp edge.

This is odd since I spend an overwhelming amount of my time in the shop and no where near the soldering stuff. When I do end up wiring, it's usally because we are pressed for time and they need all the help there is (even hack electritions like me). It just goes to show that speed kills.

The worse injury I've seen on my team happend on a lathe and the kid was amazingly lucky. He was using a strip of emory to polish a part, and he was trying to use as much as the strip up as he could. His thumb got a little to close to the chuck and it whacked him _hard_. He got away with a bad bruise and black nail. He could have lost it.

I wonder about the cumalitive effect that all the fumes, greases, heavy metals and such that we all breath in, get stabbed with and rubbed into our skins.

-Andy A.

Re: Machine Shop "Accidents"
 

I managed to stay pretty safe this year. The usual scratches from working with metal, blisters.


Worst thing for me was probably when i was minding my own business when a dremel bit came flying at me and hits me right inbetween the eyes.

Moral of the story - Wear your glasses EVERYWHERE :eek: :eek: :eek:

Re: Machine Shop "Accidents"
 

Oh no. i think i should pick my battles this time and stay out of this thread.

Re: Machine Shop "Accidents"
 

Worst thing to happen during build season was that one of our members was drilling a bigger hole for a battery wire and it got caught on the drill and cut his hand. Nothing a band-aid or two couldn't fix.

The worst thing to happen to my in our lab was I was working on a project for class and I was holding down a block of wood so someone could put a screw in. The drill came off of the screw when it was all the way down, and the screw bit started drilling into my finger. After a trip to the nurse and some confusion over the last time I had gotten a tetanus shot, it was deemed that I would be OK, and just have to wear a bandage on my finger for a bit while it healed.

Re: Machine Shop "Accidents"
 

We haven't had any major accidents, but I have my fair share of cuts, scrapes and bruises, especially from the pit at Regionals. I have one particularly nasty little cut on my left arm (it's actually 3 that intersect and hurts like a mofo:ahh: ) from when I had to reach into the robot to turn it on because my teammates who put it on the field didn't know how to:rolleyes:. My mentor almost took off a finger when she was cutting some strapping tape with a scalpel (dunno why she didn't just use the shears sitting next to her), but nothing that a band-aid couldn't fix. The only substantial injuries that happened this build season were to people's egos:D

Re: Machine Shop "Accidents"
 

Can't say we've had anything above the usual nicks n' cuts here at team 5.

Now as for me at my job...My hands/arms are covered in scars from cuts/burns...:eek:

Re: Machine Shop "Accidents"
 

So I'm the electrical guy on my team and I am also a rookie so I can bet any of you that I have stabbed myself with more Copper Wire than any of you other guys combined lol. I have also almost crimped my finger :$ along with a bunch of ther stuff lol.

Pavan

Re: Machine Shop "Accidents"
 

My senior year I had my pinky partially amputated when I was using a chop saw. I cut the material, then the cut piece (not the one in the clamp, but the one that came loose) got caught in the blade and shot into my hand...that hurt,

after they sewed it back up and all that it turns out the top two bones in my pinky fused together into one superbone...so I can't bend it anymore, but I am on my manners at tea parties.

Re: Machine Shop "Accidents"
 

Been there, done that.
Last year, I was wiring the robot and I was just getting into my rhythmm of strip, crimp, attach, when the wire slipped and I 'stripped' my index finger. It was with the good sharp strippers too. :rolleyes: