Machine Shop "Accidents"

[Andrew Y.]

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

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!


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

[Alex Cormier]

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...

[Greg Needel]

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

[Mike Schroeder]

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

[Joshua May]

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.

[jagman2882]

Originally Posted by Alex Cormier

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

THAT WAS ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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 ) 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

[Dan Petrovic]

You crazy people!

Nothing's happened like that this year.

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

[mechanicalbrain]

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.

[AmayaSaria]

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...^^;

[oaktown1188]

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

[anna~marie]

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...

[Cody Carey]

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

[Arefin Bari]

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

[anna~marie]

aw it just adds character!

[Andy A.]

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.