Machine Shop "Accidents"

[Andrew Y.]

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

[Tytus Gerrish]

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

[IraJason]

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.

[Koko Ed]

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.

[Andrew Y.]

Originally Posted by Koko Ed

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.

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

[KyleGilbert45]

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.

[KenWittlief]

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.

[Babyhueyhnx]

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.

[Rombus]

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.

[Bemis]

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 .

[Katy]

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.

[Pavan Dave]

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

[George A.]

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.

[chrisinmd]

Originally Posted by Pavan

...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

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.