I Just HAVE to Share This One!

[rake60]

I was talking with a co-worker today about things that we've done that
were possibly not the best of choices.

He said,
"I have one for you, you'll laugh about it. It is funny now, but at
the time it wasn't!"

He was working on something outside on a sunny day and needed to use
a small propane torch. He lit it and there was no flame, so he attempted
to light it again. Still he saw no flame. In the moment, he decided to see
if he could smell propane coming from the torch tip. He VERY QUICKLY
discovered that there was in fact a flame. It was just not visible in the
bright sun light.

At this point both of us were almost on the floor laughing!

Potential hazards are not always obvious, and many times totally
invisible.

Think of what could go wrong if someone with no experience was about
to attempt what you are about to do. Chances are you'll come up with
an answer of "I WAS ABOUT TO DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT!"

Rick

 

[shred]

On another forum they have a popular thread called 'things you only do once.."

I learned the flame thing working in a shop that did hydrogen research. Pure hydrogen burns with an invisible flame, photos of the Hindenburg notwithstanding. :shock: We used to always put a snippet of nichrome wire in the burner that would glow red when it was lit.

 

[wareagle]

I have to admit I never thought of checking the flame of a propane torch with my nose! :lol: Hopefully the guy wasn't hurt too bad! it is funny though.

Speaking of transparent fires, I work around methanol quite a bit, and it too has an invisible flame. I have had it light up on me a couple of times, but was aware of the hazardous situation and appropriate measures were in place prior to the task(s) that were being performed.

With any of this kind of stuff, one needs to have an emergency action plan in place prior to performing any work with any liquid, solid, or gas that is flammable or explosive.

 

[compound driver]

HI
Try magnesium for a fun afternoon of machining! can tend to pucker certain muscles.

 

[shred]

Another "things you only do once"--

Step across the shop to get something a little out of reach, whilst holding a hot soldering iron. Turned out the cord wasn't as long as I thought-- nice inch wide burnt strip across my palm. Ow.
:shock:

 

[tsvservice]

A good way to make the methanol flame visible is to put a pinch of baking soda in when you fill the tank. The flame will have a yellow color.

 

[jgarrett]

I think the dumbest one I have pulled is when I was tinning some small wires one time and was blowing them to cool them because my hand was close to the end. I had one that was not tinning right and I figured I better turn it loose and went to blow on it and went just a little bit too far. Do you know how long it take a 22 ga. hole in your lip to go away????
Julian G.

 

[jagwinn]

I troubleshoot and maintain packaging equipment and we code the package of over-the-counter drugs with laser machines.

A common problem is that the cardboard dust generated by the burning of the code into the carton tends to build up on the flagging eye and the laser won't fire, hence the call from the operator "No batch (code)!".

The remidy is to swipe the eye with your finger to clean it . . . after killing the switch.

It takes two weeks to heal a hole in the finger tip when it gets coded by a laser.

 

[mike4517]

I only did this once.

I made a 12 gauge mine i have on the workshop door i use a cartridge with the shot removed its incase anyone breaks in when you shut the door you arm it by a hook on a chain so if someone was to break in you would hear them.

After locking up for the night i went in only to find her indoors in one of her moods so i stormed back into workshop without thinking you know the rest.
mike

 

[zeusrekning]

I may not be able to compete with some of you guys maching skills. But when it comes to stupid accidents I can hold my own. I've found it takes no experience and little skill to pull off a good accident. My brother and I were chopping up an S-10 truck a few years ago. First, keep in mind I live atop a big hill my front yard is 20-30 degrees sloped down in places (like in front of the garage). Anyways, we got the truck striped and were about to take the radiator out. I didn't want to make to much of a mess in the garage so we were going to push it out of the garage(about a 5ft push.) Well, my area in front of the garage is paved blacktop and sticks out about 20ft with a slight slope away from the garage. Needless to say the truck got away from us. :fan: It picked up speed quickly. The bed was off the truck so one of the rear wheels caught a tree about 4" in diameter. The truck had so much momentum it snapped the leaf springs. If the tree hadn't been there the truck would of landed in a deep ravine next to my neighbors house.
The other stupid error was we thought we could stop it. We threw the chock block behind the wheel as it started rolling with no luck. So we grabbed on and tried to stop it. It drug both of us about twenty feet on the black top. So we wrecked a truck with no engine and got road rash at the same time.
Tim
PS I recently got an accident protection plan with AFLAC through work.