When pressing axle bearings off with a 20 ton air-powered hydraulic press, always be sure to place the beat up peice of plywood between you (the operator) and said bearing... because IF the bearing explodes, you will be finding bearing shrapnel in various corners of the shop for months...

(I was very lucky to survive that one without a scratch...)

 

Ian F, so true on your post, i've done the "BANG THING" many times over the years. When pressing a bearing off thats getting into the " this thing is stuck zone" i have a beat up 5'x5' canvas cover that i wrap around the part. Your post is on of the best on safety. Carl........o&o>...............

 

And after that incident, I also got into the habit of cutting off the outer races and retainer assemblies on axles where I couldn't get solid arbor-inner race contact because the outer race was in the way. No matter what, there is always time to do a job safely.

 

I learned a new one this week!

When ya welding with OA & a rod do NOT lean forward when you're half done to inspect the weld with the still glowing rod pointed at your chest.... That sucker went 1/2in into flesh before I felt a thing. It was a case of "who's burning bacon & why does it smell like the pig is wearing a tshirt thats on FIRE!!!!!???? ARRGGHHH!!!"

That was Tuesday morning.. the day before I managed to blow off the outer 50% of BOTH eyebrows with the acetylene torch. Didn't notice until later when I was shaving & didn't immediatley reconise the face staring back at me in the mirror...

 

Had a similar problem when I put the underhood DC arc welder in my Jeep a few years back - all I've really used since high school (70's!) is MIG.

First time I put the stinger down I got reacquainted with the "stinger is always HOT on an arc welder" lesson

 

Post a picture! That sounds hysterical!

 

Yup, that smarts!! When I did it I had set down the rod to reposition the work, when I picked up the rod again it wasn't where I wanted it in glove so I decided to push it into place by pressing it against my chest (wrong end!!!!!) It went through my vest, my shirt, my t-shirt and, as you related, a bunch of skin!! Good thing about a hole like that ... it doesn't bleed.

Re: welding in frayed clothes. One time I noticed it was getting hot on one leg; paused the weld, flipped up the helmet and saw my coverall leg was fully engaged!! When I got done beating it out with my glove I noticed two of my "friends" were watching. "Why didn't you say something???" I hollered. They said they just wanted to see how long it took a Swede to burn down!!

 

Okay, here's mine. I just got finished changing the jets on my Bronco and closed everything up including the hood. I hopped into the truck and fired her up. She was purring great until I heard a mysterious WOOOFF. You all know that sound, its the sound we all her on barbecue day and someone forgot the lighter fluid. Needless to say always back check your hose clamps and always have a fire extinguisher around its hard to watch your baby go up in flames. You also get to experience your local fire dept. response time. (it can never be quick enough)

 

Well, this wasn't in my garage, but in my dormroom. I just (like 45 mins ago) tried to spray paint my dash panel in my jailcell of a dormroom. I cranked the fan, but it still abt got me high.

 

I was monkeying with the column on my daily beater one afternoon, and dropped the retaining nut under the seat. Gave up looking after an hour, and pounded wheel onto shaft with hammer. Made mental note to look again when I got home from work. Later that day, stopped at a light to make a turn into Wendy's for a burger. Light changed, I cranked wheel while stomping the go-fast pedal, and darned if it didn't come off in my hand! Slammed the front frame crossmember into a rather high granite curb. Boy that steering shaft hurts when it hits your chest, that'll leave a mark! HEAD right into windshield. Stalled the car, and it would not start. Oh, yeah, neutral safety switch.... Uh-oh, will not shift into park.... doesn't start in neutral either.... blocking oncoming traffic..... oh, hey, it will start in drive. Boy that horn is loud.... oh, that's MY horn. Limped into Wendy's lot, still can't get park. E-brake has no tension, so park in a low spot in the lot. Boy that horn is loud. Pop the hood, yank the horn wires. Notice the tires seem farther back in the wheelwells than usual. When I railed the curb, the body had shifted on the frame, broken the ebrake cable, and jammed the tranny linkage against the firewall. My gear indicator was now one gear off, and the new location of the firewall was preventing me from putting it in park! The impact DID, however, dislodge the steering wheel nut from under the seat, and I DID put it back on that night. Drove the car like that for another two weeks, but carried a brick to chock the wheels. Alignment was "slightly" off, and I scrubbed a pair of tires bald in about 175 miles..... fortunately, it was a tired old Chevy BEFORE this happened.

 

A few years ago I was making a trailer out of an old Toyota. I pulled off the cab and loaded it into my Ford, and then did the same with the motor and tranny before I ran out of light. The next day I attacked it with my magic blue wrench, hoping to remove the front suspension and a few feet of frame. Cut the left side of the frame, no problem. Just as I was finishing the cut on the right side, some kind of fluid started pouring onto the ground, and immediately ignited. I thought I had cut a brake line, and tried to grab it and pull it loose, but the cutting process had melted the retaining clip to the frame. It was at that point I realized it was a gas line, and the tank (which I had forgotten about in my haste to start cutting) was right behind me, under the bed.

Thinking quickly, I grabbed the frame and lifted it up, stopping the flow. That's when I wished I had a video camera rolling, so that my heirs could win enough money to clean up this mess. What a way to go out! This would rate right up there with exploding outhouses. I wondered if there was any way to keep my name out of my obituary - "...an unkown ignoramus exploded himself today...parts of him were found still clutching a cutting torch, with a very surprised look on the remnants of his face..."

I couldn't let go of the frame to turn off the torch, I couldn't set the frame back down and feed more fuel to the fire; the easiest thing to do was just dount to 3, let go and die. Wait! What's the second easiest thing to do?

I let the fire burn down 'til I could stomp it out, then quickly set the frame down and turned off the torch, then lifted the frame back up and propped it until I could pinch off the line. All this time, Homer's voice was running through my mind "Jesus, Allah, Buddha - I love all you guys!"

 

Very, very entertaining. At least a 10 rating! This has to be the best written funnest story yet.

 

this is all good

Found an easy way to remove your harmonic balancer bolt.. leave a 1/2 ractchet and socket on the pully (since I was looking for a timing mark), and fire up the truck.. needless to say, I was glad I didn't have a hole in my rad; however, the balancer bolt was laying on the ground...

Also, those backfires that come up thru the carb are big enough to catch your hair on fire...

 

Here is one of my greatest garage blu<! >nders.
Me and my friend were changing the clutch on his rangers. He had a pit in his garage that was about 3 to 4 feet deep, just enough that you kinda had to duck under a truck. Well we pulled the trany and I was in the back of the pit while he was up front. We had two C-beams. over the pit to set the trany on when we got it out so we didn't have to move it far to change the clutch. Well, coming out of the pit I ducked under the trany but guess I started standing up befor making it out from under completely. I hit my head on the second C-beam and knocked it out from under the end of the trany; which then fell on my back. Luckly I hit my head a lot and was used to the blunt force trama and I didn't get knocked out, also lucky it was just a ranger so it was pretty light. I ended up standing in the pit with the trany on my back though. He herd the thump and looked back in the pit knowing that I hit my head a lot. He had to steady the trany while I walked out from under the truck, "Since it was already on your back we might as well just pull it out so we have more room to work".

One from work, thankfully this wasn't me becuase it was a bit costly.
On a CNC lathe you have a little dial 100 tick marks on it. Next to that you have 3 buttons: 1x 10x 100x. 1x is .001 inches, 10x is .01 inches, 100x is .1 inches. A guy that didn't have the sence to know what each ment was told to set the tool offsets. He turned on the lathe 3000rpm I think (it was a brass part), and turned the **** a few times. It only moved an inch for each turn and it was all the way at the home stop. He figured this would be to slow so he hit the 100x button and turned spun it again, the rammed the tool holder into the chuck. Luckly the lathe has to have the door closed to run but it sheared the tool holder off in one big chunk that shot around the inside of the lathe. That is one scary frigin sound when you are writing a program with your back to it.

Another time I had a bad experince with a lathe. In one of my classes one machine over a girl just finished a part set-up and after the prof checked it of was so exited to get it done by herself that she didn't take the chuck key out. I know others have said drill presses but those are small. The chuck key for a lathe is about the size of a half inch drive ratchet, and generaly you spin the chuck much faster. As soon as she started it up the key hit the cross slide and shot straight at me. Luckely it clipped the back of my lathe and shot up over my head.

One that I got chewed out for.
Never do an oil change on ramps in your parents garage and leave for they day late for work thinking you will be home before them and pick up.
This shouldn't be a big deal, red ramps, garage floor, people should see these right?
My dad always backs in.

 

Heres a stupid one, today we were working on our racing lawnmower in a friends garage and i couldnt find a wrench the right size so we decided to grind the bolts off. I got the grinder out and started grinding and all the sparks wentflying into a pan of ATF. Needless to say a small fire erupted but we extinguished it by throwing "kitty litter" on it. Also watch out for the reciever hitch on your friend's truck when you are running to grab something to put out a burning pan of ATF. that hurts