I've had the (mis)fortune to experience these first hand. Please feel free to add to the list!


Do Not leave open pans of oil sitting on your garage floor.........or eventually you will kick it over onto your clean tennis shoes, or you will find yourself fishing your screwdriver out of it.:-X23

Do Not leave the sharp corners of your truck frame uncovered...or you will be investing in boxes of band-aids and peroxide for all the shin scrapes and flesh gouges you will get from rubbing against them.

Do Not block your pathway to the light switch........or you will find it in the dark while falling forward over the junk that's piled in the way.

Do Not leave your only tub of hand cleaner in the house........or you will receive the wrath of your wife or significant other for leaving a trail of greasy print door ***** and faucet *****.

 

DO not leave a greasy rag under the work bench while your welding. "What's that smell"?

 

Absolutly DO NOT wear frayed bottom jeans when welding.

Make sure yer fire extinguisher is fully charged (for putting out frayed jeans)

DO NOT weld without covering yourself from wrists to neck to ankles .... 'cos that red skin will not turn into a tan tomorrow.


--Heaven will be inherited by every man who has Ford in his soul--

 

>Absolutly DO NOT wear frayed bottom jeans when welding.
>
>
>Make sure yer fire extinguisher is fully charged (for
>putting out frayed jeans)

Reminds me of a story. This could also go on the biggest blunders thread. Anyway, here it goes.

Me and another guy were working on a boiler in a co-generation plant. It was very cold and windy. We were inside replacing a section of tube. My friend goes outside to use the restroom and sets the access door back in place to keep out the cold and the wind. We were working all night and we were getting tired. Must have been about 2 am. The inside was all stainless steel lined and cold to the touch. Like working inside a refrigerator. While I was waiting for his return I decided to warm myself up. I connected the rosebud to the torch and fired it up. Inside was a ledge so I warmed it up with the torch and sat down on it with the torch in my hand. I was warm as toast. Next thing I knew I hear my friend yelling at me. "Hey! WAKE UP!" Seems I feel asleep with a lit torch in my hand! The right leg of my coveralls was on fire with flames shooting up my leg. The torch had burned through the acytelene hose with flames and black smoke pouring out of it. I shut off the torch and my friend shut off the bottles while I put myself out using a leather welding jacket. That was a close call. We laughed about it later.

So my advice is, don't fall asleep while using a welding torch! Duh!

 

Now we know where the idea for Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor came from!

 

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 18-Aug-02 AT 03:22 AM (EST)]

Dont use starter fluid!!!! This is some dangerous stuff.
Every time Ive ever used it I wound up with a little fire.
The last time I used it I got a big fire.
O yea, make sure you you remember where you stashed
the damm fire extinguisher if you ever do use it. Latter......

 

Never leave small parts or small tools out at low levels with your dogs around. You'll be finding them with your lawn mower after spending a couple days trying to find them where you left them.

Never forget to check the exhaust duct from your grit blaster. Ali Babba won't be able to find you in your garage if you do.

Never jack up an F-250 more than about 12 inches in a standard suburban garage. Structural home repairs are really expensive.

Never leave the chuck key in your drill press chuck. Nuff said.

Never allow your teenage boys access to your multi-thousand fastener and hardware assortment. Nuff said.

All personal experience.

George

 

The best shop tool blunder I have ever seen was when one of our drivers put a piece of angle iron in the drill press vice and didn't clamp down the vice. I made it all the way to the hospital 30 miles away without saying I told you so. Two casts, 13 stitches later it was not funny. To this day he wont use the drill press. and yes the vise is now bolted on to the press table.

 

NEVER store chlorine for your pool, especially SHOCK-IT, in your garage nearby ANY other chemical. I've seen tragedies occur from just the fumes mixing.

 

Never leave a cresent wrench in a 350 ton hydrualic brake press. Tool steel is much harder than mild steel and it doesn't bend it shatters and it will fly across the room like a bullet.

I did not do this, but I worked at a metal shop where the brake operator left the wrench on top of the bottom die after changing it and forgot it was there when he cycled the machine.


Brian:-)

 

ALWAYS MAKE SURE ANY GAS CANS ARE FAR AWAY WHEN USEING THE TORCH
especially only partially full ones and the vent cap is left open it made for quite an exciting day when that blob of hot metal hit that plastic gas can and the vent cap was open

if your welder is on a cart mount the fire extinguisher to the cart maybe even two of them

if you have a mustache or beard DO not use the torch to light a cigarette

And yes do not weld wearing a shirt with the sleeves cut off and frayed jeans or use the torch cutting steel with holes in the knees of your jeans there is always that one piece of red hot steel that finds it's way down to your shoes

dark sunglasses are not the same as a welding helmet

gasoline is not a good floor cleaner niether is kereosene it makes everything quite slippery

Do not fire up the impact gun with a socket on it and you're not holding the socket a 3/4 impact socket flying off and knocking you in the forehead is not fun

yes i agree with the other post of making sure the vise on the drill press is bolted down and yes always make sure the chuck key is removed before you fire up the drill press

never stick a rag that gasoline or kerosene in your back pocket

ALWAYS USE JACK STANDS THAT ARE RATED ALOT HIGHER THAT WHAT YOU ARE WORKING ON HYDRAULIC JACK SEALS CAN GIVE OUT ANYTIME NO MATTER HOW NEW THE JACK IS OR WHAT IT IS RATED FOR

 

>NEVER store chlorine for your pool, especially SHOCK-IT, in
>your garage nearby ANY other chemical. I've seen tragedies
>occur from just the fumes mixing.


Wow, that one hit home. I keep a small open bag of Shock-It on the bottom shelf and store all my other solvents and chemicals on the upper shelves. I think I'll be moving that Shock-It to the outside shed real soon. Thanks for the heads up!

 

That chlorine stuff is nasty its one hell of an oxidizer, I'm not a welder myself except just messing around, but I've been around plenty of them both military and civilian industrial and I must say it does liven up the night when a welder sets himself of fire and its often amusing.

 

1. Do not loan your tools to a friend if you want to continue to count him as a freind.

2. Do not borrow MY tools.

3. Do not break my tools.

4. Do put your tools away after every project (one I should follow myself ;-) )

 

don't cut off steel plate directly over you hoses... saw a 2' x 4' peice of hot 1/2" plate drop 5 feet and cut off both oxy/act hoses.... talk about a little show...