What's the dumbest thing you've ever done or seen done with a power tool?

[notfarnow]

Originally posted by Willem Fick
"and had vented the blood blister under the fingernail with a 1/8" drill bit on his drill press, moving slowly."

I have on occasion done this, and can attest to the fact that it really works no matter how crude it sounds.

+1

Tip of the day: works fine with a drill press... not so great with a hand-held cordless drill.
Ask me how I know.

[charlesbahn]

Does a vacuum cleaner count? I tried to make a jet engine out of an old vacuum cleaner ( I was only about 12 at the time, and had access to a lot of gasoline, most of which burned quickly).

[Drago]

Not a power tool but I once had a friend of mine (you know who you are ) use a large crecent wrench to undo the trasmission cooler lines from the tranny on my '76 Dodge Ramcharger.

"Man, I've turned this nut several times over and I'll be damned if it won't come off".

Have another puff and a beer dude...

Fluid does not flow well through a tube that's been twisted into a tighly wound coil.

[Jims5543]

Procon - When we did the wood florring in my house I was very suprised no one got hurt.

We broke a LOT of rules that weekend. Drinking and operating machinery comes to mind. This thought crossed my mind every time I approached the table saw.

[syncroid]

I was using a Rotozip tool freehand on some wood when the tool jumped and very neatly in about a fraction of a second took my left thumb nail clean off. My daughter was standing there watching when it happened. It took every ounce of restraint to hold the colorfull words in that were swimming in my head.
I had a really close call with an early 911 several years ago. I was setting the timing on it. (full advance set at 6000rpm) I had a red shop towel on the back of the car. At the high rpm the fan sucked the towel into the fan. My arms got wrapped in the towel. Luckily the fan belt broke just as my arms hit the fan.

[Bill Verburg]

In high school I had a summer job working as a general laborer in construction.

We were doing a job at a pizzeria, the owner of the company was showing us kids what not to do, like putting your hands near the dough press, he lost 2 fingers over that little demo.

[Moses]

Originally posted by syncroid
I was using a Rotozip tool ...

After reading the first five words, you just know something very bad is coming.

[Rikao4]

Okay, I made a list..your all on it..any DYI advice from those on the list, will be scrutinized with possible injury to self in mind /and a paramedic standing by.
Rika

[rfuerst911sc]

When I was a kid around 12 years old my buddy and I decided to build a tree fort. We scrounged up scrap wood for weeks and bummed nails from everyone we knew. We finally started building and we were making good progress when we REALLY started swinging the hammers. Next thing I know the claw part of my hammer is embedded into the back of my head with a strange throbbing,pain,warm feeling and a slight dizziness. My buddy and I calmly walked for what seemed like miles back to my house( with the hammer still planted in head) where I walked in and said to my mom something like" hey can you pull this out"? To say the least my mom wasn't impressed,after some screaming,cursing,yelling etc. she tended to my wound. A few years later it's winter in N.Y. and my car won't start because of the cold so I decide to charge the battery. I remove the battery and bring it in the basement and hook up the charger. After a few hours I suddenly remembered my dad saying you should always remove the caps so the battery gas could escape, I run downstairs and start removing the caps. On the last cap my finger hit the alligator clip of the charger and a spark jumped and KABOOM!!! the battery exploded. My head was directly over the battery and I thought I was dead. I couldn't hear for several hours but by luck none of the acid or copper plates hit me in the face but it was impressive to see the plates stuck to the bottom of the floor rafters. To this day I respect hammers and car batteries.

[kang]

Originally posted by Moses
Hot nail mo' betta. Melts right through the nail. Pain goes away when you hit the sweet spot. Less chance of infection with cautery.

Disclaimer; DO NOT DO THIS AT HOME. YOU COULD LOSE YOUR HAND, AN EYE, OR YOUR LIFE. (yada yada yada)

I use a hot paper clip, not a hot nail. The paper clip has a blunt end. That way you get the full width of the hole immediately. With a nail, it’s possible that the hot and sharp tip of the nail could touch the nail bed before the hole in the nail is big enough.

What I do is straighten out a paper clip and hold it with some vice-grips. Fire up a propane torch, and hold the tip of the paper clip in the flame. Steady both hands against something, and carefully touch the hot tip to the nail with the blood blister in it.

The first time I did this was when I was in college. I hit my thumb with a hammer and had a huge blood blister under it. I dealt with the pain for three or four days until someone told me about this. As soon as I made the hole in the nail, and the blood came out, I had instant relief.

The second time I didn’t wait three days. I did it shortly after my thumb got squashed between two pieces of furniture. The relief wasn’t as immediate, as I still had the pain of the squashing to deal with.

If you try this and hurt yourself, don’t come to me. If you are at all uncomfortable with this, go to an emergency room, where they can do it for you.

[msk1986911]

I had just installed a new unfinished wood floor in my house and was in the process of sanding it with a drum sanding before applying the final finish. At one point, I mistakenly yanked the power cord from the outlet. I decided since the tool had stopped that I'd check and change the belt. After I did that, I placed the tool upright and plugged it in, forgetting that I had not turned the switch off. The tool proceeded across the floor, on its own, and punched a holw in the drywall about 6 inches high and about 10 inches wide.

[Dottore]

Originally posted by tabs
Well that beats anything I could come up with....I was gona mention something that happened when I attached a big black dildo to my Cordless Power Drill...but I won't now...

Well I wasn't going to, but since you went down this path...my mother worked for many years in the emergency room of St.Pauls, our local downtown hospital located in the heart of the city's gay community.

Hardly a week went by without someone being admitted with a vibrator very far up their backside that needed to be surgically removed, and these stories of course were always widely circulated among the hospital staff. The kicker though was a guy who came back two days after the operation and insisted on getting his vibrator back - or being reimbursed for the cost. He caused an enormous scene when he learned that it had already been disposed of and claimed it was a gift from a "special friend" etc. You gotta wonder...

[rfuerst911sc]

I had a EMT friend that went on a call one night it turned out a guy was "playing" with the vacumn cleaner in the nude on the couch and got Mr. Johnson stuck/wrapped around the beater bar!!! Yep there he was on the couch screaming in pain with the appliance on his lap, tough to talk your way out of that one.

[Wrecked944]

Many mammals use tools. But only men use power tools.

[Superman]

bmp

[m21sniper]

I sunk an M113 APC in the swamps of NJ once. Well not me, my driver, but it's the same thing when you're the TC.

[fastfredracing]

We were building a new office for my new shop about 12 years ago. We had a forklift, mid job, the igintion switch quit working, so were just hotwiring it. My lummox employee, hotwired it while standing next to it, and had prior forgot to leave it in neutral. It ran over his foot, right through the new offices two walls, and right out throught the back wall of the building. I had to chase it down, and shut it off.

[crashmy911]

While mowing someones back lawn ran over a few sticks and didn't want to waste the time picking them up. One flew up and hit me between the eyes and knocked me clear out. Woke up and the owners dog was licking my face.

[m21sniper]

Originally Posted by crashmy911

While mowing someones back lawn ran over a few sticks and didn't want to waste the time picking them up. One flew up and hit me between the eyes and knocked me clear out. Woke up and the owners dog was licking my face.

Hahaha, winner!