Be careful working in your garage!

[Vipergrün]

I know most of us love to spend time in our garages, whether it be working on the Porsche, or otherwise. Due to a combination of factors, I nearly severed a toe yesterday when something fell on it. Won't know until Monday if they can save it or have to amputate it. Made me think about how we work on/in/under our cars and that an accident can happen at any time. Please be safe, use jackstands, blocks, safety glasses, gloves, proper footwear, etc. Luckily, it was one of the little toes, could have been much worse.

Related P-car content: I'll miss driving her for the next couple of weeks....


cheers
-Brad
80SC

[CamB]

Man, that hurts just thinking about it...

Um, what fell on it? An axe (happened to me when I was about 5 years old, fortunately I kept the toe).

[cegerer]

Hope everything's OK! And thanks for the SAFETY reminder. I nearly wacked my finger off Saturday. I was boring some holes in a metal bracket with a drill press. Of course, the bracket should have been clamped down, but I decided to do it the quick way and hold it with my hand (violation of 8th grade metal shop Rule #1)! Needless to say, the drill bit caught and spun the bracket around violently. Only a few cuts, but could have been much, much worse. Work safe! -- Curt

[surflvr911sc]

Sorry to here about that Brad. Hope everything turns out Ok. Do you mind telling what hit it or is it too embarrassing? I was in a fire once. Put me down for six months. Sucks!

Maybe you can work on your poker game the next couple of weeks. Sam won't know what hit him!

[Oldporsche]

The largest safety tool is your head.

BTW, Mechanix Wear makes some very good gloves for us that work on cars. Formerly, I couldn't stand to wear gloves while working on the cars. Now, I won't work without them. I don't wear them 100% of the time, however I am very use to at least 90%. I have to use my hands at my regular job. I need all ten fingers in the morning.

You can pick up a flat washer off the floor while wearing these gloves!

Good luck,
David Duffield

[efhughes3]

David:

Thanks for the report on the gloves. I've been trying to imagine working with them, but I figured they'd be too cumbersome. After 30 something years of working on cars, one gets tire of "knuckle-busters"!

[bell]

i hope it works out for you....medical technology has come a long way over the years so i'm crossing my fingers for you.

i had a 10'x4' piece of 1.1/2" mdf fall off a rack from about a foot high and hit me square on my big toe, it weighed about 140lbs. luckily i only lost the nail (which grew back in a couple of months) and somehow didn't break the toe.

good luck

[Bill Douglas]

Yeowww.

Clutch or gas foot?

[Sunroof]

I am going to submit one of those testimonals about safety and stupidity.

I was recently changing that little relay anchored on the wall of the smugglers box for the AC fan where the space for a normal size hand is TIGHT! I droped my 8 mm socket and small wrench and like an idiot went to reach for it deep in the well between the fan/evaporator and smuggler box wall. My hand was wedged in so tight I struggled to free it only to cut my wrist as I yanked my hand out. I caught the metal edge of the box. I missed the artery by nanometers!. Hydrogen peroxide, triple anti-antibiotic ointment and a weeks worth of washing and bandaging left a scar and reminder of "response stimulus", a does pf panic and "why was I so stupid"?

Deep in the smugglers box lies the tools. I do not know if I will ever retrieve them, but what I should have done and LISTEN UP PEOPLE, is to stuff a towel down there to block anything from getting lost. Remember this the next time you fiddle around in that damn deep hole in your car where you AC stuff sits. Its lethal!

My best wishes for a speedy recovery for all those in pain.

Bob
73.5T

[Cornpanzer]

Just a reminder since we are all on our soap-box that if you dont have a fire extinguisher in your garage and your car, stop what you are doing right now and go to KMart and buy some. They are cheap and there is no excuse not to have pleanty of them.
On an unrelated note, I have a perminant scar on the inside of my wrist from using a 6" grinder while holding the piece with my left hand. Its amazing how quickly that grinding wheel can get traction and race up the piece of metal and into your wrist......stoopid stoopid stoopid! I guess that is why there is two handles.

[911pcars]

I thought I'd contribute a shop story (one of them) since we're all in the wince mode.

Many years ago, I took an automotive chassis class in college and was learning how to balance some wheels using an on-the-car balancer (not used now). This is the type that clamps onto the wheel like a hub cap. Wheel balancing weight moves around by holding one of two knobs in the center while the wheel/tire spins up to speed w/an external motor rubbing against the tire.

Instructions say to build up to speed while adjusting the weight to smooth out the vibration. Well, at approx. 60 mph, the vibration was so bad one of the three holddown clamps decides to die on its last life cycle and the thing pops off the wheel. Well, here I am sitting on a low roll-around stool with my legs spread open with a 5 lb METAL disk still spinning at 60 mph and deciding where to go; okay you've got the picture so far. The wheel balancer hits the floor as it looks for traction then decides to climb up my leg.

Luckily the thing stops short of the family jewels and only 3 stitches on the leg is the result. Needless to say, this got everyone's attention in class (I felt sorry for the poor guy who had to use the equipment next). The most painful part was when they took me to the Student Health Center to "fix" me up. In their zeal to heal, the Doctor (must have been 24 yrs. old) misses an area with local novacaine and begins to sew the wound with what felt like a large upholstery needle. Even a comforting hug (pin down on the table) from a pretty student nurse wasn't enough to suppress my "joy" of experiencing surgury w/o anesthetics.

Lesson one: Avoid sitting near ground level with your legs spread in front of a wheel rotating at more than say 2 mph w/o a kill switch. Sanding Fuchs wheels with the car in gear and long hair comes to mind.
Lesson two: Learn how to apply your own local anesthetics in case lesson one is ignored (I don't advocate hallucinatory drugs).
Lesson three: Don't try this at home. This is why Discount Tire gets the big bucks to balance wheels.

Sherwood Lee
http://members.rennlist.org/911pcars

[emcon5]

Originally posted by old_porsche
BTW, Mechanix Wear makes some very good gloves for us that work on cars.

What David said. They are a lot easier to work in than I thought they would be.

Tom

[MBAtarga]

I've got a pair of the mechanics gloves and they do work great. One caution to note though, if you're working around spinning machinery, gloves are just like long hair or a tie around your neck. Once they get grabbed by the rotating device, your whole hand and then arm is going to be pulled into it as well. Wear the gloves when working with a ratchet or combo wrench, etc., but not when using a grinding wheel, drill or anything of the sort - or anywhere near a spinning pulley. In addition, I don't wear my watch or jewelry when working on the cars or in my basement woodworking shop for the same reason.

[dtw]

Oooh, I wanna tell my grinder story- those things are evil-

I had the steel wire cup brush attached to my 10krpm grinder and was flaying undercoating off a piece of scrap I was fabricating into a filler piece for my fender flare. Like a moron I was holding the piece vertically when the 90 degree corner of the piece was grabbed by the wheel.

THWACK!!!!!!

The piece got flung right at my face. The corner hit dead center in the lense of my safety glasses. If I hadn't had the glasses on, it would have got me right in the cornea. Regardless of the glasses, another inch lower, I'd have taken it in the cheek or mouth. Six inches lower, sharp flying metal in the throat. A few feet lower and ....

It was a wakeup call!



Y'all should see the scar on Jamie's finger where the grinding wheel got him.

[Dantilla]

Okaaaayyyy...........

I think I'm pretty safe in my garage, fire extinguishers and all, but I think I'm going to go wrap it with yellow "Caution" tape!

[Typical Fish]

Second MM83targa's post about wearing gloves while working with any rotating machinery (i.e., drill presses, etc.).

I worked as an EMT in Montgomery County, Maryland for quite awhile and ran a call once where a guy had gotten the finger of his glove caught by the bit while using a drill press. It tore the glove off, along with ALL of the skin (down to the meat/muscle) of 3 of his fingers. Pretty gruesome stuff. I know it sounds like he got off lucky; but he was disfigured for life over a hole in an oil cooler bracket. Think about it.

I know we are in a hurry sometimes when we work; especially when switching between tasks, and we think to ourselves; "Well, I'll just do this one thing." The thing that always gets you is "one thing", let's keep it in mind and be safe.

[Vipergrün]

Okay, here is a link to a couple of pics (if ya wanna look). The toe basically *popped*, the bone was crushed, and the insides were so squished that they could not do internal stitching. I think the Doc is expecting the toe to go, he just did a few quick whip stitches. The doods at work already nick-named me *9*

http://members.rennlist.com/bb79sc/toe-damage.html



-Brad
80SC

[Don Plumley]

Nice photos. I don't know how "attached" you are to that little guy, but consider getting a second opinion from a surgeon. It's easy to play armchair doctor, but it sounds like he's given up a bit too soon.

[Vipergrün]

Hmmm, well, I'd say the little guy isn't too attached to me. Actually, the head ER doc couldn't do anything so he called in an Orthopedic specialist/surgeon. He's the one who sewed it up and will detgermine if they can save it.....

-9
80SC

[DavidPorter]

I once did something so stupid I won't go into detail, but suffice it to say I breathed way too much carbon monoxide. My wife got me a monoxide detector.