John Rodriguez

Well, I almost lost an eye today, BIGTIME.

I had bought a 13x37x1/2" peice of steel for my bumper mounts, plasma cut them out, and was ready to plasma-gouge the holes, when a friend said his brother worked at a trailer repair shop and to head over. I figured what the hell.


They had a BIG ol' hole puncher, he said he did 1/2" all day long, and they had the scrap/plugs left over to prove it. We settled on a 9/16" hole punch. Centerpunch the holes, first one goes into the machine. Flip the switch on, lower the head, guard goes on. Getting ready, I was interested to see how it worked, and didn't see much danger in it. They had a bucket full of plugs right next to the machine, right where it spits them out. I stand about 6 feet away, my girlfriend about a foot behind me. Head lowered, he turns away, and pull the string (that releases the tension, I guess?). I watch the head go in about 1/16" of an inch, then an explosion. I saw sparks go everywhere. At first I thought it was normal, and was like ****, the guy next to that machine has some huge *****. Then, it hit me. My left eyelid was on fire. When I saw the sparks, I closed my eyes and turned my head as fast as I could, which it turns out, is just fast enough. A 3/16" long peice of hardened steel embedded itself into my left eyelid, just below my eyebrow. Thankfully my head was turned at the time and went in sideways. I don't know how far in it went, but I know when I tried pulling it out, my eyelid stretched out too. It turns out the plate I bought from a "discount/scrap" store wasn't regular mild steel. It turns out it's super-hardened stuff, either from agricultural use (as the blades on something big) or armor of some sort. The 9/16" punch shattered into who knows how many peices. The operator got some burns on the back of his neck, I got a peice in my eyelid and in my arm. I didn't get a picture til after I had left, and gone back to my friend's shop to go back and plasma-gouge the holes.





It doesn't look like much, but the shrapnel was RED HOT. Something about compressing hardened/tempered steel with, oh, i'm guessing several hundred thousand pounds, something has to give. And when it does, it's gonna be hot.

One more pic:

Shovelhead

Sooooooo.....nobody had safety glasses?.....

I'll bet they will be ordering a CASE of them by COB today..

Glad you survived with all body parts intact.

CIN'S DODGE

Ouch! Glad to hear you didn't loose an eye.

dssimecek

Your were very fortunate to come away with a relativily minor injury. It could have been much worse. The head turn saved your eye, and possibly prevented a much more serious injury.
Be carful, Saftey goggles are a must when working around any machinery like that. Take care and have that wound treated.

John Rodriguez

Well, I had no idea exactly how the machine worked, I was standing a few feet back and THOUGHT I was safe at that distance. Better believe that I'm never walking into a machine shop without them on.

justagoodolboy

ALWAYS WEAR SAFETY GLASSES.

I put my Left eye out with a shotgun shell bomb at 13. You forget how important your vision is until it hits you that theres only one left so you better protect it.

Glad you did not mess yours up, and for goodness sakes anyone reading this please wear some eye protection next time you are doing something that could potentially cause you visiual harm.

(off soap-box now)

Box5

yea, I started wearing safety glasses under my welding mask because slag flies everywhere including into the mask when u least expect it. glad u didn't get it worse...

TonyB

Sorry to hear about your misfortune...glad to hear it's a lesson learned!

We're required to wear safety glasses...I wear prescription glasses. When time comes for new glasses, they let us take our old ones home. Anytime I'd doing anything in the garage, even just crawling under the truck, I'm wearing mine!

When I was a teenager, we had the simple string controlled model airplanes. Well, we did not tighten one of the prop nuts enough...it flew off & hit my eye square on. Had to wear a patch for a week. No apparent lasting damage though. Unfortunately, as a teenager, I did not learn the safety lesson until later....

Now, some call me a safety ****! At least I can go home with all my appendages & senses!

I've also been grinding, prepping for welding, and felt grinding debris near my eye, behind the safety glasses. That's when I reach for the face shield. I also keep 2pr ear protection and a couple pair of regular safety glasses on hand for friends that are helping or if we're working on their trucks!

I just felt compelled to post!

Hope this helps someone to be safe! Safety is cheap, compared to the cost of losing an eye or finger. Let them laugh! I'll be going home, intact at the end of the day!

Tony

Moose10

When I was around 17, I was under a truck on a lift at work trying to remove some rusted bolts on the gas tank straps. Well I didn't have any safety glasses or a face shield on and I went to spray some PB Blaster at the nuts...well the sream hit right where the tank and strap met and shot back directly into my eyes with a load of rust. It hurt and burned like you wouldn't believe. I was lucky and had no permanent injuries.
So ever since then, I always wear eye and/or face protection while doing most maintenance/service tasks.....even hosing down the shop floor at the end of the day !
Glad you're ok J.R.

bentwings

I have 3 different magnifying saftey glasses that I use for welding. Two others I use for most everything else. You just can not be to safe when it comes to eyes. Hearing...that's gone thanks to funny car racing. You don't need to hear to drive but you do need to see.

Don't forget the side shields.

Now check this idiot. Driving a close to 200 mph car on the race track with no helmut.!!!! He was very lucky not to get killed in this one.

Actor-comedian Eddie Griffin totals a rare Ferrari Enzo worth over $1 million.
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/play...07161&ch=&src=

Andy505

You got that right. This past weekend I was changing my transfer case rear output shaft seal. While I was removing the driveshaft the carrier bearing bracket swung down and hit me in the face...and I've got the scars to prove it....good thing for those safety glasses I was wearing or I would be 1 right eye short of a two eyed man and would have just lost 1/2 of that lasik investment I did a few years back.

woodrat

That sounds like something that would have shattered your average pair of safety glasses.

Not to be contrary, because I know that eye protection is important, but the only eye injury I ever got was when I was wearing a full face shield and a piece of debris from a machinery part I was cleaning on a wire wheel flew up against my chest and ricocheted up under the face shield, off of the face shield and into my eye. I ended up in the ER on that one, getting the embedded crud removed from eye by a guy with something closely resembling a dremel tool...

I use safety glasses still, but I know that they aren't magical armor.

Glad to see you escaped mostly unscathed. Sounds like a pretty nice piece of steel you got there!

woodrat

what an idiot! It looked like he just drove straight into that wall!

You'd think you'd want to know that the person palying around with your rare ferrari had some clue as to what they were doing..

bentwings

The rest of the story, all the celebs were laughing it off even the owner like it was nothing. A mill down the drain. This is why I don't waste time and especially $$$ watching these idiots. Oh well there will be a few spare Ferrari parts around for those that still have the other 499 of them. The movie that they are making that it was supposed to be in has already claimed 2 Porches worth 1/2 million each.

At least it was on the race track and not the highway.

Dr. Evil

Ive worked my share of industrial jobs and if theres one thing Ive learned its - WEAR YOUR PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT. It doenst matter if your at work or at home, the results of an accident can be the same. When my dad was youn, he lost and eye to his buddys FISH HOOK. Not something most people would ever consider happening.

Glad to hear youre alright John.