Hideous Injury from being a Mechanic..?
Discussion
Seen a hand get thoroughly mangled - engine and gearbox being mated back together and mechanic #1 (manouvering the engine on the crane at the front of the car) did not hear mechanic #2 who was aligning it under the car. Mechanic #1 moved it back into position, mechanic #2 expressed shock and surprise.
I know of a guy who knocked the handbrake off on a CVR(T) when he was getting out. Jumped down, realised the vehicle was moving and jumped up again, using the top of the track as a footstep. Error - his foot was dragged with the track until his lower leg jammed the front sprocket. He was know an as 'chock' after that...
Bloke I work with – and fellow classic car aficionado - was telling me a while back how one of his mates died: he was working under his MK 2 Jag whilst it was only supported with the factory jack. Car fell off and killed him instantly.
Woman I used to work with: she was pretty cool and used to banger race back in the 70’s. She had an interesting story about working under a big Ford Zodiac supported only by a trolley jack when she thought to herself “hmmm, there’s not much room under here”. She kept on working and a while later though “you know what, there really is no room under here”. She said she glanced over at the jack and noticed it was leaking fluid and was slowly collapsing! Apparently she got out from under that car in record time… the dozy mare!
Needless to say; she bought some axle stands after that!
I’ve got a healthy sense of caution about injuring myself whilst working on cars - a lot of my mates have taken the piss out of me for it, but it’s funny how all the people who mock me have loads of scars or missing digits… The way I see it is that you only get one body, so don’t needlessly damage the damn thing!
Woman I used to work with: she was pretty cool and used to banger race back in the 70’s. She had an interesting story about working under a big Ford Zodiac supported only by a trolley jack when she thought to herself “hmmm, there’s not much room under here”. She kept on working and a while later though “you know what, there really is no room under here”. She said she glanced over at the jack and noticed it was leaking fluid and was slowly collapsing! Apparently she got out from under that car in record time… the dozy mare!
Needless to say; she bought some axle stands after that!
I’ve got a healthy sense of caution about injuring myself whilst working on cars - a lot of my mates have taken the piss out of me for it, but it’s funny how all the people who mock me have loads of scars or missing digits… The way I see it is that you only get one body, so don’t needlessly damage the damn thing!
i know 2 people killed under cars, one young lad worked for my dad. working under his metro on bricks, fell on him and nhe died of a heart attack under the car.
2nd one was a racer, car fell on him found him 3 days later... wasnt a quick death :-(
im an axle stand / air jack suport bore!!!
2nd one was a racer, car fell on him found him 3 days later... wasnt a quick death :-(
im an axle stand / air jack suport bore!!!
Globs said:
Divers air bottles - now those you never want to let go - 200-300bar as I recall!
I used to work for Luxfer - the company who make most of the aluminium gas cylinders in the world. This includes diving ones. The amount of research into special alloys to make sure the don't explode when ruptured but peel open is astounding.If they burst, they crack open with a C or S-shaped crack to let the pressure out (it's all to do with the way the crack progresses in the aluminium alloy grains etc) rather than allowing any shards of metal to whizz through the air (or people, things, cats ....)
Each and every cylinder is pressure tested to 2x it's registered load pressure at the factory before shipping and x many per batch are tested to destruction - which usually occurs at around 3x working pressure. These tests are done at the bottom of a water-filled well and still cause a heck of a bang when they go.
Diving in cold water, you usually use steel cylinders to offset the extra buoyancy of a drysuit but in warmer water, aluminium cylinders are used.
Properly looked after, an in-test diving cylinder doesn't fail.
Faust66 said:
I’ve got a healthy sense of caution about injuring myself whilst working on cars - a lot of my mates have taken the piss out of me for it, but it’s funny how all the people who mock me have loads of scars or missing digits… The way I see it is that you only get one body, so don’t needlessly damage the damn thing!
Ditto - I've been paranoid since day one as an amateur wrench monkey, I don't go near a car unless it's on a good stand. I never knew the pressure in HGV tyres was so huge! I'm standing well back in future.
Krikkit said:
Faust66 said:
I’ve got a healthy sense of caution about injuring myself whilst working on cars - a lot of my mates have taken the piss out of me for it, but it’s funny how all the people who mock me have loads of scars or missing digits… The way I see it is that you only get one body, so don’t needlessly damage the damn thing!
Ditto - I've been paranoid since day one as an amateur wrench monkey, I don't go near a car unless it's on a good stand. I never knew the pressure in HGV tyres was so huge! I'm standing well back in future.
All it takes is a bit of over familiarity and a bit of a rush on and your life is changed.
After 30 odd years in heavy industry, I've seen a few, but talking about HGV tyres, only a week ago there was a HGV on fire on the H/S of the motorway, it was well alight, traffic were still passing it when the O/S tyre exploded, sending most of the burning tyre straight across the 3 lanes and up against the central res barrier, luckily missing any vehicles as it did so.
Must admit I get very anxious under cars, a guy on Scoobynet reccounted a tale of a mate of his who tragically died under a Transit van, I had always been careful but now I am doubly careful as it is too late to regret it when having the life crushed out of you, bottle jacks, scissor jacks and Hydraulic jacks are to get a car in the air, not to hold it there so axle stands are a must and not a bad idea to augment the axle stands with something else, I put my ramps under the car with a sturdy wooden block between them so if it does go there is a secondary method.
I Was under the Fiat 500 connecting the engine back up and I heard a car revving and then clouted the front of the Fiat on the overrider, made me jump, moved the car a little, no real danger but it scard me witless, was an older lady in a little Honda visiting next door using our path to turn in which I guess she did every time she visited, the Fiat was tucked in behind the hedge and she didnt see it. I gave her a bit of a mouthful, there was no damage but she shouuldnt be using my path as a turning point, especially if she cant see, she complained that the car was hidden. Had it been ona jack it would have fell off.
A neighbour as a kid ended up with a permanent twist of his spine, doing the rear brakes on a Princess on a bottle jack and it fell off with his head under the arch, he was squatting so it shoved his face into his knees and he was there, unable to move for a while until my dad and another neighbour lifted it off.
I am getting more safety concious, things like always unplugging grinders or drills when changing bits/disks as it is so easy to knock them on when messing with them and injure yourself.
Always wear eye protection when grinding, a disk can shatter, wire attachments spin at some rpm and wire falls off and will make light work of an eyeball.
I Was under the Fiat 500 connecting the engine back up and I heard a car revving and then clouted the front of the Fiat on the overrider, made me jump, moved the car a little, no real danger but it scard me witless, was an older lady in a little Honda visiting next door using our path to turn in which I guess she did every time she visited, the Fiat was tucked in behind the hedge and she didnt see it. I gave her a bit of a mouthful, there was no damage but she shouuldnt be using my path as a turning point, especially if she cant see, she complained that the car was hidden. Had it been ona jack it would have fell off.
A neighbour as a kid ended up with a permanent twist of his spine, doing the rear brakes on a Princess on a bottle jack and it fell off with his head under the arch, he was squatting so it shoved his face into his knees and he was there, unable to move for a while until my dad and another neighbour lifted it off.
I am getting more safety concious, things like always unplugging grinders or drills when changing bits/disks as it is so easy to knock them on when messing with them and injure yourself.
Always wear eye protection when grinding, a disk can shatter, wire attachments spin at some rpm and wire falls off and will make light work of an eyeball.
a bloke in the village was unclogging some mud from a farm machine that seperates the mud from the spuds and runs on a conveyor, the mud had built up and stopped the conveyor so he was poking it with a broom (
)
after a particularly manly prod, his endeavours had the desired effect of dislodging the blockage which set the conveyor running again, which grabbed the broom and snapped the other end of the broom down on his finger like a mouse trap, pulling it slowly into the machine.
He couldn't free his finger and had to watch as he was pulled slowly, painfully and insistently into the machine. Finger tip, knuckles, hand, wrist, forearm, elbow, upper arm.
he was obviously pulling with all his considerable might to get free, but to no avail, when it was half way up his bicep and he was certain that his arm was properly broken, he took his penknife out his pocket and stabbed the skin on his arm which ripped all the way round and freed him.
I just can't begin to imagine what it would be like to make a decision like that.
That wasn't it though, he had to stagger more than 300 metres to a road to get help. Luckily he survived.
/thread
You'll go a long way to get anything more gruesome than that...
)after a particularly manly prod, his endeavours had the desired effect of dislodging the blockage which set the conveyor running again, which grabbed the broom and snapped the other end of the broom down on his finger like a mouse trap, pulling it slowly into the machine.
He couldn't free his finger and had to watch as he was pulled slowly, painfully and insistently into the machine. Finger tip, knuckles, hand, wrist, forearm, elbow, upper arm.
he was obviously pulling with all his considerable might to get free, but to no avail, when it was half way up his bicep and he was certain that his arm was properly broken, he took his penknife out his pocket and stabbed the skin on his arm which ripped all the way round and freed him.
I just can't begin to imagine what it would be like to make a decision like that.
That wasn't it though, he had to stagger more than 300 metres to a road to get help. Luckily he survived.
/thread
You'll go a long way to get anything more gruesome than that...
rob1234 said:
I know of a guy who knocked the handbrake off on a CVR(T) when he was getting out. Jumped down, realised the vehicle was moving and jumped up again, using the top of the track as a footstep. Error - his foot was dragged with the track until his lower leg jammed the front sprocket. He was know an as 'chock' after that...
The front sprocket? f
k me, that's a good twenty feet of track away.I think I've read this rather horrifying thread just to reinforce that I should never, ever listen to anybody who tries to convince me I'm wasting time with all the safety measures I go to when working on cars.
Globs said:
Lots of energy in it.
A car tyre typically sits at 30psi, a lorry tyre is way bigger and sits at 100psi - so about 15x - 20x the energy.
I tend to spend my weekends running around forests with 300 - 450psi bottles under my arm or close to by happy sack! A car tyre typically sits at 30psi, a lorry tyre is way bigger and sits at 100psi - so about 15x - 20x the energy.
I have seen images of paintball bottles exploding and it looks like a bomb has gone off! One chap thought it would be a good idea to oil the valve on his bottle. All that air produces a lot of heat when pressure builds up and the bottle litterally exploded.
This was our local spare parts / tyre fitter / scrappy a few years ago.
It was a proper old school style place, everyone who worked there knew everything about bits and bobs for every vehicle, could lay their hands on anything in what appeared to be a random mountain of parts.
Everything was done in cash, everyone who worked there was constantly covered in oil and grease.
Sadly it appears they were a litte lax with regard to safety.
Inflate a tyre without a cage and this is what can happen......
http://www.worksopguardian.co.uk/news/local-news/m...
It was a proper old school style place, everyone who worked there knew everything about bits and bobs for every vehicle, could lay their hands on anything in what appeared to be a random mountain of parts.
Everything was done in cash, everyone who worked there was constantly covered in oil and grease.
Sadly it appears they were a litte lax with regard to safety.
Inflate a tyre without a cage and this is what can happen......
http://www.worksopguardian.co.uk/news/local-news/m...
I watched a kid working the metal lathe shut down the lathe and put his hand on the chuck to slow it faster. His class ring caught the chuck and yanked off a finger.
I stopped wearing rings.
I changed a car battery in 1982 and my twist-o-flex completed a circuit between the positive terminal and the body as I reached into a space to retrieve a hold down.
I instantly got hot and left a burn around my wrist.
I stopped wearing watches.
I am uninjured in 30 years of automotive wrenching because I am careful.
I stopped wearing rings.
I changed a car battery in 1982 and my twist-o-flex completed a circuit between the positive terminal and the body as I reached into a space to retrieve a hold down.
I instantly got hot and left a burn around my wrist.
I stopped wearing watches.
I am uninjured in 30 years of automotive wrenching because I am careful.
Ray Luxury-Yacht said:
Plus one who also mangled digits oiling a motorbike chain where the engine was running and the rear wheel moving whilst on a stand.
My brother (who is 40, married, with 2 kids) always does this when oiling his chain. I keep telling him it's not worth the risk of his fingers, and as he points out, as long as you're sensible there's no risk of you losing your fingers.. Yet, it still keeps happening to people all over the world, and I keep hearing more and more of it happening to people?Is is because people are clumsy/drunk when lubing chains?
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