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Sparkey
Bouncing along!
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We recognize our welders by the splatter patron burnmarks on their hands... the marks always seems to concentrate between your thumb and index...
Here in france a lot of guys are missing fingers, almost everybody has a wood stove so they have to chop their own wood(and i didn't even mention the chainsaw......massacre,yes)
Here in france a lot of guys are missing fingers, almost everybody has a wood stove so they have to chop their own wood(and i didn't even mention the chainsaw......massacre,yes)
bill_gj
Tired and irritable
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- 1,423
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- Essex, UK
Here's one, albeit rather old.
Sparkey's comment about burnmarks reminded me.
My old dad. About 1949, a couple of years before I was born I might add.
He was a "pipefitter and boiler maker" according to his papers.
I used to wonder why his arms, head and face had lots of little blue marks in them.
One day, I asked my mum.
He used to work for Btiggs Motor Bodies in Dagenham, before Ford took them over.
One time he was part of a team taking out some redundant plant, which included some big storage cylinders. Another team were supposed to be decomissioning and cleaning up residues.
He was tasked with cutting up a gas storage tank. Must have been pretty big as I understand he was up a ladder with the oxy-acetylene torch. As the torch penetrates the tank......BANG !!!
Tank not properly seen to before cutting up.
Result = two broken legs, no hair, all exposed skin peppered with bits of tank. Hence all the blue flecks in his skin.
These days, I dare say a bit of legal action would see you comfortably retired on the basis of employers liabilities, he soldiered on for another 16 years.
Sparkey's comment about burnmarks reminded me.
My old dad. About 1949, a couple of years before I was born I might add.
He was a "pipefitter and boiler maker" according to his papers.
I used to wonder why his arms, head and face had lots of little blue marks in them.
One day, I asked my mum.
He used to work for Btiggs Motor Bodies in Dagenham, before Ford took them over.
One time he was part of a team taking out some redundant plant, which included some big storage cylinders. Another team were supposed to be decomissioning and cleaning up residues.
He was tasked with cutting up a gas storage tank. Must have been pretty big as I understand he was up a ladder with the oxy-acetylene torch. As the torch penetrates the tank......BANG !!!
Tank not properly seen to before cutting up.
Result = two broken legs, no hair, all exposed skin peppered with bits of tank. Hence all the blue flecks in his skin.
These days, I dare say a bit of legal action would see you comfortably retired on the basis of employers liabilities, he soldiered on for another 16 years.
migmag
Member
- Messages
- 700
Lad near by lost half his wrist and three fingers whilst working on a machine fault.
He is 24 came out with his wage for the rest of his life (with inflation) 50 big ones in cash and his 80 grand mortgage paid...........
Yeah one side of me is thinking jammy bastid.............
And on the other hand..............
He is 24 came out with his wage for the rest of his life (with inflation) 50 big ones in cash and his 80 grand mortgage paid...........
Yeah one side of me is thinking jammy bastid.............
And on the other hand..............
greyshirtguy
Persistent Learner
- Messages
- 150
Some people gotta learn the hard way
I started playing with electronics as a young lad (the usual "experiments" with batteries, lights electric motors from old toys....
At some stage I discovered that I could test small voltage batteries on my tounge (1.5V was barely noticable and 9V stung a bit - esp on the tip)...It became easy to tell when they were flat.
A bit later when I was about 6 or 7 we moved home to an older house. My room had a power point that was nothing more than a round outlet (no switch). So to check if it was "on"... I grabbed a cut off power cord from an old vaccum cleaner, stripped the 3 wires at one end, stuck them in my mouth ensuring good contact with my tounge and (yes I did).... I plugged it into 240V AC.
Really, I don't remember too much about it - just crying for ages afterwards.
Knowing what I know now, I figure I was "lucky" I stripped all three wires - with Active, Neutral and Earth so close together on my tounge giving a good chance that the best path for the "circuit" would not include my heart.
I started playing with electronics as a young lad (the usual "experiments" with batteries, lights electric motors from old toys....
At some stage I discovered that I could test small voltage batteries on my tounge (1.5V was barely noticable and 9V stung a bit - esp on the tip)...It became easy to tell when they were flat.
A bit later when I was about 6 or 7 we moved home to an older house. My room had a power point that was nothing more than a round outlet (no switch). So to check if it was "on"... I grabbed a cut off power cord from an old vaccum cleaner, stripped the 3 wires at one end, stuck them in my mouth ensuring good contact with my tounge and (yes I did).... I plugged it into 240V AC.
Really, I don't remember too much about it - just crying for ages afterwards.
Knowing what I know now, I figure I was "lucky" I stripped all three wires - with Active, Neutral and Earth so close together on my tounge giving a good chance that the best path for the "circuit" would not include my heart.
rtbcomp
Moderator
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- 18,574
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- Sheffield UK
I rewired our garage when I was 9, Dad went Harpic when he found out!
Some years later I built a power supply for an amplifier, the power was taken off a socket in the middle of a panel, the mains switch was at the RHS of the panel. The plug was a bit stiff so I pushed it with both thumbs, with my middle fingers curled round the ends of the panel. My right hand became live and the left earth. I felt a huge thump between my shoulders.
I honestly thought my brother, who was in the same room, had walloped me with a hammer.
andy82
Member
- Messages
- 162
I was working in a engineering firm, we were using a large SAF Water-cooled mig with 1.2wire. I had the wire speed fairly high and was welding 20mm material for a truck. I was holding a part of the material to tack it and started the tack; half way through the machine stuttered and bounced beyond the material and through my gloves and through my finger. The wire went in from the side and come out next to my nail.
Because the wire was still glowing i think that it sealed the wound, as there was no blood. I snipped the wire and went to the hospital.
I learned not to wear Tig Gloves doing heavy welding...like a hot knife through butter.
Because the wire was still glowing i think that it sealed the wound, as there was no blood. I snipped the wire and went to the hospital.
I learned not to wear Tig Gloves doing heavy welding...like a hot knife through butter.
Sparkey
Bouncing along!
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- France
Ouch,that's creepy, gives me the shivers.... When i was still welding steel profiles i always had to wear those thick heavy mig-gloves (i always burnt my index finger, still do sometimes) It happend to me a lot they even caught fire!
Sparkey
Sparkey
bill_gj
Tired and irritable
- Messages
- 1,423
- Location
- Essex, UK
This one is probably only understandable by the chaps......there was a programme on either BBC3 or 4 last night (Thursday 14th) - I just caught it while I was surfing before going to bed.
It was a documentry type prog dealing with out-of the ordinary ambulance call-outs.
The one that stuck in my mind was a chap that managed to get his nuts caught between a 60kg gearbox and a hard place (possibly the ground).
He didn't look too well.
It was a documentry type prog dealing with out-of the ordinary ambulance call-outs.
The one that stuck in my mind was a chap that managed to get his nuts caught between a 60kg gearbox and a hard place (possibly the ground).
He didn't look too well.
zardoz
Old school Socialist
- Messages
- 2,217
- Location
- Chetser, UK
Which type of euphorbia was this ? there are hundreds of them. We have two types in our garden that i will be giving a wide berth from now on!
lovelectricity
Senior Moments
- Messages
- 128
in the steelworks it was said you could tell a machinist, he was the one with the missing fingers. the good machinists were the ones with all fingers. harsh but it was a point!! maybe only 1 in 10000 will get this but.....WHEELBURST!!! Did you hit the deck? silly question im only taking to the ones that did. When a large grinding wheel lets go...count the dead and injured. the training as an apprentice before they'd let you in there was enough to make you say, ok someone else can do it and as for the what you do if you cut something off training.
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bill_gj
Tired and irritable
- Messages
- 1,423
- Location
- Essex, UK
Sparkey - On the gearbox issue - I couldn't quite understand it either.
However, having changed many a clutch or gearbox on rear-wheel drive motors in the past, I could envisage a scene where he was laying on his back, underneath a vehicle that was on stands, while removing the gbox.
Perhaps it then came away from the engine a bit quicker than expected, falling onto his gentlemen's area where a suitable piece of casting (bellhousing, extension shaft, etc.) then trapped his equipment between the gearbox and the ground.
I am intrigued as to how he may have been extricated from underneath the motor. I could imagine a friend or colleague slipping a rope around an ankle and dragging him clear.
I shouldn't think he would have been in any condition to remove himself drom underneath -- to busy cradling the old family jewels.
However, having changed many a clutch or gearbox on rear-wheel drive motors in the past, I could envisage a scene where he was laying on his back, underneath a vehicle that was on stands, while removing the gbox.
Perhaps it then came away from the engine a bit quicker than expected, falling onto his gentlemen's area where a suitable piece of casting (bellhousing, extension shaft, etc.) then trapped his equipment between the gearbox and the ground.
I am intrigued as to how he may have been extricated from underneath the motor. I could imagine a friend or colleague slipping a rope around an ankle and dragging him clear.
I shouldn't think he would have been in any condition to remove himself drom underneath -- to busy cradling the old family jewels.
Horrorking
Welding anything I can!
- Messages
- 41
I bought a cheap 9 inch angle grinder a few months ago. The story behind it is worth a listen tho.
I hires a locan frencer to remove my old wooden rear and 2 side fences and replace them with colorbond steel. The back and 1 side in 6 foot, and the one adjoining the only neighbour in 5 foot. All the posts had to be cut to length, and because of the slight fall in the ground, most of the sheets needed to have a small amount trimmed from the top and bottom, so the fencer used the angle grinder and cuting disc
Well because they were not really nice to the machine after each use, it got trampled, bumped, wackes, so every 3rd or 4th cut would end up shattering part of the disc, so they would regularly replace it.... Yep you can see wheres this is going cant you
Disc shatters, striking the gentleman in about 8 places from the knee, thigh, groin, stomach and chest, with a few small marks on the face to top things off. Every one drew copious amounts of blood, so 1 ambulance was called. I packed up his gear (and not a spot of blood on the grinder suprisingly), and he returned the next morning with about 30 stitches and a good excuse for not finishing the fence for a few days lol.
Apparently that was his 3rd accident from this 5 week old grinder, so he sold it to me for 2 cans of beer, which he drunk then and there (at about 9am) that morning lol. I have managed to tame the grinder well, having used it about 30 or 40 times since with no failures at all, possible because I dont abuse things that will soon be spinning at 10,000+ rpm!
I did manage a very slight self-caused injury this week. I scrapped my old Gasless MIG and replaced it with a 135A gas one. I managed about 30 or 40 1 to 4 inch welds on gas while setting it up. I wore gloves, long sleve cotton shirt, mask, etc, but forgot that the sleves have a habbit of opening up a little near the button (we tape them up at work), so now I have a lovely red triangle of a burn on the lower left forearm. That'll learn me
I hires a locan frencer to remove my old wooden rear and 2 side fences and replace them with colorbond steel. The back and 1 side in 6 foot, and the one adjoining the only neighbour in 5 foot. All the posts had to be cut to length, and because of the slight fall in the ground, most of the sheets needed to have a small amount trimmed from the top and bottom, so the fencer used the angle grinder and cuting disc
Well because they were not really nice to the machine after each use, it got trampled, bumped, wackes, so every 3rd or 4th cut would end up shattering part of the disc, so they would regularly replace it.... Yep you can see wheres this is going cant you
Disc shatters, striking the gentleman in about 8 places from the knee, thigh, groin, stomach and chest, with a few small marks on the face to top things off. Every one drew copious amounts of blood, so 1 ambulance was called. I packed up his gear (and not a spot of blood on the grinder suprisingly), and he returned the next morning with about 30 stitches and a good excuse for not finishing the fence for a few days lol.
Apparently that was his 3rd accident from this 5 week old grinder, so he sold it to me for 2 cans of beer, which he drunk then and there (at about 9am) that morning lol. I have managed to tame the grinder well, having used it about 30 or 40 times since with no failures at all, possible because I dont abuse things that will soon be spinning at 10,000+ rpm!
I did manage a very slight self-caused injury this week. I scrapped my old Gasless MIG and replaced it with a 135A gas one. I managed about 30 or 40 1 to 4 inch welds on gas while setting it up. I wore gloves, long sleve cotton shirt, mask, etc, but forgot that the sleves have a habbit of opening up a little near the button (we tape them up at work), so now I have a lovely red triangle of a burn on the lower left forearm. That'll learn me
gavuk
artful-bodger
- Messages
- 2,951
- Location
- Wilts
iknow that fella too wozz,his missus dented my car while he was recovering ,turned out he remembered me and my father from college ..lol.....small world ..
work with a chap who almost severed his finger from catching his wedding ring and another who lost the tip when he caught his finger after lowering a 100tonne jack
that was supporting a machine ,a fella who smashed his ankle when pulling a large bearing (18")and it shot off the shaft ...a contractor tipped a 3 tonne volvo ,loading bucket,,,articulated in middle , ,bucket hit the ground leaving rear wheels 3-4ft above ground ,he got out of cab ,and minutes later the hydraulics gave ,the truck jacknifed tipping whole machine on its side (where he had just got out)
fear is brown----adrenaline smells like s***e
