What's your worst mishap

[weldsol]

We have all had something go wrong at some time so what's your worst mishap.
I'll start the ball rolling.
Just finished milling the axle boxes from solid for my Shay and needed to drill & tap the holes for the cover plates for the M4 bolts.
So clamp the cover plate
Spot with a 4mm drill
Change to 3.2 drill & drill to 10mm deep
Tap holes fit bolts
All going fine until the last one
So clamp the cover plate
Spot with a 4mm drill
Phone goes customer with technical problem sort him out
Return to job in hand
Drill 10mm deep
Oh sh*t did not change to the 3.2 drill.
Walk away have a fag have a coffee swear at dog who is looking at me and thinking well you did it not me.
Return drill out to 5 mm tap 6mm insert threaded rod file flush and start again but with a 3.2mm drill

[garethp]

That’s an easy one! I seem to regularly drill holes too big, i.e. drill a 4mm hole for a 4mm thread - usually I realise just as the drill reaches the required depth. I think my worst one was in the early days of using a vertical slide in the myford, put more cut on using the leadscrew handle and couldn’t understand why the cutter wasn’t cutting, I then remembered that I'd locked the saddle, so I unlocked it - without winding the leadscrew back a bit. The saddle then jerked forward to release the built up strain and smashed a nice new Clarkson milling cutter and ruined the work (can’t remember what it was)

[Nigel Bennett]

Drilling a whacking great hole in a friend's newly-completed rotary table still makes me want to curl up and die...and it happened 30 years ago.

[Tel]

The aluminium explosion that had me turn up at my Grandkid's baptism lookin like Rameses III - got the skin grafts to remember it by

[DaveD.]

Is this thread all about indescreet hole-poking, or does anything qualify ??

If the latter, I might pop one in.

DavdD.

[weldsol]

May 20, 2008 12:17:24 GMT DaveD. said:

Is this thread all about indescreet hole-poking, or does anything qualify ??

If the latter, I might pop one in.

DavdD.

Anything relating to model engineering

[alanstepney]

Errrum, do you want a list, a long one in my case!

Probably the first was when, in my early teens, I decided to try to turn some alumimium.
Pick up blank about 4" diam, by 3" long. Fit in chuck, switch on, apply tool.

Loud bang as tool met metal far too fast, alumimium left chuck, and hit me on the head.
The next thing I recall was lying on the ground with my mother mopping the blood off me.

Got banned from the workshop for that exploit!

However, I did learn two things. Do the chuck up properly, and, advance the tool slowly!

[3405jimmy]

Just machined 16 X 10" drivers and got the crank pin hole wrong in them all. Still the next 16 will be blob on so lets look on the +tve.

Jim

[DaveD.]

Hi Weldsol & others. The incident has a tenuous connection with model boats, and thus a tenuous connection with model engineering. It's a bit convoluted, but I'm waiting for Epoxy to cure, so I'll do it anyway.

In the mid eighties a mate was a cabinetmaker/shopfitter and also restored cars. I made SS manifold studs/nuts and other bits for him. I did model boats. I did engineering and wanted timber. He did timber and wanted engineering. Commerce !!

He phoned to say he had a job finishing, lots of strip going to skip/firewood, did I want it. Yes! - OK, will bring it in the van one evening. Was advised to keep in house otherwise it may twist with change of humidity etc. Put a dust sheet down at end of lounge/diner to accommodate donation until sorted and put in spare bedroom. ( Batchelor - this is permitted ).

At this time I had a BBC B Microcomputer, and went one evening a fortnight to a BBC B Group at a local school where we compared and boasted about home written programs etc. Simple pleasures in those days! I cringe to think about it.

Was duly going to one of these geekfests, out of the side door, put the Beeb behind the car, went to get the rest of the stuff, 5 1/4" Drive, cassette recorder, cables, books, all the bits -- coming back to some folk eh?, Bing-bong-bing-bong. Chum arrived with generous donation of very desirable goodies. Opens front door, van load of very useful strip stowed in house, but, 3.5 metre teak strip on top of van won't wind thro' house. Cut it? Unthinkable! It will go straight in through the side door. Shift Car! Keys grabbed, out through front door, into car. Yes, you've worked it out!! I wish I had at the time. Straight over the forgotten BBC B behind the car.

Despite the Venerable Beeb being in it's polystyrene sarcophagus it was no match for a Volvo 245 estate, absolutely squashed, departed this life, and any other for that matter!

I was mortified, my stock of wood was no longer so delightful.

Fortunately, despite being outside the house, it was still covered by the insurance. Something about a curtilage, no idea what it was, but if it meant being paid out, I most certainly had one.

Amusing now, but not so when I did it !

Confession is good for the soul, I believe

DaveD.

[Richmond]

A funny but true one........ and not by me, but it still makes me and him chuckle

The father in law had a blind and nearly deaf elderly dog. He dashed out of the house one hot summers night to the off licence in the car. He came home and reversed into the drive. The dog had decided to lay itself on the cool gravel on the drive waiting for him. Of course you can guess what happened. But, hearing the crunch and thinking he had hit the house wall he then pulled forwards and over the dog again without realising what he had done.

Talk about doing the job right, and doing it twice.

( The dog died instantly, and no pain BTW )

I am a dog lover and have a 6 month old puppy, so no animal rights complaints pls ;D

Keith

[Shawki Shlemon]

So many even I can't remember them , but this one I kept in the workshop for a while to remind me what not to do.
I was machining a gunmetal ring for King wheel splasher ,it was large for my chuck so I held it on the outside of the chuck and carefully machined it , I got greedy and wanted to take another small cut and by now the item got hot and became not so tight and came off in between the bed opening and became a figure 8 instead of round . I was lucky it went down and not up . I was lucky again because I had a spare casting .

[freddo]

Easy peasy question that ... marrying my first wife ;D

[Tel]

Gee Freddo. you were married? Was she human?

[freddo]

Nope, Tel - that's why I'm now with my second one who permits me total chauvanism (Asian version!) ;D