Watch it you clumsy oaf

[doc1955]

Well besides not getting much shop time I had a bit of a boo boo on my on going build.
I finished my last parts and put together the fan blades and was cutting screws to length and decided to start assembling them. Then it happened I wasn't paying attention and knocked the top cylinder head and displacer to the ground. CRAP!! I just stood there not believing I could be so clumsy! Well I ended up bending the displacer connecting rod and breaking the displacer bushing which I had made from fine grade graphite.
Well now to get back on track I'm going to have to disassemble the displacer and displacer cap to replace the connecting rod double CRAP! I haven't had to get something apart so thin after loctiteing them together. So Ill need to heat the displacer up to get it apart. When I get some time in the shop I'll post to my build thread but until then all I have to say is keep your head into the job while your in the shop. I really do know better but one little laps in attention and it could of been worse at least it wasn't some type of injury.

 

[arnoldb]

Ouch Doc - that REALLY hurts. Hope you get back on track soon.

Commiserations, Arnold

 

[Blogwitch]

Doc,

I have a bad habit of dropping things, and know exactly how you feel.

All you can really do is dust yourself off, remake new parts and carry on as though nothing has happened.

Just put it into the past and look to the future.


Bogs

 

[kcmillin]

Ouch is right. Just the other day I was working at the bench, had the Tiny running next to me, I turned around and my clumsy goofy elbow knocked it of the bench, fell three feet to the ground straight on the flywheel. Now the Tiny is a little out of balance to say the least. A new crankshaft is now the order of the day, along with fixing a stripped head bolt hole :hDe:

If you built it, you can fix it.

Kel

 

[chillybilly]

Couple of years back knocked my brand new 6" rotary table off the bench onto the one bit of floor not covered by rubber matting !!!!!!!!!!!!! busted the corner off the casting making the vertical mode a real pain to achive ,a regular harsh reminder of a moment of clumsiness !!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[SignalFailure]

I have a bad habit of dropping things, and know exactly how you feel.

Strange but I seem to have sessions in the workshop where I drop loads of things. A couple of nights back I dropped just about every tool or part I picked up. I spent most of the evening on my knees (on a swarf covered garage floor - ouch!) shining a torch under the bench/shelving units.

As has been said elsewhere, the size of a part is inversely proportional to the distance is will travel horizontally when dropped!

Paul

 

[90LX_Notch]

What an appropriate post.

Yesterday I went to the hardware store to buy a 5/16-18 setscrew. The 5/16-18 bin was empty but, after careful searching in the other bins I came up with the only one in the store. I had it in my hand and went to put it in the cup holder of my one year old's car seat so I could buckle her in. Well, somehow I missed the cup holder from about an inch away! I don't know if it fell in the car or on the ground. All I know is I couldn't find it. The owner saw me from inside and came out to help me. He couldn't find it either.

 

[chillybilly]

What an appropriate post.

Yesterday I went to the hardware store to buy a 5/16-18 setscrew. The 5/16-18 bin was empty but, after careful searching in the other bins I came up with the only one in the store. I had it in my hand and went to put it in the cup holder of my one year old's car seat so I could buckle her in. Well, somehow I missed the cup holder from about an inch away! I don't know if it fell in the car or on the ground. All I know is I couldn't find it. The owner saw me from inside and came out to help me. He couldn't find it either.


My daughter checks the cup holders on her seat and ejects anything she finds in there that she considers not worthy !!!i lost heaps of stuff

 

[deadin]

Trying to install a tiny snap-ring that was too small for my pliers.
Luckily I had (operative word) a good supply of them.
Now, with a little searching, I probably have a five years worth stored in various places in the shop.

Dean

 

[DickDastardly40]

If I drop something that proves difficult to find, I employ a method I picked up from reading Tom Sawyer many moons ago to find it.

Drop something similar from the same place and height and watch where it goes; proves remarkably accurate!

 

[mklotz]

Lay a flashlight on the floor so it projects a beam parallel to the floor. Even tiny parts will cast a long shadow that's a dead giveaway of their position. Of course, if you never clean your floor...

 

[deadin]

Clean the floor???? Only with a shop-vac. ;D
Actually I'm a glutton for punishment. Years ago I used to repair watches in a room with a shag carpet.

 

[d.bick]

Fist may I say any damage to a model or tooling is hard to bear.
Its S*ds law. And unfortunately these things will happen.
Over the years I have dropped things. But I now seem to be doing it on a regular bases. Blaming failing eyesight and lose of finger dexterity, I have taken measures to combat the disappearing items, which has been pointed out seem to travel to the far corner of the workshop when dropped.
I have acquired (which is another term for not buying something) an industrial rubber mat for the floor. I have also put hinged covers on the bottom of the bench. A stiff bristle brush keeps the floor clean.
I’am still dropping things, But The chances of finding a dropped item have improved. That said it don’t stop bending things.
Dave Bick

 

[mklotz]

You may want to install a bumper like this...

http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/index.php?topic=8426.msg89712#msg89712

to minimize the number of parts that actually make it to the floor.