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Need your "Hobby Related Injury" stories...


Keith Pruitt

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I'm doing research for an article on hobby-related safety issues...and how to prevent potential injuries.

 

Of course, I've had the usual X-acto cuts and Dremel knuckles myself, but I thought I'd see what kind of issues others have had. As an example: I had a friend, a model railroader, who was working under his train layout doing some wiring, and got stabbed in the eye with a bare wire that was hanging down...scratched his cornea, but thankfully no serious damage.

 

Anyway, I'd appreciate it if you'd share your stories with me...things like allergic reactions, any breathing problems with painting, tool malfunction injuries, any injuries requiring ER visits, general "I-should-have-known-better-than-to-XYZ" stories, etc.

 

Thanks!

 

 

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Well Keith,

- Besides slicing my thumb open on numerous occasions with an X-acto, over the 30 plus years I have been workin on models, I have actually had an X-acto roll off the work bench and skewer my foot. And as if that wasn't enough of an insult, I have also had the X-acto slip off of the work bench and poke (and stick) into my thigh while wearing shorts! Each one happened only one time. Awwwww...lessons learned.

- Oh...and let's not forget the numerous wackes on the head while getting up after diving under the workbench to pick up dropped parts

 

 

- Just thought of another "potential" disaster waiting in the wind......Cyano-acrylates (aka - super glue)....I have, on a few occasions failed to duck the cloud that emanates from curing CA and accelerator. It plays havoc on the eyes and I had wished that I had safety glasses on seconds after I realize what I had just done. So far, there has been no serious or permanent damage. And to myself, a big ole DUUUUU!

Edited by Weedeater
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I've had the X-acto roll off the table and stick straight up in my big toe.

 

I also have had superglue on my skin when I hit it will accelerator. The searing heat and resulting blister were not to be believed.

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OK...one time at Band Camp.....really it was in the barracks room. I somehow managed to get superglue out of the bottle onto my work bench and then place my hand onto the large puddle and basically superglue the whole palm of my hand to the table. It hurt so much trying to peel my hand off the table! Never again.

Edited by Mark Aldrich
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For the life of me I think it was tubed super glue and I must have mashed it out with my elbow or something.

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- Just thought of another "potential" disaster waiting in the wind......Cyano-acrylates (aka - super glue)....I have, on a few occasions failed to duck the cloud that emanates from curing CA and accelerator. It plays havoc on the eyes and I had wished that I had safety glasses on seconds after I realize what I had just done. So far, there has been no serious or permanent damage. And to myself, a big ole DUUUUU!

 

 

This just happened to me last week. I usually use just a small amout of CA glue when I attach PE parts. Well this time I was attaching large PE zimmerit parts and need to use a lot of CA glue at one time. The burning of the eyes was not the bad part (hurt like hell), it was the fact that I almosted passed out holding the parts in place while they dried and having to lean over the stuff (CA glue) until then. Learned my lesson!

 

Oh and the cuts with the #11 X-acto knife over the years, the memories of being on a tube glue high when I was younger, all that too.

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OK...one time at Band Camp.....really

 

 

Band Camp? :smiley5: Your not the guy that they made the movie, "American Pie" after are you? If so I want you autograph.

 

HAHAHA :lol: Oh I crack myself up!

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Thanks, All!

 

Sounds like X-acto injuries are commonplace...no surprise there, I know I've been bit several times.

 

The CA fumes can be an issue...one other person that I know (does RC planes & helicopters) was almost "overcome" with the fumes, and he is now deathly reactive (allergic?) to those fumes.

 

Thanks again!

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Do accidental injuries to pets count?

 

To keep PETA from getting involved, I think we should pass on that story, Mike... :unsure:

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I made the mistake of talking on the phone and building a model at the sae time. I'm not sure how, but somehow during my conversation I managed to super-glue my hand to the phone. It took about two hours to carefully excise my hand from said phone, without damaging either the phone or hand. Talk about feeling stoopid!!

 

Doug

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1-GOOD IDEA: Being a big fan of the Dremel tool and its multitude of fancy bits, I've consciously cultivated the habit of wearing safety glasses when using it...and all the other power tools. Those marvelous, thin grinding/cutting wheels frequently shatter during use in the Dremel. As Murphy is the patron saint of physics and technology, at least one fragment of the disintigrating wheel (or from the work) shoots right toward my eyes, every single time. God bless the makers of safety glasses.

 

2-BAD IDEA: During a summer job at an electronics plant, I once whiffed a small jar of unknown fluid to find out what it was, with a resulting significant dizzy spell that shut me down for a good hour or so. It was MEK and should have been labelled as such.

 

3-BAD IDEA: Do not underestimate the value of ventilation for the work area. Nuff said.

 

 

"Dammit, Beavis...that wasn't cool!"

Edited by VonL
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Thanks, Doug and Bob!

 

"Dammit, Beavis...that wasn't cool!"

Bob...ROTFLOL!!

Edited by Keith Pruitt
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Painting with lacquer based sprays without a respirator or sufficient ventilation. I've noticed breathing difficulties after such exposure. That can ruin your day. Also working with lacquer thinner especially spilling it on clothes or under say a wedding ring where it promptly fries your skin! How about the whipping you get when you spill testors gloss green paint on your parents favorite couch. That was many years ago but it did seem like a good idea at the time. Oh and my favorite, wet sanding on a flat board and sanding off your fingertip skin in the process! Let me tell you that takes a while to heal and your hands feel like hamburger meat. Other than that I've been pretty lucky.

 

Chris

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The one that scares me -- hasn't happened yet, but very close .... Cutting tiny pieces of steel wire and having the cut piece fly into and pierce my eyeball.

 

I always wear glasses when doing it and make an effort to cup one hand around it to contain the flying piece. That usually leads to it driving itself into my hand, which is better than my eye. I have bounced a couple pieces off my glasses and stuck a couple in my cheek. Perhaps I should do rigging with something else ....

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Here is a bad one. I often have to strip the paint off of a model for various reasons. My favorite stripper(other than the type that likes money stuffed... well, you get the idea) is Castrol Super clean. The first time I used it , I read the label and it talked about eco-friendly, green and all the other tree hugger stuff on the front and I didn't read the safety warnings. I just plunged the parts in and started scrubbing with a tooth brush. Well, the long and the short of it is that I managed to strip the paint and all the outer layers of skin off my hands. Lesson learned. Anything that strips paint in not good for your skin or eyeballs.

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I was building a model at my desk in the basement one time in my bare feet. I had my feet tucked up next to the rollers on the chair. My young daughter decided to come downstairs and sneak up on old dad and say "WHAT CHA DOIN?!". I jumped so hard that I rolled the chair onto my pinkie toe and cracked the nail in half. That was many years ago and to this day everyone has strict instructions not to sneak up on unsuspecting model builders. Hurt like hell then, but very funny whenever I think of it now.

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Pete,

I have to agree. I still use Easy Off to do any stripping. Unfortunately, the WARNING label does not explain that you will lose several layers of skin off your finger tips if you DON'T wear protective gloves. It just says wear protective gloves. After my first use, I now wear protective gloves. The stinging sensation wasn't bad but the feeling of my super glossy ridgeless fingertips was very odd for the rest of the day.

 

Mark

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Most of my model building mistakes were of my own making. When I was probably 5 or so, I hit on the brilliant idea that if I couldn't smell the glue then it couldn't cause a problem. I took a clothes clip and clipped my nose closed and then proceeded to build a my newest acquisition, a Revell KC-135. You can guess what happened. By the time I was done, I was so high on glue fumes that I could barely walk. I also had loaded up the model with so much glue I also discovered the phenomenon of glue sinks. The nose of the plane so loaded up with glue that by the next day the nose was nearly molten it was so softened.

 

Here is another brilliant move from when I was 11 or 12. I was home sick and decided I would create some serious battle damage on my Revell USS Hornet aircraft carrier. I used a cigarette lighter and began to liberally melt some holes in the hull and the deck. I was really happy with the blackened edges it produced. Well I got fairly carried away and I produced this big drip of plastic that fell on my thigh just above my knee. It produced a hugely painful third degree burn about a half inch in diameter. I still have a scar nearly 40 years later. Another side effect was the burning plastic produced black fallout all over the kitchen and dining room where I did my model burning. I cleaned most of it up and was able to make my parents believe it must have been the result of a cooking incident.

 

Those are two of my most stupid self induced model building injuries.

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