Have you ever done something STUPID!??

[Dale Thompson]

Hi Folks,
Just a note. If you are going to countersink or counterbore a hole for screws on your drill press, don't use a brad point bit unless your stock is secured. Use a common twist drill. I was using a brad point to countersink a 3/8" hole. The bit grabbed the wood and turned it into a "fan". Fortunately, none of the blood got on either the Mahogany or Black Walnut that I was working with. I heal--the blood stains on the wood do not. WHEW! I was lucky! My own injury is healing but the gauze and tape all over my hand is making it hard to hang on to the 911 telephone. :o :)

Dale T.

[Bruce Page]

Dale, go buy yourself a 1/2" 82* countersink. Sears carries them and probably the big boxes too. I reccomend the type with 3 or 4 flutes for hand held countersinking. A decent one should cost less than $10 - a lot cheaper than a trip to the emergency room.
Heal quickly!

[Dave Richards]

You might want to invest in a clamp, too ;)

You probably already know this now but, clamp a block to the drillpress table in a position where it would prevent the board from spinning should it get caught by the bit. It is sort of like using a starting pin on a router table.

I gotta think you weren't countersinking if you were using a bradpoint bit. Surely you were counterboring. For that, I would use a forstner bit. I would also drill the counterbore first and the the through hole. It's easier to center the small bit in the bottom of the counterbore where the point of the large bit was.

Heal up soon.

[Lee Schierer]

I agree that when counterboring, you need to drill the counter bore first, then drill the through hole. It is not unusual for a bit to grab in the hole if you do it the other way around. Keeping the holes concenttric is much easier when you drill the counter bore first.

When countersinking (angled hole opening) you should drill the hole first then counter sink it. The countersink won't grab and will tend to self center.

Always use a back up clamp or stop when drilling for safety. Drill bits do grab and the piece can become leathal when it becomes a fan. It is also really hard to get to the switch with this piece flailing around on the drill press and the drill press is shaking like crazy from the out of balanced load. DAMHIKT.

[Ron Taylor]

..but the one that your experience reminded me of was when I was using a 1hp drill to drill into my concrete slab. I got tired of holding the trigger, so pushed the little button that locks it on.

Fat, dumb, and happy, I continued to drill into the concrete until the bit encountered rebar.

Have you ever tried to hold a 1hp motor with the arbor stationary? It gets real ugly, real fast. Even big double pistol grips don't help... rather they become rotating battering rams.

After about two revolutions, I had the good sense and presence of mind to turn loose.

Fortunately, it pulled the electric cord out of the wall before I lost all of my studs.

Thanks for reminding me. :)

[Jim Young]

Never done anything stupid myself. All my actions have been well calculated and precisely executed.:D

[Stan Smith]

Triple S = Stan Smith Screwup. My true goal in life is to minimize these. I have so many stoopid mistakes that I don't know where to start. Here's one that sticks in my mind. I was changing a router bit in my Freud 2000 router mounted in the table. I pushed in the arbor stop and reached for the wrench to loosen the collet nut. As I was loosening the nut, my leg hit the start switch and things flew. The arbor stop caught and the motor burned up. No injury, thank God! You can bet that I always remember now to unplug. I also built a router cabinet where the switch is more out of the way.

[Steve Clardy]

Originally posted by Jim Young
Never done anything stupid myself. All my actions have been well calculated and precisely executed.:D

Except maybe the one when it was cold in the shop and I had my cotton gloves on. Was drilling with the drill press with a forester bit. Bit caught the glove, wound it up, thought the drill press was turning over, yanked my hand back, glove still turning on bit, and then noticed my small finger was a little crooked. Pulled it out of joint in two places. Wheew. Time for a trip to the doc.


Back to my story. Had to quit and come back here.
My wife was in the shop helping that morning, and when I managed to get the drill press shut off, I looked over at Her and said I thought I had broken my finger. Well, she said get in the truck, we are going to town to the doc. I said I would drive, She said no way, I am. She did. About halfway there, [22 miles to town] I noticed we were in warp speed and told her it wasn't that big of a deal, so slow down. All She said was, shut up, I'm driving. Nuf said there on that subject.
Meanwhile, this little finger hadn't done much except put extra weight on my feet. It had sat there asleep, not hurting much. Within a few more minutes, my brain was telling me to wake up as there was something attacking us. It was the little finger. About that time a couple seconds later, this little finger was in ATTACK mode. HELP!! It HURTS!!
I tried to calmly ask the wife if She would kindly SPEED UP A LITTLE!!!!!!!!. Well, enough said.
Steve

[Dave Anderson]

...unless you want to count the time I hit myself in the head with a 3-lb sledge hammer.:eek:

LOML has the picture of me with the big, ugly scab in the middle of my forehead and she whips it out every now and then just because! :mad:

No! I'm <u>not</u> going to tell you that story! :p

[jack duren]

just today... was on a union/non union job today. was putting in laminated window sills and walking back to a room where my equipment was to make the cuts and couldnt get my pencil back in my tool pouch. just wouldnt go in.

well anyway... i was so busy walking and trying to get the dang pencil in the right hole that instead of going through the door way i hit the wall instead "BANG". it was loud and everyone looked. nobody said anything but im sure i was the lunch time topic of the day.....jack

[Dale Thompson]

Thanks folks,
Actually, I WAS counterboring with the brad point. How can I be technical when my ego is so bruised. In fact, my ego was hurt a lot worse than I was. Especially since I did the same thing two times in a row. The first time was a minor scrape with the drill press turned way down for Forstner bits. I thought that speeding it up (from 500 to 2800 RPM) would help. It did help--it helped the profits of Johnson and Johnson. Anyway, folks, it's a minor injury. I spent the day in the shop and the only thing hurting was the wife telling me to be MORE CAREFUL NEXT TIME!!

The good part is that the wood has no bloodstains. The bad part is that I had to explain it to the sales ladies at both the lumber yard and the Pharmacy. They both know me so I will never live it down. OH Well--at my age--whom do I need to impress?? :o :D

Dale T.