Exploding Shop Light!

[Adam Cavaliere]

Since I know I enjoy reading the stories of "wish I didn't do that" on here, I figured I share with you guys my experience yesterday.

First of all, I have realized what I did was stupid and I should have used a different tool. It won't happen again, and I am thankful that I didn't lose any fingers!

I had a small 2x2 piece of wood that wasn't fitting in place correctly, so I needed to shave off just 1/16 of the wood to get it to fit better. I figured if I was super careful and kept my fingers all the way on the edge of the piece of wood I could use my chop saw.

Well... it so happens I didn't have the strength to hold that piece of wood down with only my index finger and thumb. :o The chop saw shot that piece of wood back against the wall, which then ricocheted of and shot up to my shop light overhead. Within a split second of me losing the piece of wood, there was an explosion above my head with glass raining down. :eek:

I held my breath and walked out of my garage to let everything settle. I figured I didn't want to be breathing in mercury or any glass shards. It took me about a half hour to clean up my mess and really think about how stupid I was! Thankfully the shop vac really does a good job of cleaning all of that up!

As I began working again I felt an itch on my head. I started to scratch it and realized I was picking out a piece of glass. I then realized there was more glass in my scalp. I took out the shop vac once again and went to town on my head. What a crazy feeling that is!

Anyone else have any stories of shop lights exploding?

[Jason Perrott]

Lucky you were not putting your fingers into a cooler for a trip to the hospital:eek:

Thats now on your list of "what not to do"

jason

[John Schreiber]

Thankfully the shop vac really does a good job of cleaning all of that up!
I don't think that it is truly a serious issue, but I have read that vacuuming possible mercury contaminations is a bad idea. The mercury is not filtered out by the vacuum and it is redistributed in the air. I heard that it is better to sweep without raising any of the dust and place the debris in the trash.

Again from someone who played with mercury as a child, I don't think it is a serious issue, but it is a factor which can be controlled.

[Adam Cavaliere]

The problem was that I couldn't see any mercury. I have watched how they make fluorescent lights and they use such a minimal amount of mercury that I doubt I would have ever seen it or found it. The shop vac is an enclosed space, so if it did get back into the air, hopefully it got stuck in the enclosed space mostly and will not be an issue.

My main goal was to clean up the sliver sized glass that I don't want to be finding in my hands as I work out there!

[Steve Clardy]

I blowed up a thin platter I was turning on the lathe a few years ago.

Overhead of the lathe, I had a 4 tube light above it.

When the platter let go, it busted 2 of the bulbs.

Things were really hopping for a while. Lol

I never did find all the pieces to that platter. [Thought about glueing it back together]

[Von Bickley]

Bet that made you mark your laundry.....:D:D:D

[Jeffrey Makiel]

I've seen clear protective plastic sleeves for flourescent light bulbs. It may not stop a bulb from breaking, but it would prevent the shards of glass from flying all over.

I'm glad you're ok.

-Jeff :)

[Adam Cavaliere]

Very good idea! I think I'll look into those just incase something else "jumps up there"!

[Tony Bilello]

I had a small piece kick back and hit me directly on my heart. I fell backwards against a wall and took a few seconds to catch my breath.
A friend, in his shop, had a small piece kick back and hit him on the forehead just above his eyes. As he was falling forward he had just enough strength to push himself (his face) away from the spinning table saw blade just prior to a short black-out.

Short stuff just ain't worth it.

Tony B

[Narayan Nayar]

Glad to hear you're OK and that you used a shop vac for your head instead of a cyclone. :)

My worst injury to date (knock on wood) was from a chopsaw...similar type of kickback. Nothing major--no blade contact. It just really made my fingers hurt for about a week and the wood put a large gash in my hand. I use those holddown clamps a lot more often now and wherever possible, use handtools such as saws and planes instead for as much of a project as makes sense (though I think that was probably the direction I was headed anyway).

Got a block plane yet? :)

[Greg Cole]

Got a block plane yet? :)

Or how 'bout a couple hold downs for said miter saw? ;) I'd be getting one of each.
I have the dust catching sleeves on my flourescents, they haven't been tested for structural integrity though.

John,
I used to love breaking Mom's thermometers to play with the silver stuff inside them too... making the little globs of it glom back together like the Cop in T2 was neat.:rolleyes:

Greg