DIY Reefing Injuries!!! WARNING - BLOOD!

[Insane Reefer]

Thought this might be an interesting thread to start, seeing how blood-thirsty people are getting to be...

Post your picture for bragging (or maybe "moaning"?) rights, and a brief report on how your injury occurred, and vote in the poll too - maybe this can be an educational thread as well.

Happy and SAFE DIY'ing!!!

But if you do happen to injure yourself, please remember to take a picture and share it with us all

[Insane Reefer]

I was working on this mod for my Biocube:


And really should have figured out a way to clamp in in the vise. I was using a dremel with a saw-wheel in it. I was lucky that I had good control (lol), or it might have been a lot worse.

[neo1013]

I dont have pictures but i cut my thumb pretty good, doing a maxi jet mod.

[boyohboy2]

Let's see... I just chopped off my hand... but be4 u call 911 emergy, wati!... get my camera and take a pic first!!!! j/k

not much myself really... a few slides of cut on my hands working with the glass on the sump...

[RockStarFish]

I didn't get a pic of mine either but I about cut my finger off building a canopy for my 55gl

[TheGrog]

Originally posted by Insane Reefer


I was working on this mod for my Biocube:


And really should have figured out a way to clamp in in the vise. I was using a dremel with a saw-wheel in it. I was lucky that I had good control (lol), or it might have been a lot worse.

As a doctor (surgeon), it is my professional opinion that you are a wus! That scratch is nothing!!!

Seriously, you are correct in that it could have been a lot worse. I have a 5 inch scar on my wrist that I accidentally cut with a shop knife years ago....missed all major blood vessels, nerves and only nicked 3 tendons (not severed thank God). All from not paying attention for 2 seconds. Nothing 46 stiches couldn't fix though!

Power tools (and non-powered ones for that matter) are serious business and should be respected. If you EVER hurt yourself and think "damn, that's bad", see a doctor. If only to get a band-aid and a tetinus booster. I have seen people who have hurt themselves doing the same type of things we all love to do (modifying factory originals because we think we can make them better) who thought their injury was "just a scratch" and ended up with a major problem later. Better safe than sorry!

Ok I'll get off my soapbox now.

Now, where did I leave my cordless drill at????

[BruiseAndy]

Working on tent air conditioners...Had done 12 and while working on #13 this happened. Obviously should have turned it off before jamming my hand into fan. Was reaching between fan and motor and just in too big of a hurry.

Picture was taken two weeks after injury. 1 broken thumb, 11 seperate cuts to the bone on three fingers, 4 weeks in casts, missing tip of right thumb, 3 months of physical therapy...all to save 2 minutes.

[Insane Reefer]

Ouch RSF - that has gotta sting at least a bit.

Not exactly a DIY reefing injury, but, DAM! That sucks, BruiseAndy...

Nah, mine isn't anything - the only bad part is the last/first 1/4" or so. My hubby is the one trying to get me to the hospital - but I had a tetanus shot 2 years ago, and I ain't paying $400 for a band-aid
Fixed it up good with Steri-strips and Benzo comp.
And I am keeping it out of the tank

[BruiseAndy]

Originally posted by Insane Reefer

Not exactly a DIY reefing injury, but, DAM! That sucks, BruiseAndy...

Sorry, didnt see that exclusion there.

[GS-Rock]

ouch!!! looks like that will leave a mark!

[Insane Reefer]

Reefing related or not, that will certainly get you moaning rights, lol.

How is your hand now?

[Trekkie]

no injuries, you forgot an option.

[bosborn1]

I don't have a pic but while trying to build a DIY skimmer i put an xacto knife completly through my finger. This was about 10 years ago and I still don't have much feeling in the finger tip. Left a weird looking scar that throbs when my hand is cold. That one was total lack of experiance..I was only 18 at the time. Since then I have gotten a corneal abrasion from a dremel, and nearly electrocuted myself.

Scott

[stugray]

Ok - no pic but this might help save some fingers.

I had been drilling 1/4" Acryilc on my drill press forever. No clamp,just hold it down while drilling....

I built my first CA reactor from 1/2" Acrylic ( note: 2X thicker )
When I went to drill through it ( again no clamps ), the bit broke through the back of the acrylic, it bit and pulled the material up to the top of the bit, spun it around and broke off a section & threw it across the garage.

I stood there for seconds staring at spinning acrylic before shutting it off. When I looked down, my hands were covered in blood. No missing fingers, but nasty gashes like BruiseAndy's..

Long story short - USE CLAMPS when drilling acrylic ( It's NOT wood )

Stu

[yrema]

ouch. :shock:

[Insane Reefer]

Awesome - a real rocket scientist

Glad it worked out not too badly for you, Stu - and thanks for the tip

Isn't it the case when you've done something very bad; kind of dumb amazement/bemusement as you assess the situation.

I wish I had a drill press

[30mini]

Did this while trying to diss-assemble a 10 gal that was broken. Glass actually broke on me, and I cut myself pretty good! Got asked about 5 times if I was trying to kill myself!

[musty baby]

Glad the hobby hasn't injured me like it has you guys. I was drilling out the center hole of a carbon fiber prop and, like a total idiot, was just holding onto the prop. Bit caught, spun the prop in my hand, and left me with some pretty deep but minor cuts. All for a maxijet mod I haven't finished yet (I'm long since healed)

[Fishboy1230]

I forgot some basic reasoning, to cut with xacto blades away from my self not towards myself and I ended up stabbing myself when the blade slipped off the wiring (to a new metal halide) and stabbed almost all the way through my thumb! The only thing that stopped it from penatrating all the way was my underside of my thumbnail! It's still scared.

[Insane Reefer]

So 30mini, the broken tank attacked you?

That's a nasty gash - did it scar?

[H20ENG]

I keep waiting for the dremel-diamond-wheel-cutting-through-a-slimy-coral injury to show up. I sure see a lot of people going nuts with dremels with little or no protection (or forethought).

Andy,
Is that how you got your name?

Personally, I dont have any bad stories to tell, other than getting whacked in the gut before learning to clamp the work to the drill press.

I DO know a guy who lost a testicle from a tablesaw kickback. 1/8" acrylic shrapnel vs the danglies. Yikes.
Oh, and NO I dont have pics!

[Thunderpants]

Its always fun to get a cut or scrape in this hobby because you forget about it then you get salt water in it to remind you.

[H20ENG]

I did get stung once by a torch coral on the top of my hand. That wasnt too bad, but yanking my arm out of the tank into the 10,000 degree halide was, well, bad.

Then the time I got a real nice sunburn on half of my face from playing with a UV ozone lamp. Looked like some crazed football fan

One of the divers at work got stung by an 18" anemone- in the face. He didnt even have his mask on because he was just going down to grab a tool off the bottom of the rockwork. His face was swollen and oozed fluid for about 3 days. (We ate lunch in the other room)

[KH971]

We build aluminum sided storage buildings that go in your back yard. I do alot of fabrication everyday, I get cut once a day. I came in one night reached in my tank with 2 cuts on my hands and tore some zoanthids, that grew from one rock to another rock. 30 minutes later I am breathing hard and sweating, didn't know what was going on, boy I hate zoanthids!!! Oh I also dropped a chunk of live rock on my foot and broke a toe.

[dandy7200]

Hmmmm.....

Ratcheting pvc cutters, blind cutting 1" pvc behind a tank while holding the pipe......well I cut to the bone and had my left index finger clamped to the pipe which was attached to the tank. Took me about 10 minutes to unratchet the cutters with my one free hand. Sorry guys, I wasn't in a picture taking mood.