Tips.

[monkeyhead]

Many of the "environmental hazard" claims are overblown and overstated. This is true of asbestos, DDT, Freon, and many other chemicals that have been banned. The EPA (US Environmental Protection Agency) is often swayed to be on the "safe" side of every issue.

I'm only 26 and I've watched several people from the baby boomer generation pass from diseases that were directly linked to banned chemicals - the government even gave them compensation checks. I tend to think that the EPA only starts banning stuff when people start dying.

 

[rsdoran]

Start you hot hot peppers early, toss them in a blender and spray spray spray. Spray after every rain... Seems to make a difference for me. Cabbage taste funny thou..

Cabbage tastes funny anyway.... especially when fermented/pcikled ie sauerkraut.

 

[brucechase]

Ok let's assume common sense. The size of the breaker does not determine if you will die or not. A 15 amp circuit can be more dangerous than a 400 amp circuit. It only take 100 mA to kill you and what will produce the 100 mA is the VOLTAGE across your body. Using ohm's law, the typical resistance hand to hand wet skin is 1000 ohms. With 120 VAC across it, there is 120 mA - DEATH. Now lets look at a welder that puts out about 40 V. You get 40 mA - shock but not death. For alternatives, I said there are many manufacturers of proper equipement to do that job. For tires, I stated that warning from the tire and rim manufactures (why should you ignore their warnings). Just because someone did and didn't get hurt does not make it alright. There are plenty of people who've handled all kinds of chemicals and suffered no ill effects, but there are many who have (see rod's post). I won't address conspiracy theories. As for the buckets, see OSHA 1910.399. A controlled design system is much much different than a bucket in the field (and yes I've seen the bucket and I've seen Okanite put cable in a water tank at 40,000 V).

I guess I should have stated it differently than the bullying will get me off here. When people resort to name calling and become closed mind, then there is no reason for me to continue with trying to change their mind. Sometimes I even wonder why anyone would try to educate when they run into that. It seems that I won't be able to convince a few that some of these tips are really dangerous, that's ok but I feel better saying my peace. I would rather teach someone the safe way that let them continue on. To let you know, I have taught electrical safety at 2 different companies for the past 10 years and I have been to many electrical safety courses so I've been exposed to many others training and opinions.

And by the way, a good engineer isn't one who takes risks, does things they know are unsafe and survives. That's a lucky engineer. Me, I have a family I go back to every night, and taking risks is not the way to go.

 

[MartB]

Bruce - I totally agree, several well made points.

 

[Beggar]

I have had this happen to my big toe nail. A nurse, we were far from anywhere, burned a hole in the toe nail with a heated up paper clip. Although she claimed it was not supposed to hurt, it was immensly painful . Not sure about the drill except don't go too deep.

I've heard about the paperclip approach but was afraid to try it -- I was afraid that I would go too far and touch it off on the nail bed. Perhaps that's what happened to you.

When I've done the drill bit, it's not been particularly painful. In fact, it immediately felt much better.

Of course, heat sterilize the drill before use and wipe the nail clean with iodine or alcohol.

 

[leitmotif]

Originally Posted by ndzied1
I have had this happen to my big toe nail. A nurse, we were far from anywhere, burned a hole in the toe nail with a heated up paper clip. Although she claimed it was not supposed to hurt, it was immensly painful . Not sure about the drill except don't go too deep.

The nurse was right - drilling the nail with hot paper clip did not hurt her a bit.

Dan Bentler

 

[Kevin Hammond]

I have a tip that has nothing to do with plcs, but some of you field service guys might appreciate it. How many times have you found yourself in a motel room with a six pack of your favorite brand, only to discover that the bottles have pop-off caps instead of twist-offs.

One of my resourceful coworkers taught me a trick. Tightly grasp the neck of the bottle in one hand, with your index finger and thumb positioned just below the cap. Hold the bottle at about chest level. Using your other hand, wedge the butt end of a butane lighter or other blunt object between your index finger/knuckle on your gripping hand and the bottle cap. So, you will be prying from the opposite side of the cap from your body. Using your index finger/knuckle as your pivot point, quickly pry the cap off by pushing down on the lighter. The key is to hold the bottle very tightly. If you do it right, the cap will pop right off without damaging the lighter or your hand. In addition to getting you out of a bind, it also makes a cool party trick that will amaze your friends

Obviously, there are plenty of other tools that will work just as well as the lighter. (hammer claw, screwdriver handle, lineman's pliers, etc.) I just used that as an example to demonstrate that it doesn't have to be anything particularly strong. It just needs to be wide enough that it doesn't hurt your hand (don't try it with a screwdriver blade).

Cheers-

Kevin

 

[stasis]

why not just wedge the cap on the edge of the sink? A light tap with the palm of the hand & the cap pops off...

 

[OkiePC]

I always used furniture or cabinet drawer pulls as beer bottle openers. Just stick the edge of the cap under the handle and press down on the bottle. Sometimes the cheap hotel furniture doesn't take it very well ...

 

[Doug_Adam]

I always carry some Rittal cabinet keys, they have a built in bottle opener.
My trick is for timing things. Using a stop watch for fast events often get too much error as you don't quite co-ordinate the start stop correctly. I use a digital camera with the mpeg function. I can film the event, then flick through frame by frame to get the timing. Usually at 15 frames per second, you can get the accuracy down to +/- 70ms.

 

[Mark Buskell]

One time while working around the house, I could not find my voltmeter to test an outlet (110V). I used this trick that a teacher taught me years ago. Touch your thumb and forefinger to the wires, if voltage is present, you can feel the tingle through your fingers.

Do not try this if you are sweating or nervous. It would still work, but you would not like the results.

Also, for you younger engineers, dont try this on anything higher than 120.

 

[Steve Bailey]

Touch your thumb and forefinger to the wires, if voltage is present, you can feel the tingle through your fingers.

At first I thought that brucechase was overreacting, but you're eloquently reinforcing the point that he's trying to make. It's irresponsible to offer unsafe tips that you've been lucky enough to survive.

There is a saying in the aviation business. "There are old pilots and there are bold pilots, but there are no old, bold pilots."

 

[Mark Buskell]

I read through this post and have come to following views.

I see that in school they try to teach you the proper ways of doing things. They do not teach you the wrong way or brush over it. I can some young engineer trying to come up with a new way of testing something. What he may not realize is this has been tried in the past and is dangerous. If he was aware of all the right and wrong ways, he would be better educated.

Many of us old-timers know many ways of doing something right and wrong. Teaching someone what is wrong and why it is wrong may stop someone in the future from being injured or worse.

When my son was young, he reached for a hot pot on the stove, his mother tried to stop him but I told her let him touch this pot. It did not have boilng water in it or was not real hot yet. It surprised him when he touched it and he learned right then and there not to touch a hot stove. He never touched the stove again. This lesson possibly saved him from being scalded or be badly burned in the future. If I did that today, I would probably be charged with child endangerment.

I have seen similiar things in a plant, the old timers would let you do something wrong just so you learn a valuable lesson. In todays politcally correct enviroment, things like that are frowned upon but I for one am glad that someone long ago showed me both the correct way and the uncorrect way.

 

[Rod]

Doug_Adam,
Digi-cam for timing, excellent idea! Thanks!
I can see each step of my .45's action and my arm's reaction.

Bottle opener; are you guys KIDDING me!? You don't carry a basic Swiss Army knife? Like my Visa card, I don't leave home without it/them. A lot of times I don't walk to my tool kit, I reach for my Pocket Kit (Swiss Army)

Using a box end wrench to crank on a ball-tip hex wrench; Yep! Used it last week because this dummy didn't pack his socket drive hex tips. HUSKY sells a set of metric and SAE L wrenches with a T handle adaptor. My last set was only $5 - I bought two sets.

I want to know ----- The ball end of a hex wrench is snapped off inside the head of a bolt/screw. How the heck fire do you get the *^%$#@ thing out?

Ever stick a 1/4" drive #2 Phillips tip into a 1/4" box end wrench then hammer the end of the driver while applying torque? Shock helps loosen

Try not to PUSH on a wrench, PULL. When the wrench slips you will fall forward and bash your hands. When pulling and it slips you ONLY hit yourself in the head.

I used to carry two 3' sections of pipe that would telescope together and one end would fit over the handle of my 36" Crescent wrench giving me approximately 1200 foot/pounds of torque by hand. Using a choker strap and an overhead crane or forklift means - it's stuck!!

When using an O-scope on a servo drive make SURE you have a ground leg eliminator on your 3-prong power cord. I know a tech that didn't - It vaporized his probe cord and blew the incoming power transformer (on the pole). He thought he was dead or blind for a while.

Best tip: get a degree, wear a tie and let someone else worry about the above tips.

Once again, a GOOD thread. Thanks all, and Phil for sure.

Rod (The CNC Dude)

 

[Binaural]

I always carry some Rittal cabinet keys, they have a built in bottle opener.

I always liked the irony that a key used to open high voltage cabinets can also be used to crack open a few refreshing beers

Bottle opener; are you guys KIDDING me!? You don't carry a basic Swiss Army knife? Like my Visa card, I don't leave home without it/them. A lot of times I don't walk to my tool kit, I reach for my Pocket Kit (Swiss Army)

I've donated quite a few to the "prohibited items" bin at airports around the world when I've forgotten I had one in my pocket...

My tip: the smallest leatherman you can get (squirt) has an jewellers screwdriver as well as a normal flathead, which you can use to get into cage-clamp terminals as well.