Safety in coiling

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Original poster: "Paul B. Brodie" <pbbrodie@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>

I was reading about Daniels escapade with the X-ray transformer and I had a 
little oops of my own. I thought I should share it with everyone. I needed 
a quick little hole in a small piece of sheet metal and even though I am 
well aware of the hazards involved in drilling sheet metal, or anything 
else for that matter, I thought that old bugaboo, "just this one quick 
time" and tried to drill the holes without securely clamping the sheet 
metal first. In case you don't know, this is an extreme no-no!!! Just as I 
should have known it would, the drill bit seized in the hoe as it broke 
through the metal and spun the piece around the end of the bit. Naturally, 
the bit, bit me!!! I got really lucky and escaped with only a minor cut on 
my finger. As I said, I got very lucky. While working on my drag race car 
one day, a friend was helping fabricate the replacement aluminum interior. 
He had a small piece of aluminum sheet metal for the new dash board and 
tried to drill a hole in it without properly clamping it first. Of course 
the drill bit seized in the hole and spun the piece of aluminum. This 
particular piece had just been cut out and was particularly sharp on the 
edges. He wasn't so lucky. We spent the rest of the evening at the 
emergency room while the doctors saved his finger!!! He nearly took it 
completely off. Thank goodness his bone was stronger than the aluminum.
ALWAYS firmly secure anything you plan to drill but especially sheet metal. 
Spinning sheet metal can literally be quite lethal.
I hope this post saves someone from injury no matter how small. Later.

Paul
Think Positive