Hammerhead
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| posted on 19/9/06 at 12:37 PM |
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Bad day in the garage
Well yesterday, as most Mondays (I work saturdays so have monday off) I worked on the Indy.
I decided to test fit the propshaft to the gearbox to see how far back the bellhousing would be in the chassis. I bought a caterham propshaft,
thinking that it would fit between the gearbox and diff no problem. Big mistake. The caterham prop is at least 4" too short. The worst part is
that I chopped off the chassis gearbox mounts to get the gearbox far enough back to meet the prop.
So I have a prop off a caterham, should I get it lengthened?
I also have a prop off a xr4i, should I get this shortened?
I thought ok, this is a problem, I will now put my handbrake in. Its off a mondeo and I want to fit it a bit lower and further back in the chassis
than the sierra one would go. I started fabricating some brackets out of box section with the angle grinder. I got some steel in my eye, Yes i had
goggles on but only the ones that look like sunglasses.
Just been to the doc's who says he cant see anything embedded in my eye. Which is good news as steel can rust in the eye and then you have
problems.
So a trip to MK might be in order to get the prop sorted out.
Sorry for the moan, and be careful when grinding!!
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David Jenkins
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| posted on 19/9/06 at 12:40 PM |
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I've had specks get inside my goggles - bit worrying when you see something sparkling close to your eye! 
Fortunately it stayed away from my eyeball...
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DaveFJ
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| posted on 19/9/06 at 12:48 PM |
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A word of caution.............
I went to the doc with metal in my eye from grinding... he said there was nothing there! - I then went to an Optician who spotted it striaght away!
Your GP knows very little about eyes (they attend a 1 day course!) so unless your doc is an eye specialist I would recommend seeing an Optician
instead!
The optician told me that if I hadn't copme to see hime I would have suffered permanent damage to my sight!
[Edited on 19/9/06 by DaveFJ]
Dave
"In Support of Help the Heroes" - Always
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02GF74
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| posted on 19/9/06 at 12:55 PM |
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... well statistically the next build day won't be as bad. 
as for grinding, everyone should read the richard feynam book - in there it talk about risk assessment; most people are aware of the probabiilty of
bad stuff happening, in this case quite low for a chunk to get in the eye - but then they don't take into account what the worst case
consequences could be - in this case the loss of an eye.
as for the props - which is the better prop and what is cost of modifying either? a thrid option my be to get a new one made up of the right length -
there is someone like Dr propshaft/ propshaft clinic or similar unusual name on the internet that does custom props at reasonable price.
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Hammerhead
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| posted on 19/9/06 at 01:02 PM |
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thanks dave, I need an eye test anyway so i'll get on it.
The caterham prop is brand new, but second hand to me. So I might be better ebaying it and getting the sierra one shortened. I know MK do this all the
time, and selling the caterham one will pay for the adjustments in the sierra one.
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iank
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| posted on 19/9/06 at 01:06 PM |
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I agree about avoiding the GP. If your local hospital has a specialist eye hospital go into their eye casualty department. You only get one set of
eyes!
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MikeRJ
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| posted on 19/9/06 at 01:28 PM |
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Not saying that it's a good idea, but I have successfully hoovered an errant bit of steel out of my eye with my "magnet on a stick".
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David Jenkins
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| posted on 19/9/06 at 01:43 PM |
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If it's a piece of steel then the casualty unit will try a great big magnet to get rid of it (and I do mean big!).
If that doesn't work, or it's a bit of grinding whel grit, then mechanical removal will be required...
...don't ask, if you're squeamish...
David
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02GF74
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| posted on 19/9/06 at 03:01 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by MikeRJ
Not saying that it's a good idea, but I have successfully hoovered an errant bit of steel out of my eye with my "magnet on a stick".
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Alan_Thomas
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| posted on 19/9/06 at 04:18 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by MikeRJ
Not saying that it's a good idea, but I have successfully hoovered .
I my god!! I read this far and had an awful vision of Mike holding a Dyson with an eye stuck to the end of the nozzle
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rusty nuts
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| posted on 19/9/06 at 05:46 PM |
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Once had a face full of swarf when a guy I was helping switched off an angle grinder so I lifted my goggles as he decided to stop the grinder by
putting the disc onto the post he had been grinding. Went to A&E who sent me to the eye clinic , had a load dug out from my eye and had to go back
every day for a week for further treatment. In the end was told they had removed as much as possible but there was some still in the eye. A week later
I was cooking a spaghetti bolonase , slicing an onion was making my eyes run and actually felt the remaining debris come out of my eye ,
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lexi
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| posted on 19/9/06 at 06:48 PM |
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That`s why the drops they give you induce tears.
Alex
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trikerneil
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| posted on 19/9/06 at 08:46 PM |
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I'd get to the eye specialist ASAP. I was told that that the swarf will get "grown over"
Last time I got some in my eye they put some dye in to enable them see it.
The longer the swarf's in there the harder it is to remove it DAMHIK
ACE Cafe - Just say No.
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robinj66
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| posted on 19/9/06 at 09:18 PM |
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Go to A&E - get some pretty nurse to look deeply into your eyes......and then she can watch you weep as she removes the debris with an hypodermic
needle!!!
And you think I'm kidding?
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MikeR
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| posted on 19/9/06 at 09:39 PM |
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I'm a bit paranoid after i've had a couple of bits just miss my eyes. What brought it home was someone i know who's a decent
engineer having a drill bit break on him (bad luck moment). He had gogggles. Its only when he looked at the goggles a little later he noticed a bit
embedded right infront of his good eye (he only has vision in one eye). If he wasn't wearing goggles, he'd be blind now.
I do my best to always wear goggles / glasses. Always goggled when grinding after having bits bounce off my cheak, off the lense and into my eye.
Luckily the double bounce slowed the stuff down / cooled it down enough to just make me away of it but not damage my eyes!
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SierraL_killer
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| posted on 19/9/06 at 09:49 PM |
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Well, as everyone else is adding there own stories....
Was angle grinding (with goggles) and somehow got a bit in my eye. thought nothing of it and forgot all about it. Then 2 whole weeks later i woke up
in agony - thought i must've got an eyelash inbedded overnight or summat. Anyways, went to the eye doc and she removed a shard of metal from my
eye which had actually begun to rust! Apparently the pain was being caused as every time i blinked, the metal was scraping the back of my eyelid.
Ah, im so glad i've been able to share that with you.
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COREdevelopments
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| posted on 19/9/06 at 09:54 PM |
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i went to casulty, done it a few months back, it happened in work, using a grinder and no goggles because was rushing!! it was bugging me all night,
my eye was bloodshot and i was in the mirror attemptin to do a diy job as usual.
but after hours of rubbing and about a trillion blinks later i went,
glad i did because had a really fit young nurse sort me eye out, had an anaesphetic so my eye was a bit slow for a while, and had to put some gooeeyy
stuff in it for a few days. out
but since then i have always used goggles but still they manage to fly past my eyes!!!
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Catpuss
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| posted on 19/9/06 at 10:28 PM |
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With eyes its not worth risking. I've been to two different A&Es with eye injuries. Basically with an eye injury they fast track you to the
eye ball doctor. At least my local doctor said that for eye injuries I should go straight to A&E and not even bother with a doctors
appointment.
A friend of mine is a sword smith and he has been caught out a couple of times by grinding splinters. As he said to me, don't f**k about get to
A&E as they will be f**ked the next day else.
I remember a story on the discovery channel a bloke during WWII was blown out of the turret of his tank, with his eyes showered in metal splinters.
The medic who came along was getting used to the injuries. He took a large manget and run it across his eyes drawing out the splinters, saving his
vision. The medic also told him that if he hadn't had it treated then he would be blind by the next day.
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coozer
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| posted on 20/9/06 at 04:56 AM |
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I always my remember my dad only having one eye.
Back in the 60's way underground at the coal front they were short of pit props. They needed to cut some props to fit under the roof but there
was no saw present.
My dad and his mate decided to chop the prop down to the correct length. My dad held the long handled axe against the wooden prop and his mate hit it
with a sledgehammer....
After several blows the axe head exploded and a piece of cast iron punctured me dads eye and he never worked underground or for the NCB again.
The fragment detatched the retarner and he spent years in the eye infimary while they tried to fix it. In the end they couldn't get his sight
back, the colour in the middle ran down and the eye just sort of 'died'
A nasty event that was caused by 'the need to get it done' and poor self control.
Dad always said that not once did it hurt and he didn't go to the hospital until hours after the event. He just had the runny eye, blinking
thing I see you all describing...
Steve
1972 V8 Jago
1980 Z750
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NS Dev
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| posted on 20/9/06 at 07:05 AM |
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Re. the propshaft, had the same prob with mine, got a caterham HPC prop (XE vauxhall engine caterham) and it was around 3.5" too short for my XE
engined stuart taylor car. The engine is in the same place relative to the front wheels as it is in a caterham so just goes to show how much shorter
the caterham chassis is in the cockpit area (not actually shorter in terms of legroom, but the foot wells go further down the sides of the
engine/gearbox.)
I got mine lengthened (new tube on it) for £50 at Premier propshafts in Hartshill (nr Nuneaton) who have always done my props.
Retro RWD is the way forward...........automotive fabrication, car restoration, sheetmetal work, engine conversion
retro car restoration and tuning
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