View Full Version : Burns
VE7NOT
10-12-2005, 08:18 PM
Just wondering how many injuries some of us hams have in our hobby?... Im 27 and I have two scars from soldering irons on my arms and one RF burn scar on my fingers... anyone else?
K9STH
10-12-2005, 08:39 PM
I have a "pin point" scar on my left thumb that I got from my original Heath DX-100 transmitter (about 100 watts output) back in 1960. It hurt like "heck" for several weeks and left a scar that goes all the way in.
Glen, K9STH
KC9ECI
10-12-2005, 09:55 PM
I have a small scar just under my right butt cheek compliments of an M-67 fragmentation grenade.
w8cbc
10-12-2005, 09:56 PM
(dies laughing)
Never burned myself with my hobby, but got a heck of a solder burn on the job one day when a blob dropped off the iron and onto my thumb. It just sat there, no matter how hard I tried to shake it off, until it finally cooled long enough to harden!
I nearly got jolted across the room when I got too near the deflection coil of a "live" television set ! I must have been unconscious for a moment, because the next thing I was aware of was several people gathered around me asking if I was "OK" .
I once disabled the safety devices on a 10KW FM transmitter, and could taste the RF in the fillings of my teeth! Not exactly a burn, or shock, but a very unpleasent experience, regardless!
All of this is NOT to say that ham radio is any safer than a job in Electronics, but just an indication of the relative amount of time I spent at work, vs. enjoying my hobby!
73, Jim
w8cbc
10-12-2005, 10:23 PM
Y: That's why it's called a flyback transformer. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif
I'm nervous as hell around the totally exposed tuning network at one of the 50 kW AMs I help with. Also, I plan never to go inside the station's MW50 until the HV is completely bled off. That's the one called "widow maker". 12 kV on the cage while it's "live". That model has killed a number of engineers.
As to my own injuries - nothing permanent yet. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif I've tickled myself several times with DC, AC, and RF, working on my own gear at home. I've learned the hard way about high-Q tuning circuits. Yes, there really are 2000 volts at the end of that coil at some frequencies, even though power is only 100 watts. That cap in series with it isn't arcing just because it feels like it.
kl7aj
10-12-2005, 11:23 PM
I dropped a blob of solder on my crotch while building a Heathkit in my jammies. Never build a Heathkit in your jammies!
eric http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sad.gif
w8cbc
10-13-2005, 12:50 AM
Of all the places for that stuff to go splat...
Owww.
kc0vrs
10-13-2005, 01:27 AM
I burnt my fingers with a soldering iron.
W5HTW
10-13-2005, 01:41 AM
Too many to count, probably, especially if we are counting minor solder burns.
In recent years, though, I have had no bad encounters with electricity and electronics, except the routine shocks from an ignition coil. I consider that a hazard of working on cars.
Many solder burns, a few fairly intense. A few RF burns, one of them fairly deep into the flesh of my arm. And it was only 60 watts or so. That scar lasted for years.
A small hole drilled in the end of my index finger, but I just looked - it is no longer there. That happened in about '57, when I touched a terminal strip in an 800 VDC power supply.
Only one shock that I consider serious, and that was when a hot microphone knocked me across the bedroom and actually had me either unconscious or partially conscious - I never knew for sure - for a few moments.
Had some close calls. Once I unhooked the wrong end of semi-rigid coax from a 5 KW transmitter. Lovely arc, but thank goodness for DC protective circuits. Scared the diddlysquat out of me, but no injury - to me or the rig.
Once got a stunning arc in a 17 KW FM transmitter, after it had shut down. Two of us were working on it. We believed the HV had bled off. I touched the final cage with the strapped grounding bar and learned that was not the case. Scared both of us - but no injuries.
I used to be truly intimidated, I admit it, by large transmitters. Almost as if they were alive, and were just waiting for me to twist their cute little knobs the wrong way and they'd reach out and grab me. Honest, I was very much in awe of transmitters that were considerably taller, and a heck of a lot wider, than I am. Still, my job was to be boss, and I did so, and none of them ever got me. But I know they wanted to!!! They had plotted against me. They were lurking in the darkness of the transmitter building, just waiting for me. I could hear them mumbling over the sound of the blowers. Couldn't quite understand the words, but I knew it was an evil plot, and I was the target. I'd go in, turn on the lights, and somehow they would all get back into place on their pedestals, and sit there looking innocent, but I knew. They couldn't fool me. I'd walk around the center floor, and they were gathered all around me. I knew they were closing in, going to pin me in there. But I knew where their Plate switches were. I could flip their little butts off, yes, I could. But I didn't. And I'd turn the lights out, and I could see their lighted eyes staring at me as I left the room. I knew. They never fooled me.
Ed
KC0KBH
10-13-2005, 02:30 AM
If I had a dollar for every time I picked up a soldering iron by the wrong end... Or picked up what I was soldering too soon... http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif
KC0KBH
10-13-2005, 02:31 AM
One time I was holding pipes in place while my dad sweat soldered them. A big blob fell on my arm. Sort of like molten plastic getting stuck on you, but worse.
kc2kde
10-13-2005, 02:33 AM
Whoops, I thought this was a topic on Mr. Burns. Never mind. Out.
Big transmitters are far safer than little ones, in my opinion. #The reason is, of course, because there are so many safety features built in. #Grounding relays that short out the power supply capacitors automatically when the HV is turned off, or an access door opened, etc. etc. #Of course, there is always the "Shepherd's Crook" ! We never worked inside a transmitter without having that shorting bar hooked right across the capacitors of the HV supply !
One day our "housecleaner" was polishing the floor outside the HV side of our transmitter with one of those big single-wheel industrial polishing machines. #She hit the side of the transmitter and jarred loose one of the shorting relays while the transmitter was putting out full power. #WHAAAMMM ! #
It scared about 20 years growth out of her, and honest-to-goodness, we never got another day's work from her ! #http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif
Now, a high-powered transmitter that has had the interlocks defeated is one of the MOST dangerous devices known to man !
73, Jim
w8cbc
10-13-2005, 02:38 PM
There's the problem. Somebody will defeat the interlocks to do some work. After a few times, they'll just be left that way, and nobody gets around to hooking them back up. Then someone else will come along...
The MW50 I was on about has 'em partially defeated. Open the back and it'll kick the plate supply off, as it should. But the short across it has been removed. You have to wait for it to bleed down. Except you can't count on the bleeder. Sometimes, for whatever reason, it ain't there. So I plan not to poke around in the thing until everything's clearly zeroed.
The bigger problem in my mind is that tuning network. It's along one wall of the site's workshop and I could easily stumble into it. I do get a little stumbly at times. That room makes me nervous.
kf6rdn
10-13-2005, 02:42 PM
Quote[/b] (kc2kde @ Oct. 12 2005,19:33)]Whoops, I thought this was a topic on Mr. Burns. Never mind. Out.
No, Major Burns from MASH.
Or Major burns from a soldering iron.
If I solder, I burn myself. If I paint, I get paint all over myself. Go figure
w8cbc
10-13-2005, 02:58 PM
I heard of an old US Army cavalry training manual - 40 Miles in the Saddle, by Major Assburns. Don't know if it was real or not. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif
WA5KRP
10-13-2005, 04:58 PM
HTW,
That last paragraph was a fine piece of work.
WA5KRP
Texas
K8ERV
10-13-2005, 05:26 PM
Quote[/b] (kl7aj @ Oct. 12 2005,16:23)]I dropped a blob of solder on my crotch while building a Heathkit in my jammies. # Never build a Heathkit in your jammies!
eric http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sad.gif
I didn't know that a Heathkit would fit in your jammies!!!
In college the smartest guy I have ever known DID pick up a soldering iron by the wrong end. Once.
But I agree, always wear long pants when soldering or de-soldering. Damp is better. (I did not say damp with what---) .
TOM K8ERV Montrose Colo
Oh, Tom, you're dating yourself. "I once shot an elephant in my pajamas. . . . how he got into my pajamas, I'll never know ! ! ! " "The one, the only . . . .Groucho ! "
http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif 73, Jim
kb9lei
10-13-2005, 11:06 PM
Was once installing a commercial VHF rig at a AM broadcast tower and forgot to empty my pockets. The RF and pocket change made for a strange warmth and I'm sure it would burned an imprint if I had not just dumped my pockets.