Be careful out in the garage! I ran a drill through my face!
 

Yeah you read it right, I needed some excitement and figured I would run a 1/4" drill into my face breaking my sinus cavity.

And all for a Fiat 500e. I was drilling out the rivets that hold the bumper bracket to the rear of the body pushing up to get this vertical rivet and it was spinning so I was applying a lot of pressure and rivet head came off with the drill slipping towards me and with all the pressure I was applying I couldn't stop it before it ran into my face. My face was NUMB big time, it felt like my nose was ripped off! The first thing I realized was I could see, that was a good feeling, but I was bleeding big time so I was still in a panic mode. Luckily I got a lot of help from the guys and was driven to the ER. Oh yeah, great lesson learned.

With all the ways I have injured myself you would think I would learn.

All joking aside guys, protect yourselves!
Brian

Re: Be careful out in the garage! I ran a drill through my face!
 

Wow... about a couple of inches up and would be a total different story...

Re: Be careful out in the garage! I ran a drill through my face!
 

Exactly! I can't believe with how much I bled and how it felt this was all there was. I am still numb though, not sure if that will change. But when I figured out seconds later that I could see, that made me feel a lot better. But then the bleeding started.................:sumo:

Brian

Re: Be careful out in the garage! I ran a drill through my face!
 

Dang it boy..close call..sure could've been worse

Re: Be careful out in the garage! I ran a drill through my face!
 

gotta be an easier way to clean your sinuses


glad you didnt lobotomize yourself!

Re: Be careful out in the garage! I ran a drill through my face!
 

Sorry to hear. Glad your ok. FWIW i don't think there's a project i haven't shed blood on.

Re: Be careful out in the garage! I ran a drill through my face!
 

Glad it wasn't any worse.
Kim

Re: Be careful out in the garage! I ran a drill through my face!
 

Wow... I'm glad to hear you're ok. This time definitely wasn't a waste of good luck but it's a good reminder that we shouldn't tempt fate too often.

Re: Be careful out in the garage! I ran a drill through my face!
 

Oh wow, glad you weren't hurt worse! Were you pushing up on the drill?

Would a face shield have provided protection?

Re: Be careful out in the garage! I ran a drill through my face!
 

Glad you had no major damage.... This just shows things can happen. I try to be extra careful. But you just never know.

Re: Be careful out in the garage! I ran a drill through my face!
 

Ouch, that was close.

I pack more than a few scars from garage mishaps including one on the back of my right thumb where a broke drill bit took out a chunk when I was drilling a hole in the body of my T bucket in the early 70's.

Re: Be careful out in the garage! I ran a drill through my face!
 

I'll tell you what, I WILL be getting a good face shield tomorrow. I am a big believer in protecting ourselves while working and this was a brain fart on my part.

Yeah, I was drilling out a 1/4" pop rivet holding the bumper bracket to the rear of the this Fiat 500e. The rivet is vertical. I was on my knees pushing up on this rivet with the drill real hard because the rivet was spinning. I did the job with the rivet head cutting off and when that happened my force brought it right back into my face.

Brian

Re: Be careful out in the garage! I ran a drill through my face!
 

This!

Re: Be careful out in the garage! I ran a drill through my face!
 

Believe me, I was so friggin scared after it happened I was bleeding big time the guys in the shop mopping it up and giving me shop rags and paper towels to stop it. One looked at it and the look on his face made me think my nose was ripped off.

But the second I realized I could see, even thought my face was as numb as it was hit by a baseball bat that second I realized I could see was pretty nice.

Brian

Re: Be careful out in the garage! I ran a drill through my face!
 

Glad to hear it wasn't any worse. You cannot let your guard down regardless of how mundane the job seems.

Accidents happen when you least expect them. I learned and relearned that a few times in my life.

I enjoy and have learned much from your narratives over the years. Thanks for that.

Re: Be careful out in the garage! I ran a drill through my face!
 

Yikes Brian! Glad you're OK!
Takes guts to share your misfortune but glad you did as this is how we all learn (hopefully) to be more safe.

Re: Be careful out in the garage! I ran a drill through my face!
 

I preach PROTECT YOURSELF on forums and at work, so my mistake hopefully will stop someone else from doing it.

This life is so precious and it kills me when I see guys sanding and grinding without protection on breathing that paint and metal.

I am human and this is what happens when a human doesn't protect themselves properly!

I sure hope it gets better as this numbness SUCKS. But if this is as good as it gets it's a lot better than what I thought as I was on my hands and knees bleeding out like a stuck pig.

Brian

Re: Be careful out in the garage! I ran a drill through my face!
 

just what you needed, another hole in the head. :)

I've drilled most of the way through my right hand before. No fun.

Re: Be careful out in the garage! I ran a drill through my face!
 

When you go face shield hunting take a good look at the Sellstrom DP4
Mine is a bit dirty from hanging on the torch cart
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...t/IMG_2360.jpg

http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...t/IMG_2362.jpg

http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...t/IMG_2361.jpg

http://www.sellstrom.com/store/Dp4%e...ategory=safety

I found mine at the Oxarc store. They aren't cheap but I find that I wear it a lot more than the other ones I have and it wraps around my face to keep chips from coming up under it when I am grinding. The green shield works for plasma or cutting torch but is too dark for welding with a torch. The green shield will pop right off if you don't want it in the way though.

Re: Be careful out in the garage! I ran a drill through my face!
 

I have never liked shields, I use goggles and dust masks and ear protection about every single time I pickup a tool no matter how small the job. Never with drills though! I will now!!!!!!!

Funny you should post this, I just walked in from the hardware store getting a 3m mask. It is the very minimum but I HAD to get one today. I now will be shopping for a better one like you have. I have one like this for gas welding with a tinted lense of course.
https://www.amazon.com/HONEYWELL-S85...EFGXFK81BFHVGT

I think I will get another for grinding.

Brian

Re: Be careful out in the garage! I ran a drill through my face!
 

Or maybe get you a mask like iron man uses..impervious to drill bits, lasers, fire and anything from outer space...haha

Re: Be careful out in the garage! I ran a drill through my face!
 

Glad you weren't hurt worse! Hope you are taking precautions against infection.

Re: Be careful out in the garage! I ran a drill through my face!
 

I am on antibiotics. The broken nasal passage is a wide open window to infection I guess. So that was a given, take antibiotics. I am still surprised they didn't find a piece of metal in there with the cat-scan.

Brian

Re: Be careful out in the garage! I ran a drill through my face!
 

When I worked at Midas in the mid 70's we had bump caps/hard hats with tinted half shields that we wore all the time. The manager put them together for the employees. They worked pretty well unless you forgot to lower the shield.

Re: Be careful out in the garage! I ran a drill through my face!
 

Glad to hear. I was thinking about this today. Get better.