Did something dumb today.

[Old Greenhorn]

DO dumb things, win dumb prizes. I did it bigtime today, well I started doing it two weeks ago, but I got the big finale today for my effort.
 I have been madly trying to get this new to me trailer ready for my first show of the season (tomorrow). I installed new wiring, a battery, switches, gauges, etc about two weeks ago to handle lights, USB charging at shows and other stuff. When I put that all in, I put an inline fuse at the positive terminal strip, about 12' from the battery. I did not have one to put on right at the battery and I knew I should have one right at the source, but figured I'd pick one up on my next shopping trip and stick it in. I forgot. Everything worked just fine, I kept moving on and got it all done. Today I did my final packing and tying down. All looked good, quite fine in fact. I was happy and just dressing things up. One of the things I wanted to do was screw a pool noodle on the side door header because I kept whacking my noggin' on it and dang, it hurts! So I ran a few screws in and had trouble with the cheap foam, the screws would cut right through I had to try a few times. I caught an odd smell while I was getting frustrated and thought somebody was burning plastic trash. I looked around, found nothing, kept working, smelled it stronger, then noticed white smoke rolling out of the top of the front wall inside the trailer. Not good. Of course the battery is buried under some stuff I have strapped in. I glance at the meters and they are blank, not power on them. I quickly unstrap and start removing the gear and finally get to the battery and removed the positive feed. Damage was done, oh BOY was damage done. That positive feed from the breakout box to my terminal strips was absolutely fried right through. Yeah, in case you haven't figured teat out yet, I ran one of the 'noodle screws' right through that wire causing a direct short. So I puled and cut out all the melted part I could get to and dead ran a fresh new wire and fix a few other wires that got damaged. Took about an hour and a lot of contortions. Everything works, all hoked back up. I will get an inline fuse and install it at my earliest opportunity. Man that was stupid, still is until I fix it right. I almost burned the whole trailer, and all my stock, to the ground. Glad that Styrofoam insulation is not flammable.

[RetiredTech]

Now that sounds like something I would do.
Glad the trailer and your stock survived.

[Texas Ranger]

I drove a sheet rock screw though a 110 volt romex, shocking experience. One wire in an 8 foot wall.

[Old Greenhorn]

I hate romex. Call me an old fart or whatever, but I like BX in walls, I know it's a PITA to work with, takes longer, and costs more, but it makes  it hard for idiots like me the screw up. 

[firefighter ontheside]

Tom, that's just bad luck.  What are the odds?

[GAB]

Tom, that's just bad luck.  What are the odds?

With his luck, or lack there of, the odds are pretty good.
GAB

[aigheadish]

Whoa, nuts! Glad you figured it out quickly! It's not common for me to screw stuff to walls with maybe power behind them but when I think about it it's always nerve wracking. I have a wall in my shop that needs some covering and I should remember to take a picture of where the power is first... 

[doc henderson]

I try to have a standard (if only to me} and put wired going across a wall at the same height so I can avoid this.  you can put the metal cover over wood to stop penetration, but in a thin wall you may hit it between supports.  I have weather-proof 12v breakers on my dc stuff.  some are resettable and others cool off and reset.

[DbltreeBelgians]

Tom, did you say you hate romex? Hmmm?
Remember my post #34? I'm not seeing the issue
Ok I guess screws and wiring could be an issue 

Brent

Sawmills and Milling / Re: Did something dumb today.
September 04, 2023, 03:44:36 PM
We'll it's my turn,
I sent Bill a text of these pictures and story to make sure it passed muster for this thread.  ;D  @firefighter ontheside 
Anyhow I was moving a drill press into an addition I built onto my shop and noticed the table was out of level on it so I decided to level it out. After getting it level I was tightening the nut on the trunnion and I put my hand on the base and felt a tingle. Nah that wasn't a shock so I put the wrench on the nut and my left hand on the base and zap!!   What the??
So I unplugged the drill press and commenced to analyze the situation. The drill press checked out ok so I got my handy dandy little 3 light tester out to test the receptacle. Hmmm it said hot/neutral reversed. I call BS!
I tested the others on the wall and all checked ok. Time to pull the receptacle. Kill the breaker. Break out the Fluke meter. Pulled a couple other receptacle's to find the source of my issue. Checked continuity on the hot. It's ok. Checked the neutral. That checks good too. Checked ground. Hmmm, say open. Turned breaker back on and started testing. Noticed some ground wires looked loose in one of the outlet boxes. Grabbed the needle nose pliers and gave them a good twist. Test again. Still showing open ground on the suspect receptacle. Check another box. Twist some more ground wires. Now why did them needle nose pliers go flying across my shop. franken-smiley Oh yeah the breaker. Kill it again. 
Back to suspect outlet box. Grabbed ground wire and gave a tug. It moved. We'll that ain't right. Pulled half of the ground wire between boxes out of the romex sheath. Houston we have a problem. Grabbed the hot wire and started pulling and I felt it pop and half of it pulled out too. Now I got issues. Here's what I found.



 

Now what's the odds of that 4" screw finding it's way into that little hole that's cross drilled in the stud and piercing that romex? Apparently pretty good. Now ya know why they nail them little metal plates on studs near a wire or pipe chase.
All I know is I got pretty *DanG lucky and might wanna play the lottery.
Had that been a pine stud and not hardwood and no insulation in the stud pocket my shop might have torched.



 

That screw has been there for several years. It was attaching a stair stringer to the wall. I never gave it a thought when I put it in that I'd line up perfectly with that wire chase. 3-1/2" screw would've never touched it.
The red circle is where the screw was.



 

Be careful y'all 

Brent

[doc henderson]

Hey Brent, Thanks for doing that so we could all learn our lesson.  

[SawyerTed]

This is an example of poor planning.  Dumb...

The hopping Johnny and plate compactor were already rented today. 

[Southside]

Uh oh - how many square feet is the new addition? 

[SawyerTed]

576 square feet.  

[Southside]

Well you won't need to do any arm and shoulder workouts at the gym for a while......

[Peter Drouin]

Hope you put a lot of water on it. If your doing concrete. That will help settle the sand.

[burdman_22]

Well it's not the most dumb thing you'll find on here, but I did my first dumb thing on day one of owning my mill, and with the practice log provided for the woodmizer training! The osage orange log they had me mill for training had metal in it! Sawed through that piece of metal like 7 times (trainer sawed through it the first several times and I sawed though it a few times too).

[SawyerTed]

At least now you are familiar with the sound of hitting metal - Zzziiinnnggg!  

[Magicman]

Sawed through that piece of metal like 7 times (trainer sawed through it the first several times and I sawed though it a few times too).

Yikes, but again there was an audience. 

[thecfarm]

And a new blade.

[burdman_22]

Honestly I wad a bit surprised that they supplied a log with metal in it, made several cuts through the metal, but then didn't offer me a new blade or offer to sharpen it or anything.

[Magicman]

Looking back, I am sure that you know what you shoulda done, but that is now behind you. 

Whether you can continue the cut depends upon the angle of the nail

 

The above two pictures show nails that were perpendicular to the blade and I was able to continue sawing to the cant end.  I actually maybe could have continued sawing but the blade marks would have been bad and the blade probably would have heated up and lost tension. 


This one was at and angle and the blade immediately took a dive.  There was nothing to do but get the chainsaw out.

[Nebraska]

So I found out today just how good a three point tiller is at winding wire. 😖   

Found some long rotted off snow fence buried in the weeds at a friend's new place he's working on. Found an old T post with it.  
Wire was good but all the little lath boards were gone. 

[Southside]

Disc mowers are really good at doing that too - or so i have heard. 

[Resonator]

Kind of like snow blowers that can wind extension cords like a winch... or so I've been told.

[K-Guy]

I've heard jeep axles are good at retrieving barbed wire.