Moments ago, I had the closest experience I've ever had with death.

I'm sitting in my living room floor, with MasterChiefette onlooking to my left, as I was about to cut a hole in the top of the case for my Xbox project (see sig). I prepared my Dremel like usual, and had a drill bit set in, prepared to drill out a couple holes in the center, then cut and file my way down to a perfect circle. No big deal, right?

Well, I fired up the Dremel and as I gradually increased speed to the highest level, still not making any contact with the case, the Dremel suddenly made an extremely loud noise, with the end spinning insanely fast. The Dremel's unusual sound was immediately followed—split-second—by a loud thump, with some crackling. Immediately, I'm like "WTF?!" I look over, and the sliding glass door to my patio to my immediate right is shattering before my eyes. Holy sweet Jesus.

Upon investigation of what went wrong, I noticed that my Dremel was empty. The drill bit I prepared was broken off down in the shank, and the rest of the shaft was missing.

Looking at the situation more closely, do you realize just how close to death both MasterChiefette and I both were? Imagine if that bit had've swirled off to my left instead of the right. It would've impaled her, which is a sad and sickening thought. What if it would've went back instead of to the right? It would've only had to travel about two feet before entering my skull at an unknown speed.

I was taking pictures of the mod in progress, so I had the digital camera all set for the end result, but it wasn't what I expected. Take a look.

Close one bro............I hope you guys are alright
I had a Disc fly off when using my Dremal befor......
In Coming...........Watch out.....

That's why when I work on something I wear Safety Glass and Long Pants.....

The real question is whether or not both of you where wearing eye protection.

[Edit] - Dammit beaten by Thrasher!

Quote: Originally Posted by THRASHER2 Close one bro............I hope you guys are alright I had a Disc fly off when using my Dremal befor...... In Coming...........Watch out..... That's why when I work on something I wear Safety Glass and Long Pants.....

Safety glasses and pants wouldn't have saved either of us from being impaled by a broken-off drill bit, travelling at probably 100MPH? I don't know.

Quote: Originally Posted by RexBeans Explosion The real question is whether or not both of you where wearing eye protection

To answer your "real question:"
Neither of us were wearing eye protection. She just stopped in to see what I was doing for a second. I usually rarely wear any sort of safety stuff. Although I just might start now.

Subdismal... Damn!

I was wondering how much it would have hurt to have been hit by that... after seeing that window, I'd have to say glad it didn't hit either of you!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by THRASHER2 That's why when I work on something I wear Safety Glass and Long Pants.....

Yeah, I had a piece of cutting wheel snap off and lodge in the lens of my safety glasses... I wouldn't have been wearing those glasses, I'd have probably been in the hospital.

when using any kind of power tools, you should be wearing safety equipment.

whenever i sand, use the dremel, or drill, i got eye protection and a breathing mask so i don't inhale the dust particles.

glad to hear you two are ok.

I've picked pieces of shattered cutting wheels out of my face and chest before. But, I do wear safety goggles. I would rather lose a limb than an eye.

Let's all keep three things in mind here:

#1 - HOLY SH*T! LOOK AT THAT FREAKIN' DOOR!!!!

#2 - Anything short of body armor wouldn't stop a flyin' drill bit

#3 - Always use drill bits in DRILLS. Most aren't rated for the speeds a Dremel runs at.

Play safe kids!

HOLY CRAP!
Im so glad you both are alright.

That is truely an amazing story and those pictures are crazy.

Wow you are lucky man, I was using a Dremel to cut a hole in glass once and the damn glass broke in my hand....needless to say i put on some thick gloves

i can count how many times i have been cut by a case fan lol, i guess that is just my own fault

Glad to hear no one lost an eye.....or more

Odds are if it hit you - it'd have stung bad but unless it hit tip first I doubt it'd have left a scratch. If it hit your eye you'd have been screwed though.

HP, there's one thing to note about your #3: this is the drill bit that came with my Dremel. Not only did my Dremel come with attatchments, but it also came with a couple drill bits.



I'm still in awe that this happened. I've priced a replacement piece of glass for this, and if I buy it new, it's going to range me anywhere from $200-400, depending on parts availability. Luckilly, a friend of the family has a spare door like this, since he does home improvement work. I'll buy the door from him, and pay him cheap to put it in. So, everything's alright on that end of things.

A lot of you commented about wearing safety protection items, masks, eyeglasses, etc., and I'll be honest, I never wear those. But, just as in all parts of life, it just takes one big mess up for you to realize what you need to be doing—safety glasses and other safety items will be purchased and stocked up on before continuing work with these tools.

Thank you all for your concern, and glad you liked those RAD pictures, haha.

100mph isn't that fast, only about 150fps, so it was probably going a lot faster than that.... I mean, im sure it woulda drawn quite a bit of blood, but it wasnt a bullet. It doesnt take a whole lot to break glass, ive had my airsoft gun crack glass before, and it'll go clean through (hole, not shatter) a lightbulb. Glad your both allright tho and nobody lost an eye. Definitly good eye protection is a must, and long pants and sleeves are a plus. I'm just curious how a dril bit managed to shear off like that and have a lateral trajectory, it must've bent over somehow and been spinning around before it broke off.

Quote: Originally Posted by subdismal HP, there's one thing to note about your #3: this is the drill bit that came with my Dremel. Not only did my Dremel come with attatchments, but it also came with a couple drill bits. I'm still in awe that this happened. I've priced a replacement piece of glass for this, and if I buy it new, it's going to range me anywhere from $200-400, depending on parts availability. Luckilly, a friend of the family has a spare door like this, since he does home improvement work. I'll buy the door from him, and pay him cheap to put it in. So, everything's alright on that end of things. A lot of you commented about wearing safety protection items, masks, eyeglasses, etc., and I'll be honest, I never wear those. But, just as in all parts of life, it just takes one big mess up for you to realize what you need to be doing—safety glasses and other safety items will be purchased and stocked up on before continuing work with these tools. Thank you all for your concern, and glad you liked those RAD pictures, haha.

Well then chalk it up to bad luck! LOL...glad you made it out alive. I used to never wear safety glasses. Then I got contacts. I DEFINITELY wear them now. Craftsman makes some nice ones with lights built in. Great for modding and the overall geek look.

z87 safety glasses are extremely strong I dont know the exact strength. But one of there tests is to drop a pointed 10lb weight from 20ft on the the glasses. Anyways Dang.. that would still do lot of damage to w/e else it could have hit.

It begs the question... How many PR members have been killed or maimed and we just figure they left PR...????

Creepy thought.

Glad to here that you and MasterChiefette are ok.

Quote: Originally Posted by Iateronmly Odds are if it hit you - it'd have stung bad but unless it hit tip first I doubt it'd have left a scratch. If it hit your eye you'd have been screwed though.

I agree.........it probably would've smarted.............but death.....not.............The only reason your doorwall cracked like it did.....tempered glass

Quote: Originally Posted by hp07 #3 - Always use drill bits in DRILLS. Most aren't rated for the speeds a Dremel runs at.

Both dremels i've had came with drill bits, but you're right, i dont know why, since drilling is more about torque, which dremels have hardly any... I've never used the drill bits, if i'm using my dremel to put a hole im something i'm gonna use an abrative bit and just wear a hole through whatever, like putting two holes in a bawls bottle. That took forever though...

Quote: Originally Posted by Dreyco z87 safety glasses are extremely strong I dont know the exact strength. But one of there tests is to drop a pointed 10lb weight from 20ft on the the glasses. Anyways Dang.. that would still do lot of damage to w/e else it could have hit. It begs the question... How many PR members have been killed or maimed and we just figure they left PR...???? Creepy thought.

Testing saftey glasses like that... I'd think an impact like that would crush the saftey glasses into your head. As for maiming, i think any deaths resulting from modding would be weird enough circumstances to make Fark or something and someone here'd pick up on it.

Oh, we thought the madness was over for the night, did we? How wrong are we? Very wrong.

So, I'm just hanging out in my room, MasterChiefette and I, I'm playing some Warcraft, typical nightly activites after the mayhem of today.

We heard a loud shatterring noise from the living room. What's this? The spidered glass fell more? OH WAIT, WTF?! A giant kamikaze "moth" just went Al Queda on the rest of the glass. This crazy little bugger's flying around inside my house. It would be fine if it was just a run-of-the-mill moth, but I have never saw anything quite like this creepy thing.

PICTURES!
The chunk the moth knocked out.


"Take me to your leader."
Have any of you ever saw a freaking moth like this?!