Tools/Equipment that you're afraid to use?

[littletoes]

those of you who do not like hi lift jacks try what we call rail road jacks, works on the same princaple but will easly lift 5 tons and will do more if you put a cheater on it, like lift one end of a 26,000 pound chiller up so you can put multitons under it. Thats another scary tool, the multiton is a small tracked piece of a equipment to roll large heavy objects. Think a mine tank with a swivel pad on top that you put large objects on. Now large is in the 2k up to 20k pound range.

I LOVE multi-ton rollers!

They make big jobs easy! Just don't forget to run 'em on steel plates, otherwise they will EAT concrete.

 

[SeattleKent]

Ladders. Actually being up on a roof. Use to do it all the time without a worry. A friend of a friend was up on the roof fixing the window over the front door. Wife came out 10 minutes later and found him dead on the sidewalk. A couple of month later another friend of a friend slipped while cleaning his gutters. Now I only go up when full roped up while wearing roofer shoes. Even then I'm pretty nervious.

 

[bassbone52]

A heavy-duty right angle drill can throw a man off of a ladder if he hits a nail or some other obstruction while drilling in a stud wall. It happened to me. Those things develop tremendous torque through all that reduction gearing.

 

[camarotoolman]

Not so much any tool, but I am afraid to go under anything, I have been almost killed twice with stuff falling on me. I don't like big router/ shaper bits in wood shops.

 

[57JoeFoMoPar]

Cut off wheels scare me. After a near miss I don't use one without either a guard or a face mask. Other than that, I just try to respect all the machines and take my time. Haste is a sure way to cause an accident

 

[Kevin54]

I'm not afraid of any tools or equipment but I have a very fond respect for them. I've found out over the years of breaking guys in that the ones that were afraid were the first ones to get hurt. I always start out slowly to see what the machine does then figure out what it is capable of.

 

[zoomzoomjeff]

Have enough healthy respect for most everything.

Except routers. They scare the **** outta me. When hand-held, I always envision the 20,000 rpm bit coming loose and gouging out all kinds of tendons and muscle fibers. And when in a table, I envision the piece slipping and taking out......all kinds of tendons and muscle fibers. Routers freak me out.

 

[slidehammer]

using a milwaukee hole hawg rite angle drill, doing a 'hot tap', driving a hole saw, on a 10' step ladder, leaning on it to 'get er done'.
the saw 'dug' in, causing the drill to knock me into tomorrow.
saw stars after i came to.
it's a wonder i didnt fall off the ladder.

Hole Hawgs "dig in" so often and with such violence that I just assume they're going to and position myself and the handle bar accordingly. I'm almost surprised now when they don't.

 

[slidehammer]

Ladders. Actually being up on a roof. Use to do it all the time without a worry. A friend of a friend was up on the roof fixing the window over the front door. Wife came out 10 minutes later and found him dead on the sidewalk. A couple of month later another friend of a friend slipped while cleaning his gutters. Now I only go up when full roped up while wearing roofer shoes. Even then I'm pretty nervious.

Good point. Falls from ladders have probably resulted in more deaths than all the other tools mentioned in this thread combined.

 

[littletoes]

Hole Hawgs "dig in" so often and with such violence that I just assume they're going to and position myself and the handle bar accordingly. I'm almost surprised now when they don't.

Forgot about Hole Hawgs.....just flat refuse to use them! AND still have all my teeth!

 

[Grogan14]

Forgot about Hole Hawgs.....just flat refuse to use them! AND still have all my teeth!

Any plumbing or electrical contractor not using a modern right angle heavy-duty drill with a clutch that slips in the low range, like the Dewalt DW124 or the Super Hawg, is a fool.

 

[Grogan14]

Ladders. Actually being up on a roof.

I remember reading somewhere, a long way back, that something like 65% of all falls from a distance greater than 15 feet result in fatality. A very successful local construction contractor worth millions died from just about that height awhile back, while climbing a ladder to check on his crew.

 

[The Dutchman]

ball joint presses employed (sometimes by necessity) at crotch height.

 

[Goldboattail455]

Digital Storage Oscilloscope

 

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Car crusher.

 

[dseybert]

I've never met a hydraulic press that didn't scare the **** out of me. There's something about watching that pressure gauge climb and wondering when something's going to give or when the stack of **** is going to buckle and shoot through my abdomen...