Score is 80mb hd =1; Finger = 8 - stitches that is. Winner is Hard Drive

Yes you guessed it, I severely crushed and sliced open the first finger on right hand while preparing to move an 80mb hard drive.

This hard drive located in back seat of my car, was one I got at a DEC Garage sale.



Mind you at 56.7 Kg or 125lb its not exactly light. I am 65yo and weigh 51kg so its actually heavier than me.

Its a Mini Module Drive made in 1981, build BZ5A1B. I will do a separate post about it and how it goes as I try to get it running.

Anyway reason for and thus Moral of this post is, no matter how much safety training one goes through over the years and how careful we are, accidents can and do happen.

This MMD had taken 2 people a struggle to get it in, so by myself I knew it was going to be a real challenge to get out. In case you wonder, boot was full and so was trailer, and I had felt back seat was best place for drive, to get the smoothest ride.

This accident happened because I was getting tired. Had been a long day, and at about 4pm, with less than an hr of light left, and I was beginning to hurry to get the 5ft high DEC 8550 mainframe rack out of trailer, then move trailer; so I could then get the drive out of backseat of car and into my bungalow, before darkness and expected night rain.

I had just finished lifting the 8550 rack with my 2.5 ton crawler crane and was folding one of the outriggers when the heavy steel foot swung in and jammed my finger. Blood every where and cursing occurred. Needless to say, it took about a long minute for me to free the now damaged finger, before wrapping it in bandage, then spending the next hr finishing the tasks I had to do, including getting the MMD out of car.



From a earlier in day, pic I took, you can see the 'Culprit' outrigger extended on Lh side of crane.

Then I took a trip to seek medical assistance. 8 stitches later, I came home to the other half saying "I thought you WERE DOWNSIZING ?. Did you NOT say you WERE getting rid of all things, you could not lift with 2 hands ?. You know your dad was in a nursing home by 80, so you don't have long to enjoy these BIG objects". She then commented " and who by then, other than a scrap metal merchant will want most of your bits ? "

Anyways this MMD Drive is safe from the scrap metal bloke that was collecting everything that did not sell at garage sale. And my finger will heal soon enough.

Only annoying thing is the 8550 had been gutted of all electronics by time I got to see it, and turns out, its wider than a std 19" rack, so maybe it will end up as shelving cabinet, complete with DEC 8550 logo on top.

While it's sometimes inconvenient to keep it around when it's not in use, that's one very nice thing about the box truck we've got: no more trying to lower a very heavy system into a trunk or back seat. So much easier and *safer* to move around equipment and furniture (file cabinets! full-size office desks!). At least it was just stitches, and no major damage!

Very cool crane, too!

I got a pretty good finger pinch while maneuvering a bush hog mower suspended from a tractor's forks when the tractor operator (thanks, Dad ) jerked the elevation control and it slipped in the slings. Probably should've gotten stitches. Dad didn't even shut the engine down, I wrapped it up in a clean shop towel from my truck toolbox just to have him shout, "is it still attached? Get back over here and help get it upright!" Still, I think I prefer having a bit of a split in the side of a finger than a bruised nail. I think the last time I did that was on a Briggs and Stratton flywheel...spun it around by the fins to test new points/magneto, nail got pinched under one of the bosses for the magneto!

Gloves matter a lot when moving heavy stuff.

OUCH!!!!!! :shock:

Several years back, I nearly got killed while trying to get this 80lb behemoth off of my workbench:



Stupidly, I tried to pull it straight forward. Gave it a hard yank by the rack handles, and the momentum propelled me backwards. If it hadn't been for the fact that there happened to be a large pile of junk on the floor behind where I was standing, it probably would've landed right on my chest. Instead, I was able to brace myself against the junk pile, and prevent the receiver from falling off the bench and onto me. Probably one of the few instances where being a packrat collector has saved someone's life...
-Adam

Occasionally the gods of the old mainframes require a blood sacrifice; the old radio gods have their demands too. The worst thing is that we are all getting older and not capable of what we once were, but now have the money and resources to bring about our own destruction.

Qbus said:

Occasionally the gods of the old mainframes require a blood sacrifice; the old radio gods have their demands too. The worst thing is that we are all getting older and not capable of what we once were, but now have the money and resources to bring about our own destruction.

Click to expand...

So apt. Thank for this amazing gem. How true it is.

Adam,

I think the heavier the item, the more interesting it is to work on. Also requires a lot more planing and gives one a chance to dwell on the real reason one is working on it in the first place.

Now imagine if this wonderful Radio unit, had simply been an apple iPod, you had glued handles to. You would have ended up not just on floor, but probably either out on the street or in your neighbour's garden.

Chuck(G) said:

Gloves matter a lot when moving heavy stuff.

Click to expand...

I agree Chuck,

I do wear very thick welding gloves if I am trying to move items that have sharp edges and are heavy.

However in this instance, due to tiredness and hurrying I made an error of judgement.

The crane out riggers when extended have the shape of a inverted capital V, like the A without the horizontal. with one end connected to crane and other end touches the ground.
Normally I just hydraulically retract it sligthly till the end is off the ground, then remove the pivot lock pin at the apex of the V. and then fully retract the outrigger leg till the crane side is vertical. During retraction, the free ground side simply folds by gravity to a vertical position alongside the other.

My error was I retracted the crane side fully. It was now vertical with the pivot point at top. I took hold of the ground side leg, taking its weight and with left hand pulled the lock pin. This heavy ground side leg had become almost Horizontal, now swung down so quickly, I was not prepared and it just pulled my fingers with it, slamming my fingers between the stationary leg and it.

To make matters worse this outer ground leg does not just lie alongside the inner leg, but actually tucks into a recess in it. So Boy did it make a mess of finger.
Gloves in this case would have not made a huge difference, unless they had been very heavy leather. Injury was mix of crush and guiloteen

I've done some silly things with heavy stuff and lived to tell about it, too.

One thing that I've learned is that if something big or hot is going to fall, one should get out of the way and let nature take its course. Trying to stop any of that with your puny little body is going to come to grief.

Well, it's good that you still can be counted among the living.

You know that you have a very understanding wife when she doesn't move out while you use a crane to move one of your collectibles out of a trailer...