Reminder to self: Wear safety glasses when clipping leads or cutting metal!

[bluesdevil]

Last night I was clipping the legs off the IC sockets I soldered in and one of them flew right into my eyeball!!!
I had to dig it out with a wet Q-tip and it was not easy. This is the second time this has happened to me. About seven years ago, I was cutting a sheet of aluminum with a jigsaw and a nasty jagged bur did the same thing... that REALLY hurt to get out.
   I was lucky I could take care of it myself, but I learned my lesson to wear those freakin' safety glasses!!!!!!!!!!!!

[John Lyons]

I have to wear glasses now for detailed work and I always have leads hitting them. 
If you don't wear glasses make sure to turn the board away from yourself when clipping at least.
Sorry to hear about it man. 

[bluesdevil]

Thanks John, I think it's a clue I might need glasses to help with my sight as well.

[Maik]

Hey bluedevil, I´m working in a ami-concern in Germany. If we want to go ! throu a production hall we have to wear safty glasses.
On every work (I mean real handwork) it´s a must to wear glasses.
So we reduce axidents from 12/year to 1/year.

In younger years I was thinking that wearing PSA is gay.  Now I´m old and wise. You just have 2 eyes and they are not comming back if you loose one.

[deadastronaut]

i wear glasses now... ....couldn't do any reading/soldering without them...

have been useful when etching too...tiny little splashes etc...

[cjlectronics]

I was repairing a guitar pedal and was removing wires from one of the jacks by holding the soldering iron on the solder terminal and pulling the wire off.  A blob of solder flew up and hit me in the face right below my left eye. It scared the be-jesus out of me and I wear safety glasses whenever I sit down at my bench... no matter what I'm doing!!

[nosamiam]

I was working on my truck's brakes a couple months back and had a real scare. I was trying to stretch the ends of this heavy-duty spring over two pins. You use a prying tool to do it. The spring slipped off the tool and shot straight at my face. Hit me in the glasses and knocked them off my face. They landed about 10 feet away from me! If I didn't wear glasses already, I probably wouldn't have thought to wear goggles.

Be safe!!

[bean]

Those IC pins really like to fly....I can get them to go 5 or 6 feet sometimes! Actually, I usually face the pins downward when clipping so they just go into the work desk, but I've had a few close calls myself. I'm glad you avoided any serious injury 

[Tony Forestiere]

My son was grinding some angle iron and caught a small metal sliver in the white of his eye. He gently removed it with a pair of tweezers and thought all was well. About two or three days later, his eye swelled up and turned a funny pinkish-red and greenish-purple  color. He went to his ophthalmologist and found that his eye had "rusted".  In short, the following procedure was painful, expensive, temporarily debilitating, and...PAINFUL. He always wears full goggles now.

You only have two eyes, Protect them!

[robmdall]

I have worn glasses for about 30 years. I cannot tell you how many times they have saved my sight, and I consider myself a safe person.

I'm not sure how you non-glass wearing folks still have both eyes 

[bluesdevil]

My son was grinding some angle iron and caught a small metal sliver in the white of his eye. He gently removed it with a pair of tweezers and thought all was well. About two or three days later, his eye swelled up and turned a funny pinkish-red and greenish-purple  color. He went to his ophthalmologist and found that his eye had "rusted".  In short, the following procedure was painful, expensive, temporarily debilitating, and...PAINFUL. He always wears full goggles now.

You only have two eyes, Protect them!

Yikes! Now that story is enough to make anybody wear safety glasses from here on out!!!

[CodeMonk]

I wear glasses.
I have also been working with electronics since 1981 or so.

Over the years I used various techniques, etc. for this.
This is what I do these days.
Basically I use my thumb and 2nd finger on the cutters.
Then i hold my first finger over the cutters.



This also keeps the leads from being bounced all over the room.

[sundgist]

My son was grinding some angle iron and caught a small metal sliver in the white of his eye. He gently removed it with a pair of tweezers and thought all was well. About two or three days later, his eye swelled up and turned a funny pinkish-red and greenish-purple  color. He went to his ophthalmologist and found that his eye had "rusted".   In short, the following procedure was painful, expensive, temporarily debilitating, and...PAINFUL. He always wears full goggles now.

You only have two eyes, Protect them!

Similar thing happened to me almost 20 years ago. I had to go to A&E to have the sliver removed from the coloured part of my eye. The doctor had to push a fine needle in to my eye to hook the thing out. Also left a rust ring, you can still see a blemish where it was.

Goggles everytime from then on.

@CodeMonk: ^^^I do that too

[DavenPaget]

I wear glasses.
I have also been working with electronics since 1981 or so.

Over the years I used various techniques, etc. for this.
This is what I do these days.
Basically I use my thumb and 2nd finger on the cutters.
Then i hold my first finger over the cutters.



This also keeps the leads from being bounced all over the room.

I cut with my right hand and cover the area with my right hand 

[Renegadrian]

yeah always have the board at a safety distance from the face, and trying to keep flying leads to ground!