Things that terrify you on the bench.

[Cyberdragon]

I agree, the cat.
Especially when he tries to drill or grind Beryllium.
He is for the most part, isolated from the lab by a heavy duty screened door. He tends not to whine as much if he can see and hear what's going on. (From the other side that is.) To many things to kill all 9 lives in here.
Pictures soon.

Your cat can drill? We definately need a photo of that!

[radar_macgyver]

I suspect much of the legend around how dangerous radars are is a result of hazing/initiation rites among radar techs in the military. I haven't been around a radar that outputs more than a megawatt, but you still treat them with respect. That's probably what the hazing was intended to do. The one time I was exposed to high power RF, it felt like a sunlamp.

Stuff on my bench that I shy away from include chop saws and table saws. Quadcopters with carbon fiber blades can be quite dangerous indoors.

[JohnPen]

Back in the 60s the Royal Radar Establishment in Great Malvern UK had a very long range radar that used to switch off it's beam when pointing to towards the hills.  The hills were only about a mile away and it was believed that it could be a damaging to people walking there.   It was capable of tracking aircraft flying over the Nederlands etc.

[SeanB]

Aircraft RADAR array test box was a nice box lined with carbon foam waffle on the walls. Replace any of the foam and you had to burn it in first, which meant rolling it to the window, shoving the end outside and running the unit under test for about an hour till the smoke cleared and it was burnt in. The smell lingered for about 2 weeks though.  Magnetron test load on the bench was a section of rectangular waveguide around a quarter meter long, tapering in thickness from the flange to a weld at the end. Inside it was filled with a blend of ferrite powder and copper dust, with an epoxy added to keep the lot in place in the waveguide. Made a pretty efficient place to warm up pies, just put them on the top in the wrapping and foil, and leave for 5 minutes till piping hot. Paper of the pie would be brown and charred underneath from the heat, but the pies were fine as the foil base provided enough heat spreading.

Now we also used the test bench to check AWS systems, so doing that we had to make sure no flights were overhead, they did not like getting that lock on warning from testing using the actual missile seeker pattern.

Now, on my bench I have some bottles of ethanol 180 proof, some methanol 95% pure and some MEK solvent, all in glass bottles. Never use them directly but always fill a small dropper bottle with the solvent instead, so the amount on the bench is limited ,and it is easier to apply where needed.

[beenosam]

Hydrochloric acid. I cleaned of some cat piss and shit with it, after my cat shat and pissed one my bench and into my "Allstrom" (able to be powered by a dc and ac grid) tube amp. The acid corroded everything nearby....

Guess my cat didn't like it, when I wasn't home for some days.....

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I would not have a cat after that :-o

[paulca]

Hydrochloric acid. I cleaned of some cat piss and shit with it, after my cat shat and pissed one my bench and into my "Allstrom" (able to be powered by a dc and ac grid) tube amp. The acid corroded everything nearby....

Guess my cat didn't like it, when I wasn't home for some days.....

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I would not have a cat after that :-o

I think the cat is telling you something.  You have not lived up to it's standards.  Tut tut.  Though shalt be a good owner.  Your master cat demands it.

[chipss]

The tip cleaner cracked me up, just stuffed in a new one and got a new sponge, not have much left of the originals....sometimes it’s the small things 

[Tflynn6693]

Finding out I fed DC into my spectrum analyzer!

Tom

[peteb2]

For me it's opening up a piece of gear for repair that the owner says they've had a look-see at previously. It's not so common these days but i used to have some real nightmares where the owner said they'd tightened up; "all the loose screws", meaning every pot or trim capacitor was way off and the circuitry way out of any alignment. Faulty equipment that was now also a mile out of alignment was often a recipe for disaster meaning hours of work while there was all too often no money in bothering to pursue fixing the thing because the owner wouldn't want to pay....

[Teledog]

Unstable glasses of liquor (ie: wine or those feakishly tall beer glasses)..with bits of scrap underneath..making the glass even more unstable.
But hey, if Big Clive can do it..there may be hope for all! 

[Mr. Scram]

Unstable glasses of liquor (ie: wine or those feakishly tall beer glasses)..with bits of scrap underneath..making the glass even more unstable.
But hey, if Big Clive can do it..there may be hope for all! 

Solution: remove liquor.

[jgalak]

Unstable glasses of liquor (ie: wine or those feakishly tall beer glasses)..with bits of scrap underneath..making the glass even more unstable.
But hey, if Big Clive can do it..there may be hope for all! 

Solution: remove liquor.

Better solution: drink the liquor.   

[Calambres]

I've had my share of mains jolts over the years: waaaay back when the usual mains voltage here was 125V, then 220V, then 230V and now 240V. I've tasted them all 
I'm glad I've never had 380V three phase mains! 

I usually deal with valve guitar amplifiers and although I've never been bitten I must confess it scares the hell out of me: I always (try to) follow the "one hand in the pocket" golden rule.

I once knew an electrician who didn't bother to use a meter or other kind of probes to detect mains voltage; he grasped both terminals and felt whether there was current or not, and without even raising an eyebrow... is it possible to get used to mains voltage? 

[paulca]

I once knew an electrician who didn't bother to use a meter or other kind of probes to detect mains voltage; he grasped both terminals and felt whether there was current or not, and without even raising an eyebrow... is it possible to get used to mains voltage? 

That sounds like you are volunteering to test   Remember to video the exercises

Kidding of course.

I got zapped last week by the plug pins of my laptop, AFTER it was unplugged.  I pulled the plug and my finger slipped under and touched the pins.  It is half insulated so you can't touch them while they are connected to the mains.  I expect I got zapped by the hot side filter caps.  It hurt, but not that much, however, unlike my previous zaps it continued to linger as a dull pain and my finger twitched randomly for an hour afterwards.