Not really sure if this counts as "machining" or just general stupidity, but I managed to inflict a pretty nasty injury upon myself about a week ago while trying to adapt a pruning saw blade intended for a different pole-pruner to the one I own. The "wrong" blade was lacking a hole to fit over a stud on the head of the pruner.
I resisted the temptation to try to free-hand drill a hole with a cordless drill, and instead clamped the blade into a vise on the drill press, and using cutting oil and progressively larger bits, I was carefully creating the needed hole. A momentary lapse of attention allowed my left hand to stray into the danger zone just as the drill bit jammed - spinning the (loosely) bolted vise (with the pruning saw blade) into my wrist. First reaction: Ouch. Second one: Wow, that's allot of blood.
Lessons learned:
1) tighten the bolts all the way.
2) keep your hands out of the potential path of destruction.
3) don't have the pointy side facing towards yourself.
4) sometimes one should consider going back to the store and getting the right part.
I just has the stitches removed yesterday, my wrist is still sore as hell, but luckily, no permanent damage to anything but my pride.
