Honestly, I thought my second post would be based on a past experience in my Auto Service class, but after today, those plans have changed!
Today, I was working on some bookwork in the classroom, as is usual for a Monday, when a first year student asked to bring in his truck due to a hole in the tire. I went into the shop to assist and supervise with the tire patch, a fairly simple procedure on most days.
Check out the dilated eye!
I’ll explain the steps that you take to patch a tire, for those of you who don’t know.
1. Remove the tire from the rim (wheel).
2. Find the hole.
3. Rub the area around the hole with a liquid solvent to remove the coating inside the tire.
4. Put a very LIGHT coating of adhesive on the area, then let it dry.
5. Place patch.
So, very simple, right? Right! I think so, too. However, a first year student put too much adhesive on the tire. Because of this, I took over in order to re-do it correctly.
Let me stop for a moment to say that I wasn’t wearing my protective eyewear at this point, because I thought that I would just be supervising the project.
Another piece of valuable information to have here, is that some ‘old school’ tire patching adhesives require fire to help them set faster. This was not the case with our adhesive, but the younger students don’t all know this stuff yet. While I was patching the tire…with that very large amount of adhesive…one of the other second year students told my first year student to light it up with a lighter. I think the idea was to see the look on the students face when it really flamed up. So, not knowing any better, he did. There I was, working, focused…then, on fire… on my face. AND NO SAFETY GLASSES!
This all resulted in a trip to the ER and an ophthalmologist, for treatment of a severe flashburn. Now, I can barely see out of my right eye.
Moral of the Story, guys: Do not work in the shop, even on the little things, without safety glasses. It’s not worth it!
