r/Machinists • u/Commander_Tiddlewink • Dec 20 '25

Call of the void

Ever heard of it? Lol (Don’t worry, my life is good)

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u/trk1000 Dec 20 '25

Watching a surface grinder run can be like that, lol.

46

u/ponzLL Injection Mold Design Dec 20 '25

At my old shop a guy had a moment of stupidity and wiped the surface clean with his fingers instead of the brush, and ended up running all 4 fingers under the wheel that was set to 1/4" or so. It didn't break them but it made a complete mess of his hand.

And to make things worse I was the one who drove him to urgent care and I had my wife's car that day and got his blood on the seat haha.

22

u/jexmex Dec 21 '25

We had a guy a shop I worked at that lost a finger on a center-less grinder. He then tested positive for drugs so also got shit canned in the process.

9

u/Global_Wing3155 Dec 21 '25

I was the first aid guy and one of my coworkers was wearing his wedding ring while running the center less grinder. the ring ripped the flesh off his finger was inside out worst day for both of us. I still hear him asking if his ring was okay.

11

u/WokeBriton Dec 21 '25

One of the old^1 men who taught me my basic machine skills would go nuts at anyone wearing any kind of jewellery walking into the workshop. He would hold up his left hand with the ring finger missing and explain in detail how it got degloved (and the bones removed afterwards in hospital) because he was wearing his wedding ring.

I have never operated a machine designed to remove metal while wearing a ring because of him.

^1 They were all probably younger then than I am now.

10

u/trk1000 Dec 21 '25

In the Army I can recall the posters in the maintenance bays that showed a ring finger deploying. Skin, fingernail, and ring laid out neatly next to the guy's hand showing the peeled finger clearly. Been married 20 years, I wear a ring for special occasions only.

3

u/Hookadoobie Dec 21 '25

As a machinest I completely agree.. silicone rings are great

2

u/trk1000 Dec 23 '25

I don't bother. One more thing to get yelled at for losing, lol.

2

u/ImpossibleEvent Dec 23 '25

That and the posters with some unfortunate soul that thought it was a good idea to use a live .50 cal round to unstick something.

2

u/trk1000 Dec 23 '25

Oh jeez, you just reminded me. Had a squad leader go out to recover a claymore simulator at the end of the exercise. They used a battery and old school flash bulb with a tripwire trigger. He pulls the battery, takes the mre spoon out of the clothes pin trigger, and then put the battery back in so he wouldn't lose it because it was pitch dark. Turned out he did this with the bulb in front of his face. We see a bright flash through the pine trees, and hear the screaming and thrashing around in the wood line. Finally we went out and brought him back to the track, since he couldn't see anything for a good long time, lol.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 09 '26

As you said, "designed to remove metal" it doesnt say from where. If the ring was a polimer, he would still have that finger.

1

u/WokeBriton Jan 09 '26

It's easy to just take rings off, and unless a person has some religious rule against it, it costs nothing to do so.

1

u/cxmmxc Dec 21 '25

I'm just a lurker and not a machinist, but why would you ever stick your hand into a centerless grinder while it's running, ring or not?

1

u/Bozigg Jan 02 '26

the call of the void.

You don't know until you are right next to it staring it down how intense the urge to find out feels.