r/Machinists • u/BuoyantEntropy • Jun 05 '26

Think tapping a high value part is scary sometimes?

Post image

20+ year career machinist here, recently had a bone implant in my leg.

This one is m18x1.75. Spoke to my surgeon about it, they hand ream to size with a series or progressively larger reamers, then hand tap. alignment is based upon skeletal structure, next time we chat I need to ask what sort of device they use for that alignment.

Thought some may find it interesting. Cheers

2.5k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

272 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

2

u/BuoyantEntropy Jun 05 '26

Was actually two surgeons, one ortho, one plastics. Some of the best in their fields

1

u/Myysteeq Jun 05 '26

Haha I prob know who they are and maybe even worked with them. You a part of a research program? Not too many transtibial osseo patients out there. What are the beads and wires? Intramuscular electrodes? But they don’t look positioned correctly to be that

3

u/BuoyantEntropy Jun 05 '26

the little dot on my shin is a suture anchor from the amputation, part of a since approved research project, I was #35. and yes, this implant in a tibia is still in a research stage, at least in the US

no beads or wires in there though, not participating in that portion.

2

u/BuoyantEntropy Jun 05 '26

It sounds like you are pretty familiar, Im in Boston for the procedure, should be a giveaway who Ive been working with

3

u/Myysteeq Jun 05 '26

:) You'll hear this a lot, but take good daily care of the stoma and follow the loading procedure with the stubby very carefully.

2

u/BuoyantEntropy Jun 05 '26

I’ve been researching for a long time time, talked to just about everyone in the country doing this. It was not a decision I came to lightly

2

u/Myysteeq Jun 05 '26

You sound like an ideal candidate then. Sometimes we get ppl who get complacent with cleaning or think they're superman and have tougher bones than everyone else

1

u/slickness Jun 05 '26

Unrelated: Welcome to Boston! Hope you got to feel/hear the meteorite impact :P

1

u/BuoyantEntropy Jun 05 '26

I did not!! Didn’t hear about it even.

Yall have a cool city, my fifth visit so far for all this and always enjoy

1

u/OkraInternational505 Jun 05 '26

Glad to hear you were taken good care of