Bob Hoyt

[don getz]

Just a little note to make you shudder.  John told me today that he received a call from Bob Hoyt....seems like he had a
little accident.   He was turning a barrel in the lathe and it started to chatter, a common thing.  He normally had some
paper towels that he would apply with hand pressure to stop the chatter, but, by mistake he picked up a rag....it caught
on the barrel and ripped his left thumb off....gruesome.  He was able to find the thumb, but the Doctor could not reattach it.  Just one more case in working with machinery.....you just can't be too careful......no room for error.   I feel so thankful
that I made it thru 20 years in that shop without an accident.  Be careful........Don

[rich pierce]

Terrible.  We'll pray for Bobby.

[Stan]

Bob "only" lost his thumb from the first joint to the tip, not the whole thumb. Bad enough as it is , most of his pain came from the ligamint that was pulled out about 6". He's ok just some pain in the arm from the ligament. Stan

[Roger Fisher]

Drat!  Well, ol Bobby is a tough old bird and I do believe he can handle it. 

We all hope no complications!

I was working with an ol Italian when he lost his entire thumb in the Steel Foundry yrs ago and he was out like a light before he hit the concrete floor.

I do hope someone was around to help Bobby when it happened

[billd]

Let all hope and pray he'll be alright.

Lathes seem simple but can be very dangerous, it only takes one second of your mind wandering.  I've come close, but only lost a finger nail. It's scary having your whole body pulled towards a moving machine and there's nothing you can do but or pray and check your shorts.
Even at low RPM's it happens so fast you can't get out.  I saw one guy get his shirt sleeve caught and within seconds all he was left wearing was the other sleeve.  It ripped his whole shirt off. He ended up with only a bad bruise on his upper arm.
Bill

[Charlie B]

I had heard he had an accident while I was at Friendship but hoped it was just rumor. Best wishes on his recovery!!

[Steve-In]

I have been fortunate to be still have all my fingers.  Chips have found their way around my safety glasses though.  I have a friend that dropped a die on his finger.  He had to wait while they pried it up to remove his hand.  In small one man shops even little minor accidents can get ugly fast.  Gook luck to him.  We can't run unless there is another person present.

[don getz]

Bill....my son John had the same thing happen last year.  I was in the shop and heard some commotion over at the lathe
and when I turned around, he was standing there without a shirt....pulled it right off.  Thank god it was a light T-shirt.
John had a guy working for him that was an accident waiting to happen.  He ran the same finger thru a milling cutter not
once, but twice.  This was a 2 1/2" cutter on a horizontal mill.   I ran this same mill for years and had no problem, you just had to be afraid of it, treat it with respect.     Don

[keweenaw]

Boy, that's really too bad about Bobby.  It will take a long time to recuperate from that as those rip offs are many times worse than the cut offs.  Looks like I'll give up using rags to take out that chatter!  My closest call on a lathe was with a big LeBlonde that has a bar type start/stop control.  I  was setting something up and had my had on the Tee handle in the chuck when I bumped the bar and started the lathe.  Handle caught in the band on my wrist watch.  Slammed my hand down on the bed, fortunately on top of the handle.  Smashed the blazes out of my watch.  I usually remember to take off my watch when using the mill or lathe, but not always. 

Tom

[Acer Saccharum]

I just talked with Bob a minute ago, and he's doing OK. He said he lost the thumb from the first joint out, and it's healed up pretty good. He said that it didn't hurt that much at the time of the accident, but now the slightest tap on the end causes tremendous pain.

He's very lucky it wasn't worse.

I work machinery all day long, and have done things that could have nailed me, but didn't. So please be careful, boys, when working and playing.

Tom

[Evil Monkey]

These things often happen when we get too comfortable around this stuff and let our guard down. Years ago we had a drag auger in a 30,000 bushel grain annex that had a habit of popping the shear bolt. The manager went up town to get some more bolts but they were out of the 2 1/2" ones so he bout some 5" ones. I was emptying the annex one day and went into the tunnel to close a slide and, as usual, I stepped ith one foot one either side of the shaft that runs from the motor to the auger box (where he shear pin is located). When i leaned over to close the slide, my leg got too close to the shaft and the long shear bolt caught my pantleg. Felt like a pit bull got ahold of me. This is a 20hp electric motor so, somehow, I don't think I would be able to wrestle it to a stop . Fortunately, it just ripped the leg off of my sweat pants, wool pants and coveralls. It also pulled most of my sock out of my boot and ripped the laces out. I felt like an idjit walking home in -35 with one bare leg.

[Dphariss]

@!*%...
All we can do is be thankful it was not worse.
Most people do not understand just how dangerous machine shop work can be.
Horror storys are all too common.

Dan

[George F.]

That is a real shame. I know there members on this forum who have had accidents resulting in amputations and severe trauma  that lasts a life time, I'm one of them. Our hopes and prayers go out to him. Hope he has no complications and a healthy recovery.   ...Geo.

[lew wetzel]

my first week at machinist school while in the navy at great lakes,illinois,our one instructor was going over all the components and levers on an lathe and he was leaning on the gear end ,had his sleeves down too.pulled his arm off to point to something and the chuck caught his sleeve and sucked his hand into it.he lost two fingers.boy,we learned real quick to roll our sleeves up.

[Brian]

That's terrible news, and like all of you I wish Bob the very best.  All it takes is one microsecond of inattention and you can be horribly injured, mutilated, or killed by even the most "innocent" machinery.  We get kind of "ho hum" working around this stuff after years of no problems - and that's when Murphy strikes.  I just about lost a hand to a thickness planer about a year ago.  Got away much luckier than I should have and just took the last bit off a finger - which grew (mostly) back.  Plain stupid how it happened.  Completely my fault.  Call it what you will, I was just NOT paying attention to what I was doing.  That's when they get ya!

Anyway - I wish Bob a speedy recovery.  Anything we, as a group, can do for him I wonder?