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Joined the club today and boy did it hurt

Lemmingman

Lemmingman

Well Known Member
Hi, my name is Gil. Today while match drilling holes on my rear wing spars I drilled into my finger. I know that there must be some meaning behind it being the finger my wedding ring is on, I just cant come up with it.

Not a fun club to be a member of. Watch where you put your fingers. That drill bit has to exit somewhere.
 
Gil, I'm sorry to hear that. I'm sure that you'll never do THAT again.

While I never had that distinct pleasure, I hurt myself in myriad other ways while building Smokey, so you're not alone. Welcome to the club.

I will say that, while I never actually drilled into my own finger while building, I had read enough about it happening to other builders that it had the same preventive effect. I was drilling through some small wood pieces the other day and suddenly stopped to check that my finger wasn't on the receiving end! For once I learned from others' mistakes.

As for it being your ring finger, I think that was just a coincidence. Unless, of course, she disapproves of your building an airplane. In that case ... ;)
 
I just finished my antibiotics for my drilling. I ran a #40 drill up under my finger nail to the cuticle. :eek:
 
See the thread on stainless steel. While I am not unsympathetic to those who have drilled themselves, there are other rocks and shoals to run aground on as you build an RV. You've been warned!
 
There are those who have and those that will.

I drilled through the fingernail of my ring finger while drilling the J stringer on the right side of the tail cone.

Not to worry, you are in good company. Even Van has drilled his his hand.

One last thing, at least you didn't drill your wife's finger, like another VAR member I know of.
 
Way back when I was working on my RV-4 I drilled through to the forefinger on my left hand. It REALLY hurt. It still hurts just thinking about it. So I went inside, cleaned it out, put a bandaid on it, went back outside and proceeded to drill through it AGAIN! Yes, I did quit for that night.
I have found those drilled skin holes to take longer to heal than any other cut.

Vic
 
I joined that club early on in my build, got blood on the plans pages to prove it. For some reason, it does take a long time to heal.
 
Whatever you do, don't let a centerpunch slip and punch through the web between your thumb and index finger.

Just sayin...
 
Larry, gave gave me a nut clench. But, I gotta say, Vic just made me laugh. An A&P I worked with named Heimbach got himself with an automatic center punch twice in the same fingernail consecutively. Ever since then it has been known as the Heimbach maneuver.
 
flion said:
See the thread on stainless steel. While I am not unsympathetic to those who have drilled themselves, there are other rocks and shoals to run aground on as you build an RV. You've been warned!
Click to expand...

Look at what's coming your way........hypo needles made from stainless safety wire, razor sharp burrs on anything made of metal (esp SS), hinge pins (yes stuck one of those in my palm last week), stepping barefoot on rivets in the middle of the night when you couldn't sleep on and go into the shop, getting pinched by a squeezer, driving a cleco into your finger when you thought it was clear behind, grabbing a spinning piece of drilling while it was still on a turning drill, aluminum spinters......and all of this can happen in 1 day.....and more.

Good luck. BTW - super glue makes a great temporary stitch in the event the cut won't stop bleeding. ER's use an acrylocyanate glue called Dermabond in place of stitches when they can.
 
left hand torture

Toward the end of my build, I took a sharpie and traced all the healed scars on my left hand where drill bits and other weapons had left their marks. The resulting art project on my left hand was a morbid painting, Scarry Night.

I did most of my build in the wee hours. It was not uncommon for my right hand to attack my left hand with a tool as a way of saying it was time to get some sleep.
 
Dremel

I was cutting something with a Dremel, holding the Dremel in my right hand, and the subject in my left. I stepped a little too far from the plug, and the spinning Dremel was jerked out of my grip, and down through my hand. The high speed cutting wheel had its way between my right thumb and forefinger before I could open my hand and drop it! OBTW, those metal cutting disc work great on skin. My right hand was out of commission for a week or so.
 
drilling finger

Wow, nice to see I'm not alone. Somehow I managed to drill a #40 almost all the way to the bone on the inside tip of my middle finger just above the joint.
I ended up getting an xray, thinking it may have damaged the bone. Turns out something had been loged inside, a metal flake or something. Somehow over the course of months, the scrap whatever inside my finger made its way to the surface in the form of a large bump. I ended up cutting it out myself. The bump is gone but my motion is still not the same. I sill have not had full motion of that finger.
Finger clamps are not the way to go!
 
Lemmingman said:
Hi, my name is Gil. Today while match drilling holes on my rear wing spars I drilled into my finger. I know that there must be some meaning behind it being the finger my wedding ring is on, I just cant come up with it.

Not a fun club to be a member of. Watch where you put your fingers. That drill bit has to exit somewhere.
Click to expand...

Gil,
Does your sweet wife have a "Voodoo Doll" hidden somewhere?
 
I guess it is part of the initiation.

I put a #40 through a finger tip including the nail and had to do a one hand reverse of the drill to get it out....dumb, dumb.
 
Wear at least a baseball hat too....

I can't count how many times I cut the top of my head lifting it up after some close quarters work. Good thing I can't see my top. Wifey says I look scarred.... Also, I don't really miss the lack of feeling on the end of my little finger. Its permanently asleep after the nerve was cut. No big deal. Just know you are going to hurt yourself and try to keep it to a minumum by thinking about what you're doing before you do it.
 
Yep been there too!

Drills and various sharp objects have violated several parts of my body as well as dropping my piece of "back riveting" steel on the toe of my non-steel toe capped shoe (had a case of the black nail syndrome after that one) However the messiest was thanks to that razor sharp stainless steel firewall. I was working away on sundry items that attach to the said firewall, when my arm, which was gently resting against the firewall, seemed to be wet and slippery. Looked around and saw an area about 10" square all wet, slippery and RED! Strangely I had not even felt that stainless slice into the back of my right arm. No stiches but a bandaged arm. Guess who wears long sleeves when going anywhere near the firewall!
 
Yep been there too!

Drills and various sharp objects have violated several parts of my body as well as dropping my piece of "back riveting" steel on the toe of my non-steel toe capped shoe (had a case of the black nail syndrome after that one) However the messiest was thanks to that razor sharp stainless steel firewall. I was working away on sundry items that attach to the said firewall, when my arm, which was gently resting against the firewall, seemed to be wet and slippery. Looked around and saw an area about 10" square all wet, slippery and RED! Strangely I had not even felt that stainless slice into the back of my right arm. No stiches but a bandaged arm. Guess who wears long sleeves when going anywhere near the firewall!

Cheers all

Jim
 
Too safety and short story.

As a teenager I worked in a boatyard on old wooden boats. The owner (one of my favorite mentors) was hurt pretty badly and I ended up taking him to the hospital. We were talking to admittance and the question was "So do you have a doctor". He replied "Well I was sort of hoping you had one."

I miss his old Maine humor and wit. He did admit to missing the sensation of feeling in that finger. It did reattach but never was quite the same. It was old age that was his greatest complaint.

Watch and respect those tools. The better they cut the better they cut :eek:
Yes I have some scars too. I am not too proud of my mistakes. Think that operation through each time. Clamp it down. Plan for kickback. Tools grab and yank at the most inappropriate times! You will be safer and get a better part. It is worth it.
 
Don't forget to let things cool before picking up after you hit em hard on the scotchbrite wheel.

Same goes for hot drill bits when you want to change them.

I had a piece of hot scrap fall in my shoe. Talk about a hot foot!
 
Geico266 said:
I just finished my antibiotics for my drilling. I ran a #40 drill up under my finger nail to the cuticle. :eek:
Click to expand...

That sounds like the guy who died of multiple stab wounds......his wife couldn't get the electric knife shut off.:D I think I would have let my other finger off the trigger sooner than that.:rolleyes:

Marshall Alexander
 
Ya'll are but mere greenhorns & novices when it comes to injuring yourself with an airplane! :D

I can't claim mine's the worst, but almost the dumbest. Any ole' amateur can hurt yourself, it takes a truly skilled person to remove a body part! :eek:

Cheers,
Stein
 
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RV10Man said:
That sounds like the guy who died of multiple stab wounds......his wife couldn't get the electric knife shut off.:D I think I would have let my other finger off the trigger sooner than that.:rolleyes:

Marshall Alexander
Click to expand...

In the mid-60's I was working in our emergency room the first Christmas that electric carving knives became available. We saw 13 people that day who were examining their gifts, who pressed the trigger while holding the blade in their other hand. Years later I saw a roofer who managed to nail his scrotum to the roof with his nail gun. How's that make you feel, Vic?

Jim Berry
RV-10
 
Danny King said:
I was cutting something with a Dremel, holding the Dremel in my right hand, and the subject in my left. I stepped a little too far from the plug, and the spinning Dremel was jerked out of my grip, and down through my hand. The high speed cutting wheel had its way between my right thumb and forefinger before I could open my hand and drop it! OBTW, those metal cutting disc work great on skin. My right hand was out of commission for a week or so.
Click to expand...

Wow, Danny. And all these years you've been making me feel guilty about you leaving large drops of blood on my shop floor from my burred firewall ... when the truth is that you're apparently just a KLUTZ! :D

Seriously, reading these stories makes me wonder what I did wrong in building to have escaped with only a few minor cuts and scratches, bumps and bruises?
 
Somebody once said that drilling a finger didn't hurt quite as much as the required deburring and dimpling. I'm also fortunate that I didn't drill a finger (or other body part), but I've had plenty of cuts, scrapes, and bruises, and left blood on aluminum.
 
I bandsawed into my left thumb knuckle when a part I was carving on slipped... and it wasn't even my own airplane I was working on :eek:

But I do get to fly it a lot now that the plane is finished. :D

An RV is never ready to fly until you sacrifice some blood to it. I've helped build 4 RV's and shed some of my blood to each, and even a cracked rib when I fell out of an RV-10 and cushioned my fall by landing on the wheelpant mounting plate with my ribcage.
 
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I'd forgotten Stein's injury. Is it "Lefty" or "Fingers" now?

Oh, and the topic drift reminds me of some of the stuff my Anesthesiolgist wife has shown me. Do a Google search on "Nail in head" for some wild pictures.
 
Love this thread

Haven't removed a body part but have cut, drilled, scraped and sawed parts:eek:

Recently, while wrapping up the rebuild, I was sitting on the floor, legs crossed using a hot glue gun. Put the glue where in needed to go, then proceeded to drip a blob on my bare calf. Instant reaction is to wipe it off. Wrong reaction. Result: blistering burn on the calf, blistering burn on my index finger. Ouch!!!

There are several thousand on this Forum. Come on folks 'fess up. This is entertaining.

I'll donate a pair of JD Air Parts fuel vents to the most unique RV build related injury. Stein doesn't count. To quote Ron White, "you can't fix stupid." Luv ya Stein!!!:D
 
Three days ago I managed to put a #30 about 3/4" into the meat of the inside of my forearm... Not quite as sensitive as the finger I had previously drilled but I still would not recommend that particular move.

Am I the first to drill this location?
 
Stupid!

I guess I'm the only guy that never match drilled his finger during the build.

But,

While building the 2" X 4" wooden wing jig, I was making a 4" X 4" from two 2" X 4"s. Didn't have any real clamps so I just held them tightly together with my left hand and grabbed the framing nail gun with my right. Yeah, you guessed it.

And after doing these things. We get in it and fly it.
 
I did it twice

Built two RV-8's. Drilled my finger with a #40 on each one. The second time it happened, it didn't want to stop bleeding; I just drilled it out with a #30 and put in a pop rivet.

Dan Miller
RV-8 N3TU
1000+ hours of fun
 
cdmiller said:
Built two RV-8's. Drilled my finger with a #40 on each one. The second time it happened, it didn't want to stop bleeding; I just drilled it out with a #30 and put in a pop rivet.
Click to expand...

Did you call the factory to get approval for that mod? :D
 
Gil,

for me there are two versions of drilling with a #40 into the finger, i experienced both... the rookie and the advanced version (where much more pain is involved)

the rookie-finger-drilling-guy just lets the drill bit penetrate the finger in a somewhat perpendicular angle into the fingers surface.

in the advanced mode the drill bit is pointed directly to the chamfer between the finger nail and the flesh underneath it and goes in between for at least 5/32 of an inch.

in the advanced mode you pay for all the sins you did in your life so far and you are cleared for heaven later on.

Kay
 
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