I often get the sense that I’m in the only one here doing manual labor but I’m sure there are others.

Identify yourselves.

  • @CarterH739
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    328 days ago

    Machinist here. But not just any machinist. I work almost exclusively with graphite. I’m sure you can imagine what a mess that makes. We do have a powerful dust collector that runs all day, but it doesn’t catch everything. We get covered in the dust every day. The company does have a locker room and showers for us though, so it’s not too bad. We still leave nice and clean.

    • @Hugin
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      128 days ago

      What kind of things need to be machined out of graphite?

      • @CarterH739
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        327 days ago

        Sorry for the delay. Apparently this app doesn’t tell me when people reply.

        Most of what I make ends up in space. We use pyrolytic graphite, which we actually make ourselves on site, which can stand up to some pretty extreme temperatures with very little expansion or contraction. There are other applications as well, mostly involving any situation where conductivity is important. Some hospital imaging machines use it instead of aluminum in high temperature scenarios. It’s very good at what it does, but its use is fairly limited due to its absolutely insane price tag.

        • @Hugin
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          127 days ago

          Thanks that makes sense.