MRI Safety Tip - Leave your firearm outside

[casselthief]

"Bring us your truth, O thief of cassels!"
it's 1.5T
that's T as in Teslas. that's how strong the magnetic field is. it's real strong. if you're right next to it. out by the door.... not so much.
body jewelry is not ferrous, meaning it does not have the metallic properties that would have it drawn or attracted to a magnet (containing Iron (Fe)).
I know this, cause, well, I'm looking at a GE Signa Excite 1.5T magnet right now.
Quenching the magnet. that's when we release all the liquid Helium (He) that when energized, creates the magnetic field.
this process costs about $60,000. it's a bit much to do that everytime somebody needs to change a lightbulb.
the reason they make you use one tool at a time is, well, they're mean.
they just don't want you taking several tools into the MR suite and setting one down too close to the field and ..... well, you get the idea.
the story G.C. recounts was that of an Anesthesiologist running into the room with an O2 tank (which are steel), and he got right smooth into the field before it was "moved"
it did indeed kill the patient. and I believe your friend about the coolant housing doing that. it happens quick, too! I mean seconds, and there's no O2 in the room, and the pressure is such that you can not open a door into the room, hafta go in through a window. weird!
any other MR questions? it's what I do for 8hrs+ a day!

[KD5NRH]

the reason they make you use one tool at a time is, well, they're mean.
they just don't want you taking several tools into the MR suite and setting one down too close to the field and ..... well, you get the idea.

Seems odd that, given the price of one of these things, they wouldn't also invest in a set of common tools in non-ferrous versions. I guess a copper or aluminum screwdriver wouldn't handle much torque, but there are other materials that could probably handle a lot of basic tasks.

[G.C.Montgomery]

So I'm left wondering if the firing-pin block had been removed as is a common practice among some 1911 shooters.

The article includes photos of the disassembled pistol, and the FP block is there...I doubt anyone would leave all those stock and remove the FP block.

...I also wonder if the g-forces could have been sufficient to overcome the FP block spring, lifting it out of the way and allowing the FP to strike the primer.

I missed the photo you mentioned. I would generally agree with these observations but I know at least one professional gunman who doesn't fall into that mold and removes FP Blocks from all his 1911's regardless of whether or not they are going to be hotrods. Having missed the photo, I entertained the possibility that the FP block might have been removed because I know it to be a common practice.

On the g-forces, it would seem odd that in a donut shaped field, forces would perfectly influence to perpendicular, intersecting pieces of steel in just the right manner to cause one of them to fly forward with sufficient force to ignite a primer. But, that may very well be exactly what happened. There just doesn't seem to be enough information available to say one way or the other.

[casselthief]

couple the pull of the magnet with the impact of the pistol hitting the machine (akin to it falling to the floor), the combination, I think, is what did the trick.

[TX Rancher]

It still doesn’t “ring� as complete to me yet. I have problems with the apparent multiple directions of the force applied by the MRI field. I’m not saying its wrong, only that there are some potential unanswered questions.

Of course none of this discussion changes the conclusions of the author, which is don’t bring metal firearms into the MRI room!

[kauboy]

I think its pretty easy to understand how it could happen. Remember, we are talking about a magnet that is pulling in 360 degrees from the center and the outside edge. Thats alot of forces pulling in all directions. Since the spring for the FB is admittedly light, its easy to see how it could be pulled up at the same speed as the gun was traveling toward the magnet. Think of it as two different forces being applied to two different objects and it becomes a little clearer. You can't think of the gun as one hunk of metal only reacting to one force in one direction.

[G.C.Montgomery]

"Bring us your truth, O thief of cassels!"
it's 1.5T
that's T as in Teslas. that's how strong the magnetic field is. it's real strong. if you're right next to it. out by the door.... not so much.
body jewelry is not ferrous, meaning it does not have the metallic properties that would have it drawn or attracted to a magnet (containing Iron (Fe)).
I know this, cause, well, I'm looking at a GE Signa Excite 1.5T magnet right now.
Quenching the magnet. that's when we release all the liquid Helium (He) that when energized, creates the magnetic field.
this process costs about $60,000. it's a bit much to do that everytime somebody needs to change a lightbulb.
the reason they make you use one tool at a time is, well, they're mean.
they just don't want you taking several tools into the MR suite and setting one down too close to the field and ..... well, you get the idea.
the story G.C. recounts was that of an Anesthesiologist running into the room with an O2 tank (which are steel), and he got right smooth into the field before it was "moved"
it did indeed kill the patient. and I believe your friend about the coolant housing doing that. it happens quick, too! I mean seconds, and there's no O2 in the room, and the pressure is such that you can not open a door into the room, hafta go in through a window. weird!
any other MR questions? it's what I do for 8hrs+ a day!

Hey casselthief, ever hear the myth of the machinist whose skin/eyes were damaged when he went in for an MRI? The story seemed a bit far fetched but as I remember but it's been many years since I heard it.

Supposedly this guy had been an old school machinist and had tons of small particles of iron embedded in his skin from years of working around the mills and lathes. Anyway, he gets rolled into the field as they are imaging his head and BAM! The guys eyelids get ripped to shreds. The other version I've heard had something to do with tattoos, particularly red tattoos, being removed in a similar fashion by MRI's.

Like I said, sounded far fetched. Still, seems like it would be a really cool Mythbuster's episode.

[KBCraig]

Hey casselthief, ever hear the myth of the machinist whose skin/eyes were damaged when he went in for an MRI?

I never heard that particular case, but I've taken lots of inmates for MRIs, and the questionaire always asked whether the patient had done any welding, grinding, or metalwork. The techs explained that what you described, could indeed happen.

They always required a head x-ray if there was any doubt (ferrous particles really shine on an x-ray).

[casselthief]

absolutely. and absolutely it can happen. ferrous metal can be removed, suddenly, and violently.

tattoos: sometimes they will use a metal fleck in the paint. you get the point.

I've never seen any of these things happen, as we don't allow it to happen.
only ooooooops I've ever heard of from first hand experience is a patient with ECG leads (they themselves are silver, so don't interact with the magnet), and the leads still had the wires connected to them. well, the wires are copper, cause they carry a current. well, the RF coil (the thing that takes the pictures), it induces a current into the wires and burnt the be-jeezus outta this guy, in 12, perfectly concentric spots.

we don't let that happen no mo'