It only takes an instant...

[Winegrower]

I was working on some really devil alloy from eBay, supposed to be 304, but machined way harder than any other 304 I've had. I tried almost every style of carbide insert and HSS stick I had, finally hand grinding more HSS seemed to be the only way to get a good finish and still get a reasonable cut of 0.050". The swarf came off like hard tough wire, straight and shooting all over, not very curled...hot and hard to handle.

I dealt with all that adequately, until near the end, when almost instantaneously, a birds nest formed and got swung around by the chuck, and swung out far enough to catch the armored DRO cables, wrapping them around the chuck, and jamming the lathe spindle solid. Fortunately the Takisawa has a a very effective mechanical and electrical foot break, and coupled with my old man reflexes. still not quite enough to prevent breaking the cable off from the slimline magnetic read head on the Z axis. Not repairable. I had to take the part out, lost registration of course, and actually loosen the chuck before I could get the cable unwrapped.

I called DROPros, there's a replacement read head going out in the morning. Good service, and a reasonable price.


Here's what it looked like:

 

[DavidR8]

Yikes, that's darn scary. Glad no human damage was incurred!

 

[Martin W]

Oh boy! Glad you never got injured.
Martin
edit. I really like your lathe!

 

[GunsOfNavarone]

Holy birds' nest from hell! Could have been worse for sure, but feel your pain just the same.

 

[talvare]

Glad it was just a cable and not one of your limbs. That stuff is really tough and sharp.

Ted

 

[MrWhoopee]

Lucky you! Those "chips " are like concertina wire. Could have been very bad.

 

[usamech]

Wow! I think I've seen that before, but without the dramatic ending. A few weeks ago, in fact.

I got my first lathe a few months ago, a Clausing 5917, and been tuning it up, getting a feel for all the functions, checking out the tolerances, and practicing some cuts. A few weeks ago, I chucked a 2"piece of 1018 steel, trying out HSS and carbide tipped cutters. Don't remember what my settings (so to speak) were, but I got a similar pigtail like seen in pic above that I could use for tinsel on a Christmas tree. Kept trying to snap it with a brush, and eventually just slapped off the powerfeed.

So, here's a juvenile question from a novice new to lathing. Is there any sort of troubleshooting matrix or table to be found that lists the type/grade of material being turned, and what good chips should look like, what bad chips look like, and the remedy? Is this even a reasonable question to ask considering that the combination of machines, speeds, feeds, cutters, material, etc, is practically infinite?

 

[tq60]

Lesson learned.

A good tool to have handy is the small hand held garden digger, usually has a couple fingers for digging.

When you get the stringy stuff you can use the tool to grab it and pull it away from the work.

Next, this will happen again, reconfiguration of your cable routing needs to be done.

Sent from my SM-G781V using Tapatalk

 

[Winegrower]

Next, this will happen again, reconfiguration of your cable routing needs to be done.

Yep, that thought occurred to me, shortly after the whole thing came to a sudden stop. I think if the cables had been secured to the splash panel so that no stringy stuff could get in back and wrap around it, that would take care of it.

It also reminded me, once again, to wear my face shield, which I wasn't.

 

[Winegrower]

So, here's a juvenile question from a novice new to lathing. Is there any sort of troubleshooting matrix or table to be found that lists the type/grade of material being turned, and what good chips should look like, what bad chips look like, and the remedy? Is this even a reasonable question to ask considering that the combination of machines, speeds, feeds, cutters, material, etc, is practically infinite?

To be able to answer your question seems to me to need the equivalent of a PhD in machining. Maybe post-grad. I tried really hard with feeds, speeds and tools to get the stringy tough stuff to break into the classic little "C' and "6" shapes, that fall in a big pile and don't cause trouble...but I couldn't.

Maybe you'll answer this for me after you get a few years down the road.