Lathe safety

[Charles scozzari]

Hello, I just want to pass something along that was told to me when I got my first lathe (Atlas 618) make sure to ALWAYS remove the chuck key, and get into the habit of always glancing at the chuck before hitting the switch. launching that key could be very painful to you and others. I would also like to show you the rear view mirror I have mounted on my lathe. It seems that every time I'm using the lathe someone scares the hell out of me coming into the shop. With the mirror I can see the movement behind me without losing my concentration. Makes things a lot safer.

 

[Charles scozzari]

 

[Provincial]

One summer afternoon I was working on a project at a meadow in the woods about a mile from the house. Our family let the local Sportsman's Club develop part of the meadow as a shooting range, but it is over a mile behind a locked gate. I was doing some welding repairs on an old rail car that we were going to install as a bridge, running a gas drive arc welder that was quite noisy. My back was toward the road.

In the reflection off my helmet lens, I noticed one of our neighbors walk up behind me holding a rifle (SKS) and he stopped a few feet behind me, watching what I was doing.

I finished running the rod, flipped the stub out of the holder, raised the helmet, and without turning around, said "so you came up to do some shooting." Then I turned around and enjoyed the look of shock on his face. He thought I had eyes in the back of my head, ESP, or something! I never told him how I knew he was there - it would ruin the effect.

 

[Charles scozzari]

Love it

 

[Winegrower]

Agree on the chuck key. Here's a story I reported earlier:

"Back when I knew everything, I needed to make some roundish parts, so it seemed like a lathe was the tool to use. I told the shop teacher I could run a lathe (yep, I read a book). I looked at the South Bend for a minute, found the on switch, flipped it on, and to my horror the chuck key flew across the room and smashed into the wall. The shop teacher said “bet you will never do that again”. He was correct, so far."

 

[Musky_Hunter]

The lathe is the only tool that makes me nervous. Maybe not nervous but I am on my toes any time I use it. Watched a kid in shop class get pulled into one. His arm was broke in 3 places. My old Atlas would stop if you looked at it funny. My new lathe not so much. My son is fascinated with machining at the age of 6. He is convinced my mill is a transformer. He is so excited by the new lathe but it's a tool I won't use or show him how it works yet. I could see bad things happening at his age. It's the only machine that stays unplugged unless I'm using it.