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Long, loose clothing + reaching over lathe spindle = Manhandler
- Thread starter vtcnc
- Start date
- Joined
- Jun 29, 2014
- Messages
- 4,055
Jeeezus . Could you imagine if there was fixed splash guard on that lathe ? OMG .
Didn’t cross my mind at the time and wish you hadn’t put it there!
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- Joined
- Jan 31, 2016
- Messages
- 11,414
Hard to call him lucky , but the lathe was big enough and had the swing to pull him thru .........now if that splash guard was there , he may not have been so fortunate . That's 5 seconds he'll never forget , neither should any machinist or machine operator .
Last edited:
- Joined
- Jan 25, 2015
- Messages
- 2,558
I'm always leery of clicking on these things after once seeing that older pic of where the guy was pulled into the spindle and basically all that was left was pile red mush and an eyeball from about mid chest up. Just an absolutely terrifying image.
Shortly after seeing that, I wired an emerg stop "slap switch" in to my old atlas power supply circuit and always hit it if I'm doing anything on the lathe that doesn't involve standing back and watching it cut. If I'm not hitting the switch, I'm turning off the breaker on the Danfoss control. The whole lathe is on a heavy duty power bar with a separate kill switch that gets turned off when I'm done working on it. Kills power to everything. If I'm not planing to use it for a day or more, it gets unplugged from the wall. No getting sucked in to it unexpectedly for me, I make sure (at a minimum) the DC motor doesn't get power unless I know it's getting power.
I've actually considered wiring in a "deadman switch". A foot bar that you have to keep depressed in order for power to be applied to the DC motor. That way you don't have to think about where a kill switch is an hit it, you just lift your foot and full stop is applied. That might be a little bit of overkill on my part though....possibly a little paranoid. But I do work in my home shop alone, so a deadman switch arrangement seems to actually make sense to me. Something that will turn the lathe off so long as I'm conscious, or in a worse case scenario, even if I'm not....
I'm not afraid of my equipment, but I also know it doesn't give a damn about me and I treat it as such. I do my level best to make sure I never get int a situation where it can "get a hold of me".
Like I said: I'm not afraid of it, but I'm sure as hell aware of it's power and it's general indifference to my existence.
I'm retiring in 2 months and have every intention of it being a long and accident free retirement.
When I finally go in the ground, it will be with all my parts and pieces still in their original places. I plan to wear out from just too many miles on the odo....LOL!
Shortly after seeing that, I wired an emerg stop "slap switch" in to my old atlas power supply circuit and always hit it if I'm doing anything on the lathe that doesn't involve standing back and watching it cut. If I'm not hitting the switch, I'm turning off the breaker on the Danfoss control. The whole lathe is on a heavy duty power bar with a separate kill switch that gets turned off when I'm done working on it. Kills power to everything. If I'm not planing to use it for a day or more, it gets unplugged from the wall. No getting sucked in to it unexpectedly for me, I make sure (at a minimum) the DC motor doesn't get power unless I know it's getting power.
I've actually considered wiring in a "deadman switch". A foot bar that you have to keep depressed in order for power to be applied to the DC motor. That way you don't have to think about where a kill switch is an hit it, you just lift your foot and full stop is applied. That might be a little bit of overkill on my part though....possibly a little paranoid. But I do work in my home shop alone, so a deadman switch arrangement seems to actually make sense to me. Something that will turn the lathe off so long as I'm conscious, or in a worse case scenario, even if I'm not....
I'm not afraid of my equipment, but I also know it doesn't give a damn about me and I treat it as such. I do my level best to make sure I never get int a situation where it can "get a hold of me".
Like I said: I'm not afraid of it, but I'm sure as hell aware of it's power and it's general indifference to my existence.
I'm retiring in 2 months and have every intention of it being a long and accident free retirement.
When I finally go in the ground, it will be with all my parts and pieces still in their original places. I plan to wear out from just too many miles on the odo....LOL!
Last edited:
- Joined
- Jun 29, 2014
- Messages
- 4,055
For some reason, the video was removed from YT. Here is another one that will give you the heebie-jeebies and serve as a useful warning...
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="
- Joined
- Jan 10, 2019
- Messages
- 1,042
Yeah I'm also leery of such videos. Watched a YT one involving a forklift accident and didn't realize what I was in for. It went something like this:
1. They're moving a large flat sheet of thick steel across a work area with a forklift.
2. It was swinging slightly, and was just heavy enough to start to tip the forklift forward as the load swung the same direction.
3. Someone walking by, hoping to help, ran up from behind and went to jump on the rear of the forklift to pull it back down.
4. The load continued tipping the forklift forward, such that the rear of it ended up about 4 feet in the air.
5. The guy who'd just jumped on the rear lost his grip and, sort of like sliding into home base, slid under the forklift.
6. The load support straps slipped off the forks, and the forklift fell back down.
The guy was still under there, about 3" thick by then. Just about made me ill, and no, I won't provide a link. So, yeah, be careful, and when something is spinning out of control, sometimes it's best to Not try to help out.
1. They're moving a large flat sheet of thick steel across a work area with a forklift.
2. It was swinging slightly, and was just heavy enough to start to tip the forklift forward as the load swung the same direction.
3. Someone walking by, hoping to help, ran up from behind and went to jump on the rear of the forklift to pull it back down.
4. The load continued tipping the forklift forward, such that the rear of it ended up about 4 feet in the air.
5. The guy who'd just jumped on the rear lost his grip and, sort of like sliding into home base, slid under the forklift.
6. The load support straps slipped off the forks, and the forklift fell back down.
The guy was still under there, about 3" thick by then. Just about made me ill, and no, I won't provide a link. So, yeah, be careful, and when something is spinning out of control, sometimes it's best to Not try to help out.