Looking a lathe

[Preacher Jim]

RP one warning never wear rings when using a lathe! I have had 2 fellows lose a finger or use of one from the catch of ring on turning things. Old adage anything that can happen will.

[oldred]

That's a good one alright and I would like to add that rings are an amputation, or at least a serious injury, in progress when worn around most operating equipment. The chances of getting a ring snagged or crushed flat on the finger are way too high and it unfortunately happens all too often.

Another ring warning is when working around electrical components, a few centuries ago (well it seems like centuries anyway) back in the early sixties a buddy of mine in school was taking a battery out of a truck using a wrench to remove the positive terminal. He was gripping the wrench with his left hand and accidentally let the class ring he was wearing press against the fender, it was only for a second or so but that ring instantly became almost red hot! I will never forget him trying to remove that ring while burning both hands in the process!

[country gent]

MaryB, You got lucky with only one hair catching . I have seen this before on shafts. that one or 2 hairs pull in more and it goes to the point sometimes the person is literally scalped.

Rings, ties, loose clothing, necklaces all are a risk in running equipment, its not just from the spinning chuck and part but also the one or 2 feed screws in front of the bed grabbing things. In school we had a students t shirt grab on one of these and before he could stop the machine he was wearing the collar and sleeve ribbing is all, Thankfully it was an old weak tee shirt that came apart. Stringy chips ( Its fun to see how long a coil chip you can make ) are sharp, razor sharp. These can grab and spin creating a very dangerous spinning razor. Or they can wrap in clothing and suck you in. Chips are hot and burn and when you wipe them off they cut. A fine chip in the eye is very painfull and can scratch the eye. ( Sanding dust from the lathe is bad for this also)
Another real hazard is a simple file with out a handle on it. it hits a chuck jaw or grabs and is driven back usually into the heel of the hand just about to the wrist.
For safetys sake find speeds and feeds with a chip breaker that make neat little 6 shaped chips. Wear snug clothing nothing droopy or loose. Keep your hair under a cover and controlled. No jewelery or ties. No gloves while running the equipment Loading unloading okay but then they come off. Eye protection glasses with side shields are fine here. A simple set of slip on side shields can be cut from a clear pop bottle in a matter of minutes if you want to use your prescription glasses.

The shop apron is a big plus around equipment protects clothes from oils and chips. has pockets for scales mikes and other odds and ends. You haven't been chewed out till one of those 6 shaped chips get from your shirt or jeans into your wifes panties in the washer and she puts them on. The apron helps with this.

My aprons have no strings or straps I use a pair of suspenders to hold them on. the pockets are attached at the top edge only, when you bend over they can stay bottom down and things don't fall out. mine are roughly knee length and white cotton canvas material.

[RP]

I stopped wearing my wedding ring many years ago, My wife did not like that but the work I have done and still do the ring would hang up and that is never good. I was coming down a ladder one day and the ring hung that was the day it came off and never went back on. As far as the hair I know a guy that his long hair got into a PTO shaft on a LP gas truck did not kill him but took his almost all his hair and skin off the top of his head.
Thanks for the tips and advice still just getting the feel for what is what and looking at cutting me some tools out of the blank stock that came with the machine. The big thing I really need to do is clean up my shop adding this lathe kind of put everything in disarray. I now need to relocate my air compressor welder and some other items that lived where the lathe now sits. Also got to add some lighting and the list goes on and on.
My brother came over today and was asking about some help with a project he was working on and I was able to turn a piece on the lathe to make a part he needed something I could have not done without it. That made me feel better about the coin I dropped on the lathe.
I was talking to him about what I was learning and what I needed to learn to even get started doing anything that would take any amount of skill and he told me about a fellow that has a machine shop. Told me he is a super nice guy and he ask him if he minded if I stopped by and watched and asked a few ? so we see how that goes. I also spoke to a fellow at church this morning that knows about lathes and asked if he would stop by the shop and answer some ? I had about things that came with the machine I have not clue what they are for or if they even go metal turning. May just be junk tossed in the tool box over the years.
From what I been told by a few with the lathe i got and the tooling and gauges I did good on the deal and I think when I learn what this and that is used for and how to use it I may be off and running able to make this and that.
I been playing with the thread cutting watching U tube and trying it out on the machine I cut a few random threads just to see it in action but still got a lot to learn in that area.

[MaryB]

I worked on electronics for a living, jewelry was a huge NOPE! Saw guys with rings get across high voltage and lose a finger... the ring would weld in place and then turn red hot. Even though I am retired I can't stand wearing anything on my fingers or wrists, even a necklace is rare because I still tinker with electronics and my ham radio amplifier power supply is 2,500 volts at 1 amp... deadly..

[RP]

And lets face it more women hit on men with rings then without lol.

[smokeywolf]

Mary, that was a really cheap lesson. Because of the tendency to underestimate the potential dangers in operating a drill press, as opposed to say a lathe, there are actually as many, if not more injuries to folks operating drill presses than any other machine in the typical machine shop.

[country gent]

Here's a little trick to endear you to the Small machine shop. Offer to help out for the knowledge and or experience. No wages just the simple exchange of services. In this way he gains also for his time. He gets some extra work done and you get the knowledge.

When I left the first shop I worked in the owner wouldn't take the key back saying that I might need to use the equipment for the farm. When he became ill I would stop in after my work day ( 2nd shift) and catch up his welding and odds and ends. I stopped in one day to chat and buy a piece of needed steel of the scrap rack. Was sitting there having a beer with him and asked what I owed for the chunk of steel, He smiled and said the secret welder had already paid for it with time. I started in this little 2 man job shop when I was 15. He usually had 2 high school kids working for him also. He taught me a lot I needed to know and probably more I didn't LOL. This gentleman took great pride in passing his knowledge and craftsman ship along.

[john.k]

A lot of people dont have accessable shutoff switches on hobby machines,or any at all,using a cord from a powerpoint....You cant stop a power machine by hand.

[country gent]

Our surface grinders and od grinders had a kill swith at floor level also so if things went bad you dropped below the machine table and hit it there. If you've never started a grinder some one left an out of balance wheel on ?????

[KenH]

Glad to hear so many folks cautioning about wearing rings and necklaces around machinery - I've never worn either, my wife didn't under why I wouldn't wear a wedding ring - at least on a chain around my neck. Nope, just don't like anything on fingers or neck. I like keeping my fingers and neck for sure.

[RP]

I spoke to a fellow on the phone about my lathe and he gave me lots of insight of what is what and other things, His shop is in another town about 30 mins drive I would say and his daughter lives near me see where I am going with this. He said coming to his shop would not help me as much as a visit to my shop and a look at my machine how nice is that ! So I am cleaning up the shop since several things got moved to make room and it needed a cleaning to start with. Picking up some material for different projects while I am at work and getting everything ready so I will have something to turn when he shows up for a visit.

[john.k]

Another obscure warning is to be very careful of bronze chips and swarf.......if any gets into your washing machine,you will be leaving town....As an apprentice I was warned about this with many strange horror stories by the old timers........."never tell your wife you have been transferred to the bronze shop".

[Hootmix]

A year ago a friend of mine was doing the "Big C " treatments,,he started to selling some of his stuff ( getting ready for the worst ) he needed some money and he offered me his mini lathe & mill I bought them to help him out . I had no ideal just how much I would be using them,,gun parts ,lots of small stuff most shops don't really want to mess with . My friend got clean and is doing

good,,told him I would be glad to let him have his stuff back " Nope ,,you'll need them to go with all these taps & dies and other tools " ( lump in throat ) he brings small jobs by for me to learn on ,," How much I owe " I just grin and shake my friend's hand.
Hope you enjoy your new " addiction " as much as I am.

coffees ready,,,,Hootmix.

[W.R.Buchanan]

Be careful! It takes a couple of years to get good!

ha !!! would you believe 22?

Randy

[RP]

22 years I be to old to mess with it by then lol. The learning curve on this machine is big I am still learning how to make it put out chips. I am having fun learning new things is never a bad thing. Wife said she wanted me to spend less time in my man cave reloading and playing with my guns. So I moved to my other shop playing with my lathe. I do not think that is what she had in mind.

[country gent]

t WR is correct. I have 35 years as a tool and die maker ( started in first shop at 15 after school and weekends) and still don't know it all. A lot is learning to know what your seeing in a part. A little time spent looking at the print or part with your feet propped up on the bench can save a lot of time and effort later on. Keeping the part going in such a way that you can always clamp or hold it makes it a lot easier.

In the lathe a little longer piece so you can hold it and work from one end thru it only leaving holes and face work after parting off. Another is the false center left on the ends of a piece can make machining much easier.

[justashooter]

RP one warning never wear rings when using a lathe! I have had 2 fellows lose a finger or use of one from the catch of ring on turning things. Old adage anything that can happen will.

in china i saw a woman in a small machine shop wrapped around a 4 foot turret lathe by her hair. it prolly broke every bone in her body, and killed her dead in a heartbeat. she had hair down to her *** before it was yanked from her skull along with half of her scalp when her pelvis got hung up between the object being turned and the lathe base..

[W.R.Buchanan]

I walked into a friends shop one day right after an employee had chucked up a 12' piece of 1" dia 17-4 and turned the spindle on. It was a Mori Seiki 25 hp CNC Lathe and the spindle speed was programed at 2500 rpms.

The bar folded over and completely destroyed to entire headstock enclosure, tweaked the headstock and took out the wall behind it. My friend figured out all this was happening when the bar ate thru the brick wall behind him.

It cost him $15K to get that machine back up and running again, and needless to say the operator wasn't there to see it.

I luckily have never experienced this first hand but seeing what it did I was able to avoid it.

At on Oil Field shop in Ventura CA (OCO Tool) a machinist had a long braded Pony tail . Down to his belt. He was repeatedly warned about the possibility of getting caught and one day while threading a piece of drill pipe he got caught and was being reeled in. Luckily the boss had just warned him and when it happened he was able to stop the spindle before it took the guys head off... He left the guy trapped for about 5 minutes and then grabbed pair of tin snips out of the guys tool box and cut off his Pony Tail at the base of his skull.

It is still hanging above the door to the shop, and nobody has ever had long hair there again.

It is amazing how much you can learn from other people.

Randy

[bob208]

one thing I saw. don't bolt the lathe down to the floor. if get crooked even just a little you will never get a straight cut. do level it both ways and don't use a carpenters level.

look on utube for atlas 618. they show how to make a milling attachment for a lathe. if you make oe that will get you by for a year or two.