Lathe Safety

[Flange]

I know that this has been said a thousand times before but it does not hurt to remind people.

Be careful with your tools and DONT wear long sleeves around lathes, mills, drills etc.

See ths story on the BBC.

This makes me feel both sick and angry in equal measure.

 

[rsanter]

Also it is a bad idea to wear rings, watches, necklaces, Etc around a lathe

Bob

 

[valentine]

Poor kid. That must have been a grizzly death. On the other hand, I grew up working around shipyards and was running a 50 ton Crane by the time I was 17. I shudder to think about some of the things I was exposed to back then. Guess that it's true about God watching over idiots.

-Valentine

 

[MoonRise]

Yeah, because

the machine doesn't care.

Unsafe work conditions, untrained and unsupervised worker/trainee, and removing the safety guards on the machines? Stupid and criminal. And the young man died.

RIP.

 

[FunkyfullWidth]

Kids need to be allowed to get hurt these days. Run a drill or a nail gun through your leg, hit yourself with a 7" grinder floating at full bore. You really never know how weak we are compared to the tools we use everyday until you get hurt. I'm a better, smarter man today because of all the wounds i've suffered.

 

[Thumper68]

Kids need to be allowed to get hurt these days. Run a drill or a nail gun through your leg, hit yourself with a 7" grinder floating at full bore. You really never know how weak we are compared to the tools we use everyday until you get hurt. I'm a better, smarter man today because of all the wounds i've suffered.

This just might be the most idiotic statement I have ever read!!!

Kids need to be taught proper safety rules and procedures for any equipment that they are not only going to be using but also any equipment that they are going to be around.

All three of my kids could teach shop safety, or range safety for that matter.

I also go over the shop rules with them often, in our shop you hear the words "Eyes N Ears" all the time.

Last weekend My youngest asked to use the new bandsaw, we haven't had one in the shop for several years so my first question to him was did he use one in wood shop this last year at school and what he remembered about the rules for using a band saw.

Then we sat and went over all the safety rules before going over to the machine to go over the controls.

Then when he was done laying out his project we did a quick run through of safety and controls, but this time it was him telling me.

Now he gets to use the saw, if he wants to use it again we will go over everything before he uses it, and I know that he will have ear and eye protection in place and shout out the warning to anyone else in the shop that he is about to power on a piece of equipment.

 

[Milton Shaw]

Rings are unsafe all the time. Jimmy Fallon just two weeks ago slipped on a rug in his kitchen and fell and has his ring caught on the countertop/drawers and nearly lost his finger. Two hospitals and 6 hours of surgery 10 days in ICU and he was finally back on the show last night. He spent his entire two week break with his finger torn up and being treated. They called it a ring inversion and basically it tore his entire ring finger off his hand and micro surgery for 6 hours and vein transplants from his foot to attach it, He may or may not get feeling back in it. It does have a pulse and blood flow and is the right color.

 

[rustybutt]

Ditto all said here, but I believe Jimmy Fallon's injury was a ring "avulsion", which as said is stripping all the meat and skin right off the bone. Just for this reason, my wedding ring is in my wife's jewelry box because I work on machinery all day long.

 

[DY the dozer guy]

First post here and I'm glad its about safety. I feel bad for this young mans' family, this was an accident that truly could have been avoided. (oversized coveralls and disabled safety equipment....WTF!) I'm not a machinist and won't ever claim to be one. I do however remember my shop teachers preaching safety around lathes and all power tools. No loose clothing, no jewelry and if you had long hair put it in a ponytail. Young people need strong leadership.

 

[miner]

Now he gets to use the saw, if he wants to use it again we will go over everything before he uses it, and I know that he will have ear and eye protection in place and shout out the warning to anyone else in the shop that he is about to power on a piece of equipment.

Ear protection for a bandsaw? Shouting in the shop every time anyone turns on a machine? How does this make any sense let alone make anyone safer? Unless maybe I have misunderstood and everyone in you shop is wearing ear protection because of all the shouting.

 

[Thumper68]

Ear protection for a bandsaw? Shouting in the shop every time anyone turns on a machine? How does this make any sense let alone make anyone safer? Unless maybe I have misunderstood and everyone in you shop is wearing ear protection because of all the shouting.

My rule is that everyone in the shop be warned that a power tool is in use, if you work alone no need but at times there are 4 or 5 people working on different things in my shop, and a shout out is not a loud yell.

I went with out ear protection for most of my life and now at 47 I am loosing hearing in my right ear, I have rarely listened to loud music or done other things to damage my hearing it is all from being in the shop.

We treat ear protection the same as eye protection, if you are using a tool then you have eyes n ears.

 

[Dennis Leigh Henry]

What is sad about this story is that it was apparently standard practice to work on machines apparently doing what amounts to maintenance, while the machine was running a job. That is totally reckless... Couple that with a young apprentice (who wouldn't necessarily know any different) and with inadequate safety training and apparel.. compounds it further.

Anyone who has left a 3 or 4 jaw chuck key in a lathe and turned it on, gets a quick appreciation for how much damage a lathe could do to a human.. I did it once totally by accident.... Once on a Monarch where the spindle control did not "latch" off and when I bumped it the key slammed the lathe with so much force it broke a 1.5" shaft like it was made of balsa wood. Lucky for me, the broken shaft shut the spindle off, and that I had the presence of mind to know what had happened in that split second and let go of the chuck key before it slammed down....

 

[matt_i]

I tell people that a lathe is about like an unguarded PTO shaft on a tractor, which has killed and maimed untold thousands of people working in farming. The lathe, like other power equipment (table saws come to mind) deserve your most serious respect.

 

[justanengineer]

Not that I expect accuracy or truth from the media, but there are quite a few things in that story that are not just weird, but rather wrong. WTF cleans a lathe with emery paper or any kind of abrasive for that matter? I'd be rather curious to hear from someone in the UK if apprentices really only make £3/hour ($4 IIRC) there. The fines also sound rather low compared to what we usually see here.

I wasnt there so wont judge anyone in this situation, but do agree with the please be safe sentiment.

 

[Rock Hound]

The one I'll always remember: never leave a chuck key in a lathe. I saw a kid get a couple ribs broken with one when I was in high school metals shop.

 

[Rock Hound]

I'd be rather curious to hear from someone in the UK if apprentices really only make £3/hour ($4 IIRC) there.

It was 2013 when it happened if that makes a difference.

 

[Squankum]

Ditto all said here, but I believe Jimmy Fallon's injury was a ring "avulsion", which as said is stripping all the meat and skin right off the bone. Just for this reason, my wedding ring is in my wife's jewelry box because I work on machinery all day long.

I think we've all learned a lesson here -- this is just one of the many hidden dangers in matrimony. If you see a wedding happening, shout out a warning.



.

 

[HanShotFirst]

It doesn't just take long sleeves to get caught in a lathe. I was working in my home shop and had to do a quickie job on my lathe. I normally put my apron on but this was quick so I didn't. Leaned over and my short sleeved shirt tail got caught in a gear. Fortunately I was standing right next to the power switch, and it's a very small lathe. So I got a freebie safety reminder.

I'm really amazed there aren't more industrial accidents quite honestly. It only takes one second of lost concentration or distraction to cost someone life or limb. So sad for that boy's parents, what a horrible way to die; and at 16.

 

[kv501]

I think we've all learned a lesson here -- this is just one of the many hidden dangers in matrimony. If you see a wedding happening, shout out a warning.



.

+1,000,000. They take your money, freedom, dignity, and give you ring avulsions in return.

And no, I'm not a scorned divorcee because I've never been married.

Thank god.

 

[Flange]

I'd be rather curious to hear from someone in the UK if apprentices really only make £3/hour ($4 IIRC) there. The fines also sound rather low compared to what we usually see here.

Apprenticeships in the UK are a bit of a contraversial subject when it comes to pay. They are classed as training, in the same way as a college degree is classed as training so the deal is that someone becomes an apprentice, works usually 4 days a week learning on the job and does 1 day per week at a college. At the end of the apprenticeship there is a formal qualification. However in the meantime there is a view that the employer gets some very cheap labour in the name of training.

I cannot comment on the fines. The courts have guidelines and I can only assume that the fines are in line with the guidelines. Certainly some companies have been fined more for similar stuff in the UK so there must be some formula perhaps? For example a £100,000 fine to me would be a lot. However the same amount to Bill Gates would be a trivial sum. This is just a thought and not necessarily a fact.

 

[FunkyfullWidth]

This just might be the most idiotic statement I have ever read!!!

And it's probably the most idiotic statement I've ever written.. But i'll stand by it. You can only teach about shop safety so much to some. I was always the put my hand on the burner to see if it's hot kinda guy. Still am. But I have a much greater respect for power tools now, and can't remember the last time I got hurt. I guess I worded it wrong. The shouldn't be allowed to get hurt, but stop being babied.

 

[WhiteSSP]

Luckily the majority of people who aren't you aren't as dumb and don't need to get wrapped up in a lathe to know that it can kill them...

 

[WhiteSSP]

That's absolutely horrible to read though. You never clean a moving lathe, at all. The machine doesn't care if you're next to it or in it. Chances are the motor didn't even slow down when he got wrapped up.

I've never had a close call, but my mentor told me that the lead screw ripped the shirt off of him once when it got caught up and he didn't realize it.

 

[Lassen Forge]

The one I'll always remember: never leave a chuck key in a lathe. I saw a kid get a couple ribs broken with one when I was in high school metals shop.

I heard one go through one of the windows in the metalshop at school once - and a rather loud "OH $#!T!!" following the breaking glass. Luckily no one got hurt, but it was still a wake up call.

The instructor used it as an object lesson about making sure you double check everything before you throw that switch. Poor guy got a ribbing from everyone about being "broken up" over his mistake, a truly "shattering" experience...

...and life went on. No nanny-rules about not touching machinery (that would come 2 years later when the old guy retired)... The kid made holders for the keys that mounted on the control boxes, and came up with "The hand that holds the key throws the power". It worked... no more thrown (or lost) keys.

 

[600SL]

This just might be the most idiotic statement I have ever read!!!

Not the most idiotic. Us old timers learned to be aware of our surroundings. Today people have grown up so protected they wouldn't know a machine could be dangerous until they loose a limb.

I'm not convinced that the all safety equipment is good. Especially when they become so restrictive that people remove them.

New gas can spouts are a fine example. I cant use them. I can no longer hold a heavy 5 gallon jug up that long to fill my garden tractor while the gas dribbles in through tat orifice. So I take it off. Did the lawyers make me safer?

Staying in bed would be safer so stay in bed.

 

[bczygan]

The boss at the shop I worked at had a lathe injury right in front of me.

He was pulling swarf, out from around the part on a running lathe, with needlenose pliers.

The swarf caught on the pliers, and pulled his hand in between the part and the tool holder, mashing it.

He was struggling to hit the stop button, and finally did.

This was the hand that is missing half the thumb.

He lost feeling for a day or two.

 

[Cato]

You can only teach about shop safety so much to some.

Unfortunately, a lot of it is common sense.

You have to inherently know that large metal blades and spinning hunks of metal are dangerous. If you don't have the brains to be careful, then...well y'know.

 

[txvwnut]

Two freinds of mine learned a very quick lesson in junior high woodshop involving the wood lathe.
B was turning table legs and T was harassing him by smaking the stock in the lathe with his tape measure.
This went on for about five minutes with B telling T to cut it out, now I would've quit the first time B said to stop as he was 6'5" and 280 in junior high, and T was about 5'2".
The tab on the tape caught a gap in the stock and it in-reeled all twelve feet of that tape in about a second, slammed it against the lathe ways until it broke and went through the shop ceiling.
At that time B pretty much yelled out a few good explicatives at T, who I'm pretty sure crapped an entire weeks worth of turd in his pants as he stood there and stared at his empty hand.
Luckily no one got hurt with the exception of the tape measure and the ceiling, but I don't think I'll ever forget the sound that Stanley made as it came out of its case at warp speed.

 

[bgarrett]

serious? No long sleeves?

 

[raddksn]

I work with a kid that's going to be shop Forman some day. Today was his 22nd birthday. He will walk past one of the three lathes we have in the shop and place the chuck key in the chuck and say why can't you guys but theses things where they belong!

He tells me I'll do things his way when he runs the shop. I just smile and think to myself that'll be my last day there!

 

[justanengineer]

Apprenticeships in the UK are a bit of a contraversial subject when it comes to pay. They are classed as training, in the same way as a college degree is classed as training so the deal is that someone becomes an apprentice, works usually 4 days a week learning on the job and does 1 day per week at a college. At the end of the apprenticeship there is a formal qualification. However in the meantime there is a view that the employer gets some very cheap labour in the name of training.

I appreciate the info. Here stateside most "apprentices" that Ive seen start in the $10-15/hour range, slightly above Walmart wages and a fortune compared to £3 so was genuinely surprised to hear such a low wage on that side of the pond where things are so much more expensive.

 

[why worry]

A really sad tale of someone not teaching the future generations how to be safe in a very dangerous situation. I was taught by an old machinist in high school No loose clothing, long hair, jewelry or gloves when operating the equipment in a machine shop period. Kids with long hair had to wear a hair net and little black cap. The instructor should a film clip of a person who had long hair and got it wrapped up in a drill press. Scalped him. Anyway have carried those same basic rules throughout my working career and they have saved me on more then one occasion.
Dave

 

[napalmv8]

Great safety movie from 70s

 

[dutchgray]

It's also worth mentioning the kid probably never used a machine in a shop at school, probably hand tools only, I'm a decade older and we were only allowed on drill press, sanders and fret saws, the band saw, lathes, table saw were already considered to dangerous for students. The kid most likely had no experience of lathes other than what his employer told him.

 

[Cobra5150]

And it's probably the most idiotic statement I've ever written.. But i'll stand by it. You can only teach about shop safety so much to some. I was always the put my hand on the burner to see if it's hot kinda guy. Still am. But I have a much greater respect for power tools now, and can't remember the last time I got hurt. I guess I worded it wrong. The shouldn't be allowed to get hurt, but stop being babied.

They didn't teach him anything. In fact it seems the company was intentionally doing everything wrong. The kid probably had never been exposed to machinery like that so how was he to know the dangers?
Another thing that gets me is the shop was paid 4500 for hiring him and he was only get 3/hour......

 

[ptschram]

I work with a kid that's going to be shop Forman some day. Today was his 22nd birthday. He will walk past one of the three lathes we have in the shop and place the chuck key in the chuck and say why can't you guys but theses things where they belong!

He tells me I'll do things his way when he runs the shop. I just smile and think to myself that'll be my last day there!

But it is where they belong.

Let's think about this. Every time someone posts a pic of a lathe online with the chuck key in its home position, some one says to remove it.

They are supposed to be there, it's kinda hard to run a chuck without one. If there is not a piece of stock in the lathe, you're gonna need the key to put stock in there. If there is no stock in the chuck, there is no reason to turn the lather on. Ergo, the keys should be left in the chucks!

I leave the keys in the chucks of my lathes and in 40 years have never turned a lathe on with the key in the chuck.

Now, I know I'm not real popular here for my politics and attitude toward life and other people, but in this case, I think I'm qualified to make the above statements as I only spent the first 19 years of my working life as an Environmental, Safety, & Health Engineer where my JOB was to reduce unsafe working environments and to identify those that were unsafe so we could develop an engineering response to that condition.

 

[WhiteSSP]

I heard one go through one of the windows in the metalshop at school once - and a rather loud "OH $#!T!!" following the breaking glass. Luckily no one got hurt, but it was still a wake up call.

The instructor used it as an object lesson about making sure you double check everything before you throw that switch. Poor guy got a ribbing from everyone about being "broken up" over his mistake, a truly "shattering" experience...

...and life went on. No nanny-rules about not touching machinery (that would come 2 years later when the old guy retired)... The kid made holders for the keys that mounted on the control boxes, and came up with "The hand that holds the key throws the power". It worked... no more thrown (or lost) keys.

When I was training apprentices in the machine shop, if they left the chuck key in the chuck more than once, I would tie string around it and make them wear it around their neck all day. If it happened again, they'd wear it around their neck all week.

 

[miner]

When I was training apprentices in the machine shop, if they left the chuck key in the chuck more than once, I would tie string around it and make them wear it around their neck all day. If it happened again, they'd wear it around their neck all week.

Sounds pretty dangerous. What happened when they turned on the lathe with the key still in the chuck and tied around their neck?

 

[miner]

My rule is that everyone in the shop be warned that a power tool is in use, if you work alone no need but at times there are 4 or 5 people working on different things in my shop, and a shout out is not a loud yell.

I went with out ear protection for most of my life and now at 47 I am loosing hearing in my right ear, I have rarely listened to loud music or done other things to damage my hearing it is all from being in the shop.

We treat ear protection the same as eye protection, if you are using a tool then you have eyes n ears.

I agree with you that ear protection is no joke, but most woodworking machines really don't get very loud. About the only tools I use that need it are my planer and routers. And I hate routers in general so I try never to use them.

Probably of more importance in a wood shop is lung protection. A good dust collection setup can be hard to get right since most collection systems marketed for garage shops are totally inadequate.

 

[Zeke]

Couple days ago I was using a portable belt sander, a 3 x 21. I sanded on a board that was on the bench and got close enough to a rag that the sander sucked it in. Took me a 1/2 hour to get it out of the drive drum. So portable tools, especially bigger drill motors, need some safety forethought.

Getting hurt is no way to receive your training. I've worked with power tools for nearly 60 years. I never wore safety glasses or hearing protection when young. Fortunately I have had next to no eye incidents and none serious. But I can't hear for **** and I have tinnitus. Wear your PPE. Don't wear flip flops in the shop either.