Just turn a few nylon or delrin bushings that will snap into the end of the thru bore with a slight interference fit, drill them to be slightly oversize of the common diameter rods you turn with that much length. Just an inch or so long is plenty, but a larger lip on the end makes it easy to remove them.
Lathe question
- Thread starter gbs52
- Start date
I got a rear chuck from Chris Hightower it had set screws all around it. I bored it out to fit over the spinal nut and tighten the set screws.
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Jewellery, clothing and other people distracting.
All safety hazards!
I have a lathe just for trying things and the convenience of maintaining my own stuff.
I'm not one of those people you see on youtube with their hand 3 inches from a spinning chuck polishing a ferrule or something, less there's a box in front of the chuck. I'm just not that good at it.
I'm not one of those people you see on youtube with their hand 3 inches from a spinning chuck polishing a ferrule or something, less there's a box in front of the chuck. I'm just not that good at it.
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PracticeChampion
Well-known member
Lucky I have no hair, nor wear jewelry. Had no major close calls yet but have dinged my knuckles a few times off the jaws, that's no fun
I have a neighbor would pull up to my garage while I'm working (door is up) and honk. We had a discussion after that.
Distractions plus.... My wife would yell to get my attention (with my back toward her) while the dust collector is on. We had a discussion after that.
I left Tommy bars in the chuck once... was lucky as I start out on low.
I made eight or ten pens. I turned them on my 22"x42" wood lathe. It was what was handy. There was a lady that cleaned vegetables and made fancy desserts on her lathe, one of the biggest wood lathes in common production! She is a master turner though and knows her lathe like the back of her hand.
No way to make a training tape from the guy's lathe accident right up the road from me. I'm sure it was cold as the devil in the shop and there were no cameras, nobody close to him either. Maybe fifty or seventy-five feet away.
A friend ran a lathe at Avondale shipyard. It would cut a curl an inch and a quarter wide and 3/16" thick off of the high grade steel the shafts between engine and screw were made out of. When he was feeling silly he could send curls forty or fifty feet long dancing around the shop! I don't remember the size of that lathe but the throw was several feet and it was over twenty feet long. I have seen forty foot lathes but those are tiny compared to some. I have seen pictures of lathes with dual saddles and cutting stations. Each saddle had a cab for an operator to ride in! I think that lathe was 120 feet long if I remember right.
Didn't see the lathe but one of the old plantation owners on the river got ready to build one of those fantastic antebellum homes. When he needed the huge two story columns he just cut down some big cypress and made his own lathe. Each column is a whole tree.
Most of us have nudged a chuck a bunch of times I suspect. I have and no big deal if it is spinning away from you. If it is spinning towards you it is a different story. I was working on a little 14"x40" metal lathe with no brake on it. I was spinning it fast for a metal lathe, 1750 or 2000RPM, wide open. I was making a short very fine pass then I had to shut off the lathe and let it quit spinning to reverse direction and let it spin away from me to touch the surface with a file before taking a measurement. The goal was a very tight fit, it ended up being an air tight metal to metal fit!
It was late night, I was tired, and I was spending most of my time watching the lathe spin down. Surely I could touch the metal with the little ten inch mill file I was using with the lathe spinning towards me if I was careful. Touched a lathe chuck jaw with a finger, two more were drug in behind the first one. All three fingers instantly numb, blood pouring. I quickly wrapped a towel to keep from covering my work piece and tooling in blood.
Minutes later my fingers are still numb, I have soaked the first wrapping in blood and wrapped more on top of it but the bleeding should be slowed down by now. I hated to look at the fingers, they were still numb and I had no idea of the damage. I am alone working after midnight, might have to drive myself to the hospital with one hand. My truck was a four speed but with some quick shifting I could drive it one handed.
I was tired of all the blood, time to clean up and face the music. The first finger into the lathe chuck had a nail ripped top to bottom and some badly torn meat under the nail. Still a full finger and it wasn't looking too bent. The next two fingers weren't bleeding or badly bent. I said a thank you to the God that looks after fools and drunks. I wasn't a big enough fool to run machine equipment after drinking but I had damned sure been a fool and I got off very light. I was spinning a ten inch chuck that weighed eighty pounds or so. Might have been 120 pounds. The heavy chuck was creating a flywheel effect on the lightweight Jet lathe, one reason it took so long to spin down.
The muscles and connective tissue in those fingers stayed upset for a few weeks and ripping the end of my finger to the bone and the torn nail was sore as the devil as is usual but I had a hand and I didn't have a file impaling me anywhere. It had departed for parts unknown!
We can't count on luck. Some people get severely injured or killed the first time they do something stupid and it doesn't take a big tool to do it.
Hu
DeeDeeCues
Well-known member
Skill, care, and diligence go a long way, but every machinist I've ever talked to either had scars or close call stories. Usually both. Stay safe out there.
Cue makers too!
I use to keep my house unlocked so if someone showed up, they could just walk in and come to the shop.
NOT ANYMORE!
When I say people can be idiots, I'm not kidding. If I had the router going, they would think it's funny to yell out. On purpose too.
DeeDeeCues
Well-known member
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I had my Talon chuck on the Taig screwed in one time. Forgot to tighten the damn thing and turned on with the reverse switch on at full speed. That thing came out spinning bouncing off the bedways and into my kneecap. Kept me dancing the cha cha for a full minute swearing all the way.
It doesn't take much if youre not careful.
Please be mindful when working on the lathe.
It doesn't take much if youre not careful.
Please be mindful when working on the lathe.
Be real careful each and every time. Safety equipment on before powering anything up. Start lathe while on the lowest speed. And pay attention. I got self distracted using a spindle lathe. The chisel hit the head stock wheel and came at me like a missile.
Coos Cues
Coos Cues
I learned the hard way too.
I always have one hand lightly around my cue or shaft and the other on the power switch upon startup and double check the lathe is at SLOW. A failsafe steady rest to save my work from my stupidity. Like a pre shot routine.
Freddy Fuzzmore
Member
Got to thinking about it a little. A piece of foam pipe insulation around the shaft and stuffed into the spindle hole might work slick. Yes it will. I'll try it next time I use the, the,,,, that dangerous lathe!
Might work great for stuff not requiring much precision. I would not want to fight a piece of foam getting the cue turning true for something like refacing a joint or installing a pin.
Freddy Fuzzmore
Member
I'm thinking for tips or ferrule replacement. Just to keep shaft from flopping around.