Lathe, drillpress, milling machine available, but.....

COLIN LAMB wrote:
If they cannot use a lathe safely, they should not be operating an airplane,
or possibly even driving a car.

Well that has to be one of the ten stupidest things I ever seen on
Usenet.

The knowledge skills required to safely operate a lathe are
significantly
different from those required for flying or driving. People who are
highly
competent as pilots may still not know a damned thing about lathes.

Forbid anyone from using the lathe unless
they have verifiable training and use manufacturer recommended safeguards.

OTOH, that is a smart statement.


There are risks inherent in almost anything. People are hurt using
screwdrivers, electric drills, power saws and shears.

Yes, that is why people need to be taught about those things, just like
they need to be taught how to fly. Some of the hazards are not
obvious.


If it still is a concern, limit the use to adults and then have them sign an
appropriate release.

Obviously, THAT should be done, no 'if anything'.

In addition, you probably should already have some
liability insurance. The dangers from a lathe are much less than a rotating
propeller. I suspect more injuries occur using a drill press than a lathe.


People seldom work as close to a lathe as they do a propellor, they
typically are not trying to see what is going on close to the hub.

You are probably right about the drill press vs the lathe because many
more people use a drill press. OTOH I'll bet the typical lathe injury
is worse than the typical drill press injury.

--

FF

wrote:
...

People seldom work as close to a lathe as they do a propellor, ...

LOL! Add that to the top ten list. I meant vice-versa.

--

FF

On 19 Feb 2006 13:00:19 -0800, wrote:


wrote:
...

People seldom work as close to a lathe as they do a propellor, ...

LOL! Add that to the top ten list. I meant vice-versa.

You guys gotta be kidding? I've never been a close to a running prop
as I have a running lathe with hands and arms within inches of moving
things, hence the reason for never wearing long sleeve shirts when
working with machine tools. I've never been within two feet of a
running prop.

I used to get a lot of requests to "sharpen my bit" as I would
*finish* the edge of the bit on a buffing wheel. You could easily
shave the hair off your arm without soap or water and they'd really
hold that edge.

But as to safety, I've had a half inch drill bit pull a piece a 1/4
inch Aluminum out of the clamps and try to beat the column to death,
but I've never seen anything throw a piece like an innocent looking
surface grinder. I saw one smash a hole in concrete block wall.

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com

Roger wrote:
On 19 Feb 2006 13:00:19 -0800, wrote:

wrote:
...

People seldom work as close to a lathe as they do a propellor, ...
LOL! Add that to the top ten list. I meant vice-versa.

You guys gotta be kidding? I've never been a close to a running prop
as I have a running lathe with hands and arms within inches of moving
things, hence the reason for never wearing long sleeve shirts when
working with machine tools. I've never been within two feet of a
running prop.

I used to get a lot of requests to "sharpen my bit" as I would
*finish* the edge of the bit on a buffing wheel. You could easily
shave the hair off your arm without soap or water and they'd really
hold that edge.

But as to safety, I've had a half inch drill bit pull a piece a 1/4
inch Aluminum out of the clamps and try to beat the column to death,
but I've never seen anything throw a piece like an innocent looking
surface grinder. I saw one smash a hole in concrete block wall.

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com

Surface grinders are God's way of reminding you there's no such
thing as enough clamping force. My claim to fame is 10 feet with no
audience.

Now if you want to talk about unpowered tools that demand total
attention think of the english wheel. It's great for making blood squirt
out from under your nails and for causing one to cuss.

Dan, U.S. Air Force, retired

Roger wrote:
But as to safety, I've had a half inch drill bit pull a piece a 1/4
inch Aluminum out of the clamps and try to beat the column to death,
but I've never seen anything throw a piece like an innocent looking
surface grinder. I saw one smash a hole in concrete block wall.

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com

You got that right about the surface grinder! I worked in the
Wichita State University machine shop during engineering school,
and I once saw the surface grinder throw a BIG hunk of steel
across the room. Along with the shrapnel from the grinding
wheel, it was pretty impressive. The thing that made it even
more memorable was that the grinder was being operated by the shop
foreman at the time g

Don W.

"Don W" wrote in message
om...

Roger wrote:
But as to safety, I've had a half inch drill bit pull a piece a 1/4
inch Aluminum out of the clamps and try to beat the column to death,
but I've never seen anything throw a piece like an innocent looking
surface grinder. I saw one smash a hole in concrete block wall.

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)

At my school wood shop we had a large planer with a huge heavy duty vacuum
chip catcher located about 10 feet from a large table saw. The chip catcher
had a fairly thick metal cabinet and there were numerous deep small diameter
dents in the cabinet. These
dents were the result of improper choices made by persons using the saw.
Kick backs
from cutting small slices off the wrong side of the material resulted in
unsupported spearlike scrap pieces jamming between blade and fence and then
being propelled
off the back of the saw at high velocities. I'd carefully demonstrate this
as part of my safety classes at the beginning of each semester and point out
the dented equipment. While I taught there, I never had a student make that
particular error. Any additional dents added during my time in that shop
were carefully staged Demos.

Harold
KD5SAK

"Roger" wrote in message
...
On 19 Feb 2006 13:00:19 -0800, wrote:
SNIP
But as to safety, I've had a half inch drill bit pull a piece a 1/4
inch Aluminum out of the clamps and try to beat the column to death,
but I've never seen anything throw a piece like an innocent looking
surface grinder. I saw one smash a hole in concrete block wall.


I have a rolling workbench in my hangar that I made. I built it out of
leftover oak cabinet parts when I was building my wife's kitchen cabinets.
I had it all finished and I was trimming 1/16 of an inch off of one side of
the cabinet doors so they would fit properly on my 3HP cabinet saw. I
accidentally jiggled the door in the saw as I was making this minor trimming
cut. I went ahead and put that door on the workbench anyway so that I would
be reminded every time I looked at it what that saw can do if you get just a
smidgin careless or complacent. :-)

I also remember a time when I was a young man working as a structural
ironworker. It is not unusual for the holes you need to connect the
structural iron in a building to not properly line up. Every once in a
while you get a guy who puts a wrong dimension on a drawing, or who measures
wrong, or whatever. When that happens with structural iron, you don't
usually discover it until you are fifty feet in the air hanging on by
toenails trying to get a bolt into this darn thing so it will stay together
long enough to unhook the crane and get the next piece. Solution? Sure.
We kept a cutting torch on the job with REAL long hoses so we could reach
the bad spot and burn a properly located hole to get the job done. One day
I was hanging out there with the torch trying to get it into position to
burn a hole so we could get a bolt in to hold the steel in place. I could
almost reach the spot. I get the hose a little jerk to get the slack out of
it and cut the hole. Unfortunately, I already had all of the slack out of
it. When I jerked, the full oxygen tank fell over against a concrete wall.
Real unfortunately when it hit the wall it busted my gauges off of the tank.
That tank took off like a toy balloon when you blow it up and let it go! It
took off with such vigor that it went right through a 12 inch concrete block
wall. Made a believer out of me. Don't jerk those hoses now. :-)

Highflyer
Highflight Aviation Services
Pinckneyville Airport ( PJY )

("Highflyer" wrote)
[snip]
I have a rolling workbench in my hangar that I made. I built it out of
leftover oak cabinet parts when I was building my wife's kitchen cabinets.
I had it all finished and I was trimming 1/16 of an inch off of one side
of the cabinet doors so they would fit properly on my 3HP cabinet saw.


I built a rolling workbench from cabinet inserts they removed, to install
dishwashers, in our old apartment. Two sections, a 2-ft space, and then a
third cabinet section = 8-ft long rolling workbench!

I cut a 3/4 inch piece of plywood for the top and put 8 (nice) casters on
the bottom - 4 on each side of the middle space.

Each of the three sections has one pull-out drawer and two doors on the
bottom. Cheap(free) ...except plywood and casters.

I was so proud of myself ...UNTIL ...I needed to clamp/QuickGrip my first
piece of work down.

Um, I failed to factor in a lip - on either end, or in the front. There was
a clamping spot available in the middle space, but that was it. Doh!


Montblack
Live and learn!

"Highflyer" wrote in message
...

Real unfortunately when it hit the wall it busted my gauges off of the
tank. That tank took off like a toy balloon when you blow it up and let it
go! It took off with such vigor that it went right through a 12 inch
concrete block wall. Made a believer out of me. Don't jerk those hoses
now. :-)

A couple of years ago I was wandering through the goodies at a garage sale
when I spotted an 80 ft³ Oxygen tank and an Acetylene tank ~40" tall & 10"
diameter. They had regulators attached, but it looked as if the gauges were
broken off. I bought them for $5 each and hauled them home. (Turns out they
were both chock-a-block full of gas, too!)

It turns out the regulators are specially designed for rough-duty use.
Instead of gauges, they have pressure indicators where a visible rod slides
in a groove and shows approximate tank pressure. There are no secondary "set
pressure" indicators.

That's the same garage sale where I bought a fixed-pitch McCauley (sp?) prop
appropriate for an RV for $75. Later sold it as a wall-hanger for $375.

Rich S.

If they cannot use a lathe safely, they should not be operating an
airplane,
or possibly even driving a car.

"Well that has to be one of the ten stupidest things I ever seen on
Usenet. The knowledge skills required to safely operate a lathe are
significantly
different from those required for flying or driving. People who are
highly competent as pilots may still not know a damned thing about lathes."

Response:

Implicit in the word "safely" is the knowledge of how to operate it. It was
not a statement that someone should be able to operate a lathe without
training any more than they could operate an airplane or car without
training. As a matter of fact, people who are highly competent as pilots
may not be able to fly many aircraft - without training for that particular
aircraft. So, I shall restate it - if someone can learn to operate an
automobile or airplane safely, they can learn to operate a lathe.

As to the "well that has to be one of the ten stupidest things I ever seen
on Usenet.", I am not sure that added anything to the conversation other
than a public demonstration of improper grammar.

My chuck key had a spring in it to prevent leaving in the chuck. Problem
was that it would fly out after removing the chuck and I would spend a half
hour trying to find the spring and pin. I finally just glued it in and hang
it next to the switch. I did have a problem once with a hand drill. I was
wiring my house and up on a ladder about 15 feet and drilling through a beam
with a 1/2" drill. The bit caught on a knot and ripped me off the ladder
and started spinning me around. While I was turning, I realized what the
screw on handle was for. I managed to avoid injury, but felt stupid.

Colin