Careless Stupidity (mine)=dangerous accident

[Hilel Salomon]

About twenty minutes ago, I made a ridiculous error, and now my hand and arm are bandaged up and I'm waiting to see if I need to go and get stitches.

I had turned a large Walnut blank into four (3 cored bowls and one 14x7 large one)bowls I had applied oil on the large one and was just putting wax on it and polishing it when it exploded. Fortunately, my hand was not on it, but it was in the line of fire as pieces went flying everywhere.

The Mistake:
Last night, I switched belt positions on my PM 3520B to the really fast mode in anticipation of trying to learn how to do spindle work. I forgot how fast it is and how quickly it speeds up. I turned the speed up to polish the piece when it exploded. It probably could not take the vibration and just cracked into lots of jagged pieces. I remember posting a comment on the PM 3520 B's starting at whatever speed you left it on. Actually, I had turned it way down, but this made me forget that it was on high speed. A slight turn of the knob got it way too fast.

The Only Smart Move:

I did have my Trend Airshield on, although on occasion, when doing light waxing, I've not had it on. I'll never again do anything on the lathe without some major face and head protection.

The Lesson(s):

Large Bowls (especially ones that have had many-albeit glued cracks) probably shouldn't ever be turned at very high speeds;
Remember which belt is being used;
Wear safety equipment at all times;
Have first aid equipment handy (I had to use paper towels to stem the bleeding but still managed to leave a trail of blood to the bathroom;
Don't be as Dumb as I am!!!
Regards, Hilel.

[curtis rosche]

nice work. i try to always remember to check the speed before hitting the switch. also remember to take bark off the large peices. otherwise it flys off and breaks lightbulbs.

[Chris Stolicky]

Glad you're okay.

Let's hope that you will not need any further medical attention.

Thank you for the reminder. I can easily see doing that with my Jet 1642 (2 HP) - the controls are virtually identical.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Hilel - thanks for sharing the warning! Hope your injury is not to serious and you heal quickly! I have had similar experiences with lathe speed - usually just scaring the heck out of me - so have tried to remember to always turn the lathe speed down when finished turning for the day!

[Terry Gerros]

Thank God nothing worse happened. In one regard, these reminders help us from getting complacent. I have a PM 3520 also but turn the lathe speed down rather than shut the machine off. I trust you will heal well and that you didn't need stitches.

[Roger Wilson]

Good that you weren't hurt more badly.

I've thought that I should be bringing a phone (for 911 call) into the shop just in case the machines become sentient and fight back (Terminator ref).

I've also wondered whether gluing up cracks with CA was as strong as needed.

Have a speedy recovery.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Hilel,

I hope things heal quickly and completely!

I have never had anything blow up due to my having the speed set too high but I have taken some really wide-eyed deep breaths once or twice.

Thanks for the warnings.

[Hilel Salomon]

Thanks for all your good wishes. I took the first set of bandaids and gauze off and went back to the workshop to look at the mess.
The good news is that I don't think stitches will be necessary.
The cautionary news in response to Roger's question about the cracks is
that the cracks had nothing to do w/the bowl exploding. They were surface cracks and none of them went through. Also the areas where the bowl exploded weren't near what surface cracks there were on the bowl. In some ways that's scarier. What it means is that even a solid bowl can explode with no tools, sander or hand on it. I'm guessing that the vibrations the high speed caused just popped the bowl-not off the chuck but on the sides. The other possibility leads me to start another question (thread) going, and that concerns shaking and vibration on the machine.
Thanks again. I really do appreciate your kind concerns and good wishes.
Regards, Hilel.

[Chris Rae]

Sure glad you're okay! Thanks for the warning.

[Jeff Nicol]

Hilel, I am glad you only got some cuts and bruises for your OOPS! I did that but I turned the speed up myself a bit and the wood had shrunk a bit and the bowl created a vibration in the chuck that was at the right harmonic to make the wood disinegrate! One piece hit me in the head and 28 stitches later my education was complete! I posted a picture before so it is on here somewhere. Good luck and take care, I have yet to put my 3520B to the high speed yet, maybe I will have to see what it is all about.

Heal fast,

Jeff

[Harvey Ghesser]

Hi Hilel,

There's always a positive in everything! Today's positive was that you didn't seriously get injured! I"m not trying to minimize here.

Glad you're OK!:)

Harv

[Dan Forman]

Hope the damage was minimal and that you heal quickly. I pretty much always use the speed control on mine to stop the spindle, rather than the on/off switch for fear of turning it on sometime with the speed set too high. Even so, I did the same as you one time, had an unbalanced piece in there and turned it up too fast and had a bit of a scare, but everything held together.

Dan

[Bernie Weishapl]

Hilel glad to hear you are alright. I had that happen one time when I went from turning a spindle to putting a bowl in without checking the speed. The bowl had no cracks but did explode. I rarely turn a bowl above 1000 rpm. For me to many things can go wrong. Since that time I hang my trend by the door. It goes on when I go in and doesn't come off till I go out and hang it by the door.

[Jarrod McGehee]

Hilel, Glad to hear it wasn't too bad, except for the bowl. Good luck to a speedy recovery. So when you're turning bowls you should have the belts on a slower setting??

[Chip Sutherland]

I'm still learning on my new 3520B to turn if down and/or check the speed before I pull the knob. I made you mistake a few times with my lathe with a reeves drive that started at 450rpm.

Get your wounds cleaned out. Hope all heals nicely. Get a tetnus shot, too if you cannot remember the last one.

[Donald Price]

You're not alone on this one. Last year I made the same mistake. I had just mounted a blank but forgot to check my belt and pulley setup. When I hit the power the blank went flying. I was missed but my surfboard wasn't so lucky. The blank the left the garage at high speed missing my wife by only a foot. She wasn't amused.

I hope you heal soon.

[alex carey]

Sorry for the unfortunate accident, glad to hear you came away relatively unscathed.

[Mike Minto]

hilel, glad you didn't get damaged any worse. yes, i'm sure we could all be more aware of what we are doing - complacency will sneak right up on a person; thanks for the reminder. heal fast! mike

[Matt Hutchinson]

I am so glad to hear you are alright! Thanks for the reminder! I find that I sometimes take shortcuts (I know you weren't being unsafe), but this helps to keep me in the correct frame of mind: Anything can happen on any piece, no matter how solid it appears! Heal up friend!

Hutch

[charlie knighton]

glad you were not badly hurt, thanks for sharing your experiences

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Thanks for all your good wishes. I took the first set of bandaids and gauze off and went back to the workshop to look at the mess.
The good news is that I don't think stitches will be necessary.
The cautionary news in response to Roger's question about the cracks is
that the cracks had nothing to do w/the bowl exploding. They were surface cracks and none of them went through. Also the areas where the bowl exploded weren't near what surface cracks there were on the bowl. In some ways that's scarier. What it means is that even a solid bowl can explode with no tools, sander or hand on it. I'm guessing that the vibrations the high speed caused just popped the bowl-not off the chuck but on the sides. The other possibility leads me to start another question (thread) going, and that concerns shaking and vibration on the machine.
Thanks again. I really do appreciate your kind concerns and good wishes.
Regards, Hilel.

Good to hear things aren't as bad as first thought Hilel, it is one of the things I'm aware of that can happen instantaneously, and even though I turn on the outboard side (standing out of the line of fire always) I still very often just do a start-stop to let it spin up for a moment to evaluate the spinning speed and possible vibration, also my bolted down and very heavy lathe has not a very high top speed, that helps also, still things can and do happen, so take care, it could have been much worse :eek:

[Ryan Baker]

Glad to hear the damage was minimal Hilel. Heal up fast.

[Phil Labowski]

wow I'm glad you're okay. Stuff like that is why my father-in-law set up a bunch of rules for me to have my lathe in his workshop. Good job on the face shield.