Wally Dickerman
05-22-2011, 1:01 PM
After the very sad publicity on the web about the recent deaths of two woodturners, many turners are becoming more safety concious. And that is a good thing. I am guilty, along with many others, of not wearing a face shield when I should. I have one, which I don't like so it's seldom used. I wear it only when I think that I have a possibly dangerous piece on the lathe. Well, I along with others have ordered a Uvex face shield. Remains to be seen how much I'll wear it though. Pretty easy to be complacent when you've been turning for 70 years and never had an injury at the lathe.
Even more important than body armor is using the proper techniques regarding safety. Line of fire, speed controls, loose clothing, and much more. That, more than anything except perhaps luck, is the reason I've never had a serious injury. I'm a cautious turner.
Okay, we take all of these precautions, how about the lathe itself? Could the lathe manufacturers be more safety concious? You bet they could. Not with a shield that everyone is going to remove, but other things. I think that possibly the worst is the switch and speed control on many lathes. Last Saturday I did a demo at our club. Our club lathe is a Woodfast. A very well made machine but the controls are in a very bad spot. Below the headstock. If you hear a bad sound or if the piece begins to wobble, you need to immediately turn off the lathe. If its low and under the headstock I am forced to move into the line of fire to hit the off button, and that's really the last thing that I want to do if the piece might instantly fly off the lathe. The same thing if I carelessly turn on the lathe and haven't checked the speed and find that it's too high.
I have a Oneway lathe and one of the options is a remote on-off switch. A feature that all lathes should have as standard for safety and for convenience. It has a cord and a magnet which allows me to place the switch in a safe and convenient spot of my choice. I do a lot of turning on the outboard side of my lathe. I place the switch at the end of the outboard bed. I can turn the lathe off by bumping the switch with my hip, or I can hit it with the palm of my hand. I am way out of the line fire when I do.
I'm sure that there are other things that lathe manufacturers could do to make turning safer. What do you think? Any ideas?
Even more important than body armor is using the proper techniques regarding safety. Line of fire, speed controls, loose clothing, and much more. That, more than anything except perhaps luck, is the reason I've never had a serious injury. I'm a cautious turner.
Okay, we take all of these precautions, how about the lathe itself? Could the lathe manufacturers be more safety concious? You bet they could. Not with a shield that everyone is going to remove, but other things. I think that possibly the worst is the switch and speed control on many lathes. Last Saturday I did a demo at our club. Our club lathe is a Woodfast. A very well made machine but the controls are in a very bad spot. Below the headstock. If you hear a bad sound or if the piece begins to wobble, you need to immediately turn off the lathe. If its low and under the headstock I am forced to move into the line of fire to hit the off button, and that's really the last thing that I want to do if the piece might instantly fly off the lathe. The same thing if I carelessly turn on the lathe and haven't checked the speed and find that it's too high.
I have a Oneway lathe and one of the options is a remote on-off switch. A feature that all lathes should have as standard for safety and for convenience. It has a cord and a magnet which allows me to place the switch in a safe and convenient spot of my choice. I do a lot of turning on the outboard side of my lathe. I place the switch at the end of the outboard bed. I can turn the lathe off by bumping the switch with my hip, or I can hit it with the palm of my hand. I am way out of the line fire when I do.
I'm sure that there are other things that lathe manufacturers could do to make turning safer. What do you think? Any ideas?