My tools won't cut!

[JoAnn Duggan]

I was all set for a day of turning and sharpened my tools on my CBN wheels and when I went to turn nothing would cut. I have sharpened and resharpened, tried different kinds of wood and no matter which tool I tried nothing was cutting. Has anyone ever experienced this? I am a fairly new turner but this is the first time that this has happened. I am at my wits end trying to figure out what I am doing wrong. I took a class this past weekend and my tools were sharpened during the day and they cut like they were cutting into butter. But today they won't even scrape let alone get a curl. My tools are Robert Sorby's and my lathe is the jet 1221vs and this is the first time I have run into this problem. Please, can someone tell me what might be going on or what I might be doing or not doing.

thank you

JoAnn

[John Keeton]

Did you check to make sure the lathe was not in reverse?? Sounds crazy, but it happens - to all of us!

[Lance Mirrer]

Sorry if this is over simple, but when this happened to me it was because the lathe was spinning in reverse. Reverse is great for sanding, cutting left handed (from the back).


If your tool is not reacting at all, check the direction.

Good Luck!

[Lance Mirrer]

Did you check to make sure the lathe was not in reverse?? Sounds crazy, but it happens - to all of us!

Great suggestion, apparently we were both typing it at the same time.

[JoAnn Duggan]

John, you are an angel! Thank you so much. That is exactly what was wrong. I put it in reverse previously and must have forgotten to put it back. You just made my day as I was really disappointed at not being able to spend my day practicing what I had learned in my weekend class. I love this forum and have learned so much from reading it everyday.

thank you so very very much

JoAnn

[Dan Case LR]

John, you are an angel! Thank you so much. That is exactly what was wrong. I put it in reverse previously and must have forgotten to put it back. You just made my day as I was really disappointed at not being able to spend my day practicing what I had learned in my weekend class. I love this forum and have learned so much from reading it everyday.

thank you so very very much

JoAnn

JoAnn, please don't feel bad about this mistake -- I also have a 1221VS and this happened to me, too. If there's one thing Jet left off the 1221VS it's a big, flashing read light that says "YO! You're in reverse!" It's way too easy to bump that switch.

Enjoy!

D.

[Jamie Donaldson]

This is a great trick to play on visiting demonstrators!:D:cool:

[Greg A Jones]

My very 1st thought as it happened to me last week - bumped the switch when hitting the off button. Glad I'm not the only one. :D Definitely a "Doah!" minute

[Ian James Webster]

Been there - done that!!!!!!!

[Russell Neyman]

Glad the mystery has been solved so quickly, because this topic was going to draw a lot of sarcasm.

[Mike Campbell KS]

I recently spent a good hour drilling 4 pen blanks. They were some new kind of acrylic that I hadn't tried before. I was wondering why I couldn't go further than 1/4" at a time, figured my bit was very dull. WHOOPS!! Reverse was on.

[Harvey M. Taylor]

That problem is easier solved than buying a new bandsaw blade and putting in on in reverse. ' course I havent done that either.----not. Max

[Kyle Iwamoto]

I put a new bandsaw blade on, and yes it does cut installed upside down. What a POS blade. Checked it 2 times, (and cut wood) before I checked a third time and noticed it was in wrong.....

[Brian Kent]

Yes in turning in reverse.

Yes on reversed bandsaw blade.

And yes on one on one smokin' hot table saw blade.

[Mel Fulks]

Saw a movie with a lathe going in reverse .I immediately noticed the chips flying up and sticking to the work.

[John Coloccia]

I had the 3 phase spindle on my CNC machine wired in reverse for about an hour. I couldn't figure out why I was getting all this smoke and fire. DUH.

[bob svoboda]

Ahhh. A new member in the club!

[Allan Ferguson]

Very funny to read about. Just not funny when it is happening to you!

[Mike Cruz]

Funny how we were all on the same track... Reverse was the first thing I thought of. As a matter of fact, a friend was over recently, and when he reached down and turned on my lathe, I was a little perplexed...he proceeded to put the tool up to the wood. WHOA! What are you doing? You put it in reverse!?!? Hehe, on HIS lathe turning the know to the right is forward and left is reverse. My lathe is the opposite. I guess you do what is habit...

[mike ash]

Yep, did the lathe in reverse trick and tried installing a bandsaw blade .......and even a tablesaw blade backwards!!!!!
Glad nobody saw me!!!

[Jeffrey J Smith]

Glad I'm not alone - I shudder to think how much of my gouge was sharpened away before figuring it out. Also spent most of an afternoon trying different tool presentation ideas instead of stopping the lathe to see if I was really trying to cut through a rock firmly embedded in a burl. Duh!
The good thing is, its an opportunity to make certain you're learning through making mistakes.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I have done it mainly because the last time I used the lathe, I put it in "Reverse" for a final pass of sanding and just forgot to put back.

[David C. Roseman]

[snip]
If there's one thing Jet left off the 1221VS it's a big, flashing read light that says "YO! You're in reverse!"
[snip]

This is actually a great idea, Don, and for all lathes! There's often truth in jest. :)

David

[John Keeton]

But, David, if they did that, we wouldn't have the opportunity to laugh at ourselves in threads such as this!:D Self-deprecating humor is good for the soul!

[David DeCristoforo]

Just can't stop laughing... sorry... thanx for the day brightener even if it does have a "sheepish" overtone. Of course I've never done anything like this myself...

[Tom Giacomo]

I have to admit I did the same thing, and just like you I kept looking at the tool and thinking what is wrong with this tool ?

[Rick Markham]

Nope! Never happened to me :rolleyes:... Certainly hasn't happened enough that it's the first thing I check now. :D Fortunately I only had a Tormek grinder, it would have taken MONTHS to grind a gouge away! :eek:

[Clint Baxter]

Suppose that is one advantage to turning on the Nova DVR. When you turn it on in reverse, it waits several seconds while a little message comes up on the screen telling you that you're in reverse. Annoying when you want it to spin up so you can get to sanding, but I've never ended up trying to turn in reverse on this lathe. Wouldn't guarantee that I wasn't there on my previous Delta though.

Clint

[Fred Belknap]

I never did that when I was learning to turn, my lathe didn't have a reverse:D

[Wade Lippman]

Years ago I got a phone call from a college that had bought 5,000 doorviewers. They were all defective, you could see right into the room from outside. I tested out my stock and all were fine; then I had a silly idea. I called them back and asked them to check to make sure they hadn't installed them backwards. They said they would check, and I never heard from them again.

They had installed 5,000 doorviewers backwards, and when they worked to see into the rooms, they didn't think that maybe they were backwards. Amazing.

I can understand putting a table saw blade on backwards, but wouldn't a lathe turning the wrong direction be pretty hard to miss?

[Mel Fulks]

Funny. Only time I've heard anything quite like that was from Moe (Three Stooges), "that nail is for the other wall !".

[David C. Roseman]

[snip] wouldn't a lathe turning the wrong direction be pretty hard to miss?

One would think. That's why I was so surprised when the same thing happened to me! :D

Loved your story about the peepholes!

David

[James Combs]

Been there - done it too. As for being able to tell it is running backwards just by looking, its pretty much the same blur in either direction, especially when you are looking at the "stupid" non-cutting freshly sharpened super tool.:rolleyes: