Ken Glass
11-01-2008, 9:08 AM
Hey Gang,
Had a little lathe mishap the other night that cost me 6 stitches and some bad bruising on the index finger of my right hand. The splint is to keep from bending the knuckle and pulling out the stitches. It is a little hard to see the broken edge of the form, but I am really not showing the HF, just my mistake and the result. I wonder how many others do the same thing when trying to remove chips/shavings from their hollow forms. I was using my monster rig to hollow out the form you see below. It is 3" tall and about 6" diameter. There was quite a lot of shavings inside, so rather than to stop the lathe (at 600-700 rpm) and use my air gun to blow out the shavings, I took the easy/stupid way and cupped my right hand into the form and scooped out the shavings. I repeatedly did this with little problems. I might add, this is not the first time I have done this. Well, it usually works well for a quick method. NOT THIS TIME!! My index finger at the knuckle caught a small rough area and took a chunk of maple off the rim and with it a chunk of me. A trip to the emergency room took care of the finger, but I probably need a trip to the head doctor for doing it it the first place. Now for the question: How many have done the same thing. Not the injury, but entering a hollow form or bowl to remove chips/shavings without turning off the lathe first? Come on, I need confirmation that I'm not the only one to make this error in judgment. (It is however, my right hand, so I can keep turning and fill the consuming needs of the vortex)
Had a little lathe mishap the other night that cost me 6 stitches and some bad bruising on the index finger of my right hand. The splint is to keep from bending the knuckle and pulling out the stitches. It is a little hard to see the broken edge of the form, but I am really not showing the HF, just my mistake and the result. I wonder how many others do the same thing when trying to remove chips/shavings from their hollow forms. I was using my monster rig to hollow out the form you see below. It is 3" tall and about 6" diameter. There was quite a lot of shavings inside, so rather than to stop the lathe (at 600-700 rpm) and use my air gun to blow out the shavings, I took the easy/stupid way and cupped my right hand into the form and scooped out the shavings. I repeatedly did this with little problems. I might add, this is not the first time I have done this. Well, it usually works well for a quick method. NOT THIS TIME!! My index finger at the knuckle caught a small rough area and took a chunk of maple off the rim and with it a chunk of me. A trip to the emergency room took care of the finger, but I probably need a trip to the head doctor for doing it it the first place. Now for the question: How many have done the same thing. Not the injury, but entering a hollow form or bowl to remove chips/shavings without turning off the lathe first? Come on, I need confirmation that I'm not the only one to make this error in judgment. (It is however, my right hand, so I can keep turning and fill the consuming needs of the vortex)