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Thread: Another serious injury at the lathe

  1. #1

    Another serious injury at the lathe

    Steve Antonucci posted the following on the Wood Central forum about an accident at the lathe.......please be careful when turning!








    WC'er Severely Injured
    Posted By:

    Date:
    6/5/2013, 7:35 pm



    As a member of NJ Woodturners, we received the following e-mail from Adrien Coblentz's wife today:
    This is Mary Ellen, Adrien's wife. I just wanted to let the group know that Adrien was badly injured when a plate he was turning flew off of the lathe and hit him in the head. (at least this is what the police and I were able to reconstruct. We found a few pieces of the plate but not all of them) Fractured skull, eye orbit fracture. He had facial reconstructive surgery and a plate in the frontal skull bone as the bone was shattered) on Saturday and had been in a drug induced coma until Sunday. He improved tremendously yesterday, but doesn't remember anything about the accident, except the fact that the plate he was turning was beautiful wood!
    He had his helmet on and it was broken as we found pieces in the shop.
    Please reiterate to the group the importance of wearing their helmets!!!!
    He will be in the hospital for awhile, but sure he will be in touch when he is able.
    Kind Regards,
    Mary Ellen

    Adrien posts here from time to time, and he could certainly use your thoughts and well wishes. Not trying to politicize this, but apparently, he was wearing a faceshield when the accident happened. Stay out of the line of fire, people!
    Steven












    Remember, in a moments time, everything can change!

    Vision - not just seeing what is, but seeing what can be!




  2. #2
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    may I extend my best wishes to this turner and his family

  3. #3
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    I hope he makes a swift recovery. I recently bought and gave a face mask to a fellow turner. He was only using a pair if safety glasses. I try to always be mindful of the rotation.

  4. #4
    We all need to remember that accidents happen in a split second............we may not be able to prevent every accident, but by doing our best to use the best practices we can in turning and using stable wood and wearing our safety equipment, hopefully we can diminish greatly the terrible consequences............

    The turner in this accident had a "helment" on according to his wife..........Steven said he was not sure but it might have been one of those like used with chainsaws............hopefully more info will come out in time and we can all learn from it to better protect ourselves!

    We should remember Adrian in our prayers!
    Remember, in a moments time, everything can change!

    Vision - not just seeing what is, but seeing what can be!




  5. #5
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    Really sorry for him and his wife who had to find him like that.

    There has to be more to this than what's so far been reported. For a plate to shatter the shield and helmet and then continue on to shatter the eye socket and skull it had to be traveling at incredible speed. Can someone who is on the other forum ask her or someone else to check what type of lathe it is and what the speed dial is at right now. Maybe this can shed some more light on the accident.

    I know with my Oneway the first thing I notice when it was delivered was the speed control was an accident waiting to happen. It's completely exposed and if you lightly brush it you can go from literally 0 rpm to 2000 in a second. I've screwed a thick plastic D pull over it so it's much harder to get at and have such an accident.

    I've had a similar experience years ago when I was working on a lathe that had the speed control in the opposite direction than what is on any other lathe and I inadvertently dialled the lathe up to over 2000rpm and the plate simply disappeared with a big crack. I mean the pieces flew off so fast I couldn't actually see it shatter and fly off. Thankfully I side stepped it and was missed by the shrapnel, didn't have the time to try and slow the lathe down it happened so fast, just had time to get out of the way.

    It's going to make me rethink my face shield. I never turn without it but this is pretty serious. Might think about incorporating some sort of light cage that will at least stop anything that has the energy to breach the plastic shield. There's no getting around the face and head taking a big impact but at least if the shield holds up the energy will be spread out and there won't be puncture wounds or lost eyes.
    Sent from the bathtub on my Samsung Galaxy(C)S5 with waterproof Lifeproof Case(C), and spell check turned off!

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by Roger Chandler View Post
    We all need to remember that accidents happen in a split second............we may not be able to prevent every accident, but by doing our best to use the best practices we can in turning and using stable wood and wearing our safety equipment, hopefully we can diminish greatly the terrible consequences............

    The turner in this accident had a "helment" on according to his wife..........Steven said he was not sure but it might have been one of those like used with chainsaws............hopefully more info will come out in time and we can all learn from it to better protect ourselves!

    We should remember Adrian in our prayers!
    Don't think it would have been a chainsaw shield as they're usually made with wire mess aren't they.
    Sent from the bathtub on my Samsung Galaxy(C)S5 with waterproof Lifeproof Case(C), and spell check turned off!

  7. #7
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    A quick glance at facebook gives plenty of evidence that Adrien is experienced, safety conscious, and has a great mind (M.D. in Geriatric Psychiatry). Shows that accidents can happen to anyone and I am very glad he was wearing the head protection.

    I am curious about the size of his lathe. His displayed pieces are all small-to medium size. Not giant pieces to compound the forces at work.
    Veni Vidi Vendi Vente! I came, I saw, I bought a large coffee!

  8. #8
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    I tend to wear a 3M dust respirator under my face shield, as well as safety glasses, not only stops the dust, but also provides some additional protection. In case of such an accident, it would absorb some of the energy if a piece went through the shield, and protect my nose and mouth at least. One of the benefits of doing a Batty style push cut, is that it pretty much keeps you out of the line of fire for much of the cut.

    Dan
    Eternity is an awfully long time, especially toward the end.

    -Woody Allen-

    Critiques on works posted are always welcome

  9. #9
    I am so sorry to hear of your husband's accident. I will keep him in my prayers for a speedy recovery.

    God Bless

    JoAnn DUggan

  10. #10
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    So sorry to hear about another serious injury at the lathe. My prayers for the turner and his family. Being a stubborn son of a gun I figured it would never happen to me so I've been using my cheap HF face shield and glasses. This story put me over the top and I placed an order for the Bionic face shield and will have it on my head (and covering my face) before I turn the lathe back on. I hope all others who are as stubborn as I am stop the foolishness and get properly protected so we can all be safe and enjoy our hobby.

    Get well soon Adrien!
    Jon

  11. #11
    What type of shield or brand of mask would we be able to get for maximum protection. Any one have suggestions?

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Bill Summerlin View Post
    What type of shield or brand of mask would we be able to get for maximum protection. Any one have suggestions?
    Bill.........I use the Bionic face shield .......do a google search and you will find it. I got mine from Amazon.com. This shield has a frame around the clear visor.........I don't know that it is the best, but most turners do like them........you can get anti fog lenses for it as well.......about a year and a half ago, to perhaps 2 years, I had a piece of wood fly off the lathe that weighed about 2 lbs........it hit me in the face and the Bionic face shield caused it to bounce off and it went to the floor behind the lathe........

    Likely it saved me from a trip to the emergency room.........no telling if I would have lost teeth and eye or had a bone fracture.........scary stuff, and I am sold on using a faceshield for protection and use the best technique you can muster to try and avoid major catches if you can.......sometimes approaching a cut slowly is the way to go!
    Remember, in a moments time, everything can change!

    Vision - not just seeing what is, but seeing what can be!




  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by Jon Prouty View Post
    So sorry to hear about another serious injury at the lathe. My prayers for the turner and his family. Being a stubborn son of a gun I figured it would never happen to me so I've been using my cheap HF face shield and glasses. This story put me over the top and I placed an order for the Bionic face shield and will have it on my head (and covering my face) before I turn the lathe back on. I hope all others who are as stubborn as I am stop the foolishness and get properly protected so we can all be safe and enjoy our hobby.

    Get well soon Adrien!
    Jon

    Good on you Jon!!! If posting this thread about this accident helps even one turner do a better job with safety, then it was well worth reminding everyone about the dangers we turners can face when we turn on the lathe. Glad to hear you got the shield........wear it in good health!
    Remember, in a moments time, everything can change!

    Vision - not just seeing what is, but seeing what can be!




  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bill Summerlin View Post
    What type of shield or brand of mask would we be able to get for maximum protection. Any one have suggestions?
    Lynne Yamaguchi sufferd a very similar accident, with similar injuries. Her research http://www.lynneyamaguchi.com/wordpr...1/safety-gear/
    found that her impact was 30 times greater than the rating of the Bionic shield. So definitely not the "best". Here is what she is going to wear from now on.
    http://www.chiefsupply.com/police-eq...met-black.html

  15. #15
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    Roger, when/if you do find out more about this (what kind of face shield was he wearing, how big was the blank/plate, was he face plate turning or turning between centers or vacuum chucking or maybe faceplate with a sacrifice piece glued on or regular chuck, what speed was he turning at, etc?), please do post. If you can, please ask him these questions. He may not remember them all, but any info would be helpful.

    I feel horribly for him. I really do. Not only because you don't wish this on anyone, not only because he is someone who practices safety, but also because it could be any one of us. But I just can't see how this happened under normal turning circumstances. Though, again, anything can happen anytime...
    I drink, therefore I am.

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