Listen to that little voice in your head...

[mreza Salav]

For a project I needed to use two pieces of 1/2" thick 10" long solid steel rods to go into a 1/2" hole (in wood) and should move freely. Given the hole was too tight I thought to sand the rods down a few thousands on the lathe. Put the long 30" piece (before cutting into lengths) into the jaw and take a 80g sand paper and go at it.
Now we all know you should never use gloves at the lathe and I know this for years. In fact, right then I was remembering a short video of a guy who was using gloves at a metal lathe how it caught and nearly killed him as it pulled his hands and then himself right into the lathe. Don't know what happened to him as the video showed him passed out.
Right then the sand paper and then my glove (in left hand) caught and the whole thing made a very painful situation in a split second. Apparently (I can't recall) I have tried to use my right hand to free my left hand in the meantime and it caught too. So eventually yanked my hands and it made the piece off the tail stock (good it wasn't held tightly) and the whole piece got bent and a bit loose in the jaws. The bad thing was I was sanding at the tail stock end and my left hand caught, so couldn't reach the emergency button with my right hand easily but eventually did it.
Fortunately nothing too serious, just a whole bunch of fingers bruised and swollen badly. I had movement in all my fingers (although very painfully) and things are improving after a couple of days.
Here is the picture of the left hand glove torn apart.

glove.jpg
Bottom line, don't do things you know you shouldn't do, even for a brief moment, and listen to that voice in your head when working with power tools.

Stay safe!

[Patrick McCarthy]

Mreza, as someone who almost always enjoys your posts, i am sad to see this one, but glad to hear you will come thru it no worse for the wear . . . eventually. Appreciate the safety reminder, but sorry it had to be at your expense.

Best, Patrick

[Kevin Jenness]

Oh, Mreza, I feel your pain. My hands are almost always cold due to neuropathy and for some years I wore full gloves in the shop despite the risk. I had near miss on the jointer, and then had a lathe mishap that turned my head around. I was hollowing a piece by hand and the tool caught, probably on the trapped chip buildup, started spinning and grabbed my right glove. Fortunately the fingers tore off the glove or I would have been seriously injured As it was I got off with a stern warning. Now I wear fingerless gloves- still a risk, but less so, I think.

I'm glad you had only bruises and a wakeup call.

I wonder if an additional e-stop station might be a good idea. I have the vfd control on my lathe near the tailstock end and a foot-operated kill switch at the base of the headstock pedestal.

[Phillip Mitchell]

So glad you’re relatively ok. Maybe a larger emergency stop switch would help at the lathe.

This reminds me of a large metal lathe accident video in a Russian shop that I regrettably watched years ago that is seared into my brain forever. The operator’s shirt was sucked in initially and it pulled him in and suffice it to say that he did not survive and was not in one piece at the end of it. Harrowing to see and wished I’d never seen it. I remember going into the shop shortly after watching it to do something and not being able to turn on the table saw until the next day when I had cleared my head a bit. Things like this can happen in an instant.

[John K Jordan]

Yikes Mreza! Good reminder, thanks. We're glad you are recovering.

On my PM lathe the guy who I bought it from added an emergency stop button with a strong magnet so it can be positioned almost anywhere. I keep it low on the front of the lathe where I can bump it with my leg if needed.

JKJ

[Dan Friedrichs]

Glad you're OK. At Patrick said, seeing a post like this from someone with your technical skills and experience make it hit a lot harder....

[Brian Holcombe]

Heal quickly!

One of the problems with experience is that we think we can get away with it, the tools remind us otherwise occasionally.

If you haven’t already, mount a first aid kit to the wall and familiarize yourself with the contents. I have one in my basement shop and another in the garage, I also have a tourniquet.

Ive been in plenty of shops where there is no first aid kit in sight. When your slumped over on the floor and someone is trying to save your life, don’t make it any harder on them to do that than is necessary, so mount it where is it obvious.

[mreza Salav]

Thanks everybody. I'm lucky it wasn't worse and I've been blaming for my stupidity and lack of judgment for doing something I knew shouldn't do, even briefly.
My shop is in the garage and we did some extra step for sound insulation to the walls to the house and at the time of incident I was home alone with my little boy (8). So if something serious had happened it could have been a while before I would get help!

John, my lathe is actually PM3520 so will look into adding a remote/moveable emergency stop button.

[Kevin Jenness]

Heal quickly!



If you haven’t already, mount a first aid kit to the wall and familiarize yourself with the contents. I have one in my basement shop and another in the garage, I also have a tourniquet.

Ive been in plenty of shops where there is no first aid kit in sight. When your slumped over on the floor and someone is trying to save your life, don’t make it any harder on them to do that than is necessary, so mount it where is it obvious.

Excellent advice. Thanks, Brian. I know where the stuff is but it is not obvious to anyone coming in. I just ordered a wall-mounted kit for the shop.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Mreza, I am glad you are on the mend! That little voice is an important one to which one should listen!

[Frederick Skelly]

I'm glad you didnt get hurt any worse. I hope you heal quickly.

[Bill Dufour]

Many metal working lathes have a foot brake treadle across the front. See the red pedal in attached photo.Touching it with your foot switches off the motor and generally applies a brake to the moving parts. On my Harrison lathe it is wired wrong and the motor will restart as as soon as I remove my foot. But while my foot is down the motor is dynamically braking to a stop in 3 seconds while a brake pad is forced into the motor pulley so it stops sooner tehn the 3 second deceleration curve.. Then I have three off switches I can use by hand before lifting my foot.
Bill D

[Kevin Jenness]

Many metal working lathes have a foot brake treadle across the front. Se ered pedal in attached photo.Touching it with your foot switches off the motor and generally applies a brake to the moving parts.

Some Vicmarc lathes have a similar brake bar at knee height. It's a feature that other mfrs would do well to copy.

[brent stanley]

Hi Mo, thanks for the reminder and I'm glad you're ok. It's tough to remember how quickly things can happen.

[Mark Gibney]

Scary story, with some scarier stories in the replies.
Glad you'll be able to heal from this one Mreza.