Hopefuldave
Intergalactic pot-mender
- Messages
- 2,545
- Location
- The Shed of Danger, surrey, England
The guide's very good, as a newby to MIG I'll take note! A few additions re lathes / mills / drills, as I've spent a fair bit of time on them:
NEVER leave the key in the chuck - if you're lucky it'll miss your head, but a lathe chuck key can quite easily crack a rib or worse;
NEVER wear gloves around machinery - they will drag you in, probable loss of extremities or limbs. Thin nitrile gloves MAY drag you in, too - barrier cream's safer if you have Lovely Hands, but won't stop you chipping your nail varnish;
NEVER reach over or around a rotating chuck, or a chuck that could - hit the power switch before making adjustments, clamping work etc.;
NEVER start the machine without rotating it by hand at least one turn to check for clearance - a chuck jaw, cutter or large workpiece hitting a stationary part of the machine makes a terrible noise as it tears loose and passes your ear at speed;
NEVER file on the lathe without a file handle - a file catching on a chuck jaw can easily drive the tang through your hand, or sneak it under the skin all the way from palm to elbow. If you can, file on the underside of the work with the file reverse - that way it'll go flying into either the splashback or the wall behind the lathe. You could even buy a proper lathe file (the teeth are "the wrong way round" so you can use it on the underside of the work while holding it like a file);
NEVER leave the key in the chuck, even a drill can propel the key straight through the palm of your hand, if you're lucky it *might* miss the major bones, nerves and tendons on its way through;
NEVER operate machines without eye protection, I've been lucky so far with safety glasses and the opthalmic surgeon has only had to dig out half a dozen metal splinters that dodged the lenses... Full safety goggles will save your eyesight, don't trust to the machine's own guards;
NEVER leave the key in the chuck, it should only leave your hand to go back in its holder;
NEVER use a blow gun to clean swarf from the machine - it's bad for the machine, as it can drive it under the moving parts, causing unnecessary wear. Oh, and it ends up all over the workshop, and STILL needs clearing up. AND it's attracted to the human eye once airborne;
FIT AN EMERGENCY STOP SWITCH if the machine doesn't already have one - on the machine you're about to be dragged into, where you can get to it with one arm wrapped around the chuck - a bar at foot level across the front is ideal, another by the entry door is a good addition as then your loved ones won't have to climb over your corpse and dodge the flailing arm to stop the infernal racket...
NEVER leave the key in the chuck (noticing a pattern here?);
NEVER balance tools, micrometers etc. on a lathe's headstock - they WILL vibrate across the surface, drop onto the chuck jaws and depart at speed, narrowly missing your head (if you're lucky) - this will ruin a decent vernier caliper or micrometer!
And not specific to these machines - NEVER grind aluminium and steel with the same machine - the mix of iron oxide and aluminium isn't just inflammable, it's bordering on explosive - that's how they welded rail tracks, Thermite it's called....
Oh, by the way, NEVER LEAVE THE KEY IN THE CHUCK.
Just my ha'pennorth,
Dave H. (the other one)
NEVER leave the key in the chuck - if you're lucky it'll miss your head, but a lathe chuck key can quite easily crack a rib or worse;
NEVER wear gloves around machinery - they will drag you in, probable loss of extremities or limbs. Thin nitrile gloves MAY drag you in, too - barrier cream's safer if you have Lovely Hands, but won't stop you chipping your nail varnish;
NEVER reach over or around a rotating chuck, or a chuck that could - hit the power switch before making adjustments, clamping work etc.;
NEVER start the machine without rotating it by hand at least one turn to check for clearance - a chuck jaw, cutter or large workpiece hitting a stationary part of the machine makes a terrible noise as it tears loose and passes your ear at speed;
NEVER file on the lathe without a file handle - a file catching on a chuck jaw can easily drive the tang through your hand, or sneak it under the skin all the way from palm to elbow. If you can, file on the underside of the work with the file reverse - that way it'll go flying into either the splashback or the wall behind the lathe. You could even buy a proper lathe file (the teeth are "the wrong way round" so you can use it on the underside of the work while holding it like a file);
NEVER leave the key in the chuck, even a drill can propel the key straight through the palm of your hand, if you're lucky it *might* miss the major bones, nerves and tendons on its way through;
NEVER operate machines without eye protection, I've been lucky so far with safety glasses and the opthalmic surgeon has only had to dig out half a dozen metal splinters that dodged the lenses... Full safety goggles will save your eyesight, don't trust to the machine's own guards;
NEVER leave the key in the chuck, it should only leave your hand to go back in its holder;
NEVER use a blow gun to clean swarf from the machine - it's bad for the machine, as it can drive it under the moving parts, causing unnecessary wear. Oh, and it ends up all over the workshop, and STILL needs clearing up. AND it's attracted to the human eye once airborne;
FIT AN EMERGENCY STOP SWITCH if the machine doesn't already have one - on the machine you're about to be dragged into, where you can get to it with one arm wrapped around the chuck - a bar at foot level across the front is ideal, another by the entry door is a good addition as then your loved ones won't have to climb over your corpse and dodge the flailing arm to stop the infernal racket...
NEVER leave the key in the chuck (noticing a pattern here?);
NEVER balance tools, micrometers etc. on a lathe's headstock - they WILL vibrate across the surface, drop onto the chuck jaws and depart at speed, narrowly missing your head (if you're lucky) - this will ruin a decent vernier caliper or micrometer!
And not specific to these machines - NEVER grind aluminium and steel with the same machine - the mix of iron oxide and aluminium isn't just inflammable, it's bordering on explosive - that's how they welded rail tracks, Thermite it's called....
Oh, by the way, NEVER LEAVE THE KEY IN THE CHUCK.
Just my ha'pennorth,
Dave H. (the other one)
Never forgot it though. Never did it again either.
