Lil Foot
Well-known member
Lifetime Member
Equipment
1979 B7100DT Gear, Nissan Hanix N150-2 Excavator
watched it happen with my own eyes in high school. Instructor had a project for us, to turn a long piece of 1.5" hex stock down to 1.0002 round on the ends for a bearing press fit Had it in the lathe but the back side of passed through the chuck so far that it had a bend in it due to it's own weight. So one of the other students decided to wrap a rag around it and "hold it up" while turning. Well the rag caught the edge, wrapped up, and wrapped up his arm. I heard every single bone crackle and pop in his arm multiple times before the chuck would finally stop. Remember there is a lot of inertia and even the safety brake wouldn't stop it fast enough when we let go of the pedal we had to stand on to keep the machine running. Once you step off of it, it cuts power to the motor and applies a safety brake; depending on the spindle speed it might take a second or two to fully stop.
I remember this ordeal like it happened 5 minutes ago aside from the shock of watching another man's arm being twisted up like a coil spring. The sound was horrible, also something that stuck with me. He went to the hospital via ambulance and, miraculously they saved his arm, but it took close to 15 years (and many surgeries) to correct it as best that they could. To this day we are friends. He cannot stretch his arm out straight, the elbow kind of locks up at about a 75 deg angle and that's as far as it goes. But like he says, it beats not having an arm at all.
I have a lathe and safety is something I never forget because of that ordeal. Real easy to get yourself hurt with a lathe. No loose clothing, period. Glasses are a must. I used to wear an apron to keep from getting too dirty but one of the straps that you tie behind your back came off once and my imagination seen it getting into the lead screw or spindle, so I tossed it in the burn pile with the rest of the junk.
Saw that story also. I would always tell people when training them on a new machine that the machine will bite you when you get used to it and become comfortable around it. Never drop your guard!