Was working at my mini-lathe and failed to slide the tail-stock up against my mandrel. Initially, was working at the slowest speed doing a bit of sanding on the wood piece. No problems at first with the larger mandrel staying true but as soon as I dialed up the turning speed by simply turning the knob on the variable speed control all @#$%& broke loose!

The mandrel went all cadywompus (bent about 30 degrees!), hit & broke the tool rest (which I thought was out of the way), and my work piece shattered! This happened in about 3 seconds! Had any part of my body been in the way I surely would have severely injured!

When working with power tools & equipment DOUBLE CHECK that all is good BEFORE you turn the tool on. I was lucky that I only ended up with a busted tool, ruined mandrel, & shattered work piece.

Be safe, not sorry!

Raymond Adams
Eventually, all things merge, and a river runs through it..

Question......did your mandrel have a shouldered area cut into the portion that chucks into the chuck? The reason I mention this is because the ones that are just straight have a habit of slipping back into the chuck and pulling away from the tailstock live center. I have switched all mine to the shoulder style from Backlash due to this added safety and convenience feature. If you have the regular straight type at least put a stop coller securely in place against the chuck so it cannot slip back into the chuck on you.

Glad you're not hurt Ray. WOW!

Peter,

The mandrel's size prevented it from sliding through the head-stock so slippping was not the issue in my case.

Thanks Steve.

Raymond Adams
Eventually, all things merge, and a river runs through it..

Glad your safe Raymond.

This is suppose to be fun - be careful !!

Bill - willierods.com

Wow, Ray, glad to hear you are OK!
Thanks for the reminder, and I'm glad it didn't come at great cost.

Walt Natzke
Ripon, CA

WOW ! That was close Ray !
Mike Barkley posted about a year ago about getting a hand busted by a mandrel that came out of the Tail Stock and bent 90 deg. I use set collars on all my home made mandrels. Been lucky and careful so far.

J.B.Hunt
Bowling Green, KY

What matters is that you're ready for a job near Raymond

Thanks guys!

I hope my post helps someone not make the same mistake.

Raymond Adams
Eventually, all things merge, and a river runs through it..

Ray...glad you weren't hurt! Have you been taking lessons from @#$%& and Bobby G?

When are you going to finish that Apogee and post some pics?

Chuck

Don't feel too bad Ray. I did something really stupid a couple of weeks ago. I had just finished 3 x 12 hour night shifts and was really tired but I wanted to get a 37kg rod glued up. I fitted the collet and applied a good amount of 24 hour glue and then, being in a bit of a hurry, I decided I'd glue the game grip in place as well. Being tired and just a little bit short in patience I glued them up and thought, "Yep, I can go to bed now and be ready to do some binding in a day or two." When I finally went back to the rod I saw immediately that I'd stuffed up major. Yep, I forgot to put the locking nut on in front of the collet so the rod could be locked to the bent butt. To say I was a little upset is an understatement. I was more embarrassed than anything else. The glue had set and no amount of heating and twisting could get the collet off. Moral to the story is, "Think first, think again and then do what you planned but do nothing when you are tired."

Regards
Mark
Outback Rods

Damn Ray! Glad you are OK. I think about that stuff whenever I am working on the lathe. I get scared of that thing every time I use it.

As my friend that is now called "9 1/2" will tell you, fingers and stomach are never 100% safe around the lathe!

Kevin

Wait till you are doing a Weave & Thread Art using a power wrapper just to hold the butt section and just hand turning. But you for got to turn off the machine. You turn your back to step away. and step on the foot power controller. Now you have a wrap that will never come undone. LOL

Good Wraps Bob

Just as long as we don't have any right handers that are now called - Lefty Doooo

Bill - willierods.com