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We had a metal lathe in our high school shop class. I still can’t believe someone didn’t kill themselves on that. I think wood lathes are fine, but honestly tha

We had a metal lathe in our high school shop class. I still can’t believe someone didn’t kill themselves on that. I think wood lathes are fine, but honestly that should be kept out.

mitthrowaway2 2y ago
Wood lathes are much more dangerous than metal lathes IMO! They run at high speeds, the workpiece is typically less secure, the material has a grain structure prone to catching the tool and digging into it, ventilation is required, and most importantly, the cutting tool is gripped in the operator's hands instead of being secured on a toolpost.
jcgrillo 2y ago
A metal lathe is the fundamental machine tool. You learn how to calculate feeds and speeds, plan depth of cut, thread cutting, parting, etc. You learn about surface finish, chatter, cutter shape... Why rob students of this? Should nobody learn basic machinist skills? It's no more or less dangerous than any other shop tool.
artursapek 2y ago
wood lathes + long hair = very risky business
- WillAdams 2y ago
  Yep. https://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/14/nyregion/yale-student-dies-in-machine-shop-accident.html https://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/14/nyregion/yale-student-die...
  - artursapek 2y ago
    yeah the wood shop instructor told us about this story when I was at RISD :-( really sad
- WalterBright 2y ago
  My dad (AF pilot) eschewed long hair. He said it was a convenient handle for your enemy to pull your head back and slit your throat.
potato3732842 2y ago
These things aren't actually as dangerous as Reddit and the white collar internet make them out to be. The "being dumb" to near miss conversion ratio isn't that high and the near miss to someone gets hurt conversion ratio is abysmal.
WalterBright 2y ago
In metal shop, one kid left the key in the chuck and turned the lathe on. It punched a hole in the wall opposite it. It would have killed anyone in its path. I'm not real comfortable around lathes.
varjag 2y ago
Wood lathes, and generally woodworking tools like saws and routers are substantially more dangerous. Especially at the scale of machinery you have in vocational classes.

We had a metal lathe in our high school shop class. I still can’t believe someone didn’t kill themselves on that. I think wood lathes are fine, but honestly that should be kept out.

mitthrowaway2 2y ago

Wood lathes are much more dangerous than metal lathes IMO! They run at high speeds, the workpiece is typically less secure, the material has a grain structure prone to catching the tool and digging into it, ventilation is required, and most importantly, the cutting tool is gripped in the operator's hands instead of being secured on a toolpost.

jcgrillo 2y ago

A metal lathe is the fundamental machine tool. You learn how to calculate feeds and speeds, plan depth of cut, thread cutting, parting, etc. You learn about surface finish, chatter, cutter shape... Why rob students of this? Should nobody learn basic machinist skills? It's no more or less dangerous than any other shop tool.

artursapek 2y ago

wood lathes + long hair = very risky business

WillAdams 2y ago
Yep. https://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/14/nyregion/yale-student-dies-in-machine-shop-accident.html https://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/14/nyregion/yale-student-die...
- artursapek 2y ago
  yeah the wood shop instructor told us about this story when I was at RISD :-( really sad
WalterBright 2y ago
My dad (AF pilot) eschewed long hair. He said it was a convenient handle for your enemy to pull your head back and slit your throat.

potato3732842 2y ago

These things aren't actually as dangerous as Reddit and the white collar internet make them out to be. The "being dumb" to near miss conversion ratio isn't that high and the near miss to someone gets hurt conversion ratio is abysmal.

WalterBright 2y ago

In metal shop, one kid left the key in the chuck and turned the lathe on. It punched a hole in the wall opposite it. It would have killed anyone in its path. I'm not real comfortable around lathes.

varjag 2y ago

Wood lathes, and generally woodworking tools like saws and routers are substantially more dangerous. Especially at the scale of machinery you have in vocational classes.