New hire with chuck key in lathe problem?

vonblowseph · Jun 17, 2011

Hello,

I wish you all a very happy Friday!

Got a new hire and I am training him to work in the shop. No real machining experience.

Nice guy.

I tell the guy, don't leave the chuck key in the lathe... Its a bad thing to do.

Every time he walks away from the lathe he leaves the chuck key there. This has gone on over three days straight. I try not to look.

I have reminded him at least five times. Jokingly threatened to tie it to his hand.

What do I do here???????

Wait for him to have an episode?

Ignore it?

How big of a deal is this practice of leaving the key in there? Do folks on the forum do this? Seasoned machinists?

I've always been told not to do it by the few machinists that I know.

Enjoy the weekend,

Joey

rklopp · Jun 17, 2011

He probably has that gene missing from his DNA. My wife never shuts kitchen cabinet doors or drawers she opens, no matter how many times she or I bang our heads on them. This has gone on for years. The house always looks like it's been ransacked.

John Madarasz · Jun 17, 2011

Get an index card or a piece of white duct tape... write REMOVE KEY FROM CHUCK ALWAYS! on it

Tape this message in a conspicuous area on the lathe headstock by the chuck...Tape it on the chuck if you have to.

This is not an exercise for idiots...I do this all the time in my business and shop. I write on my machines with bold sharpie marker all the time. I put signs and notes everywhere to remind me of stuff. Use red marker...make signs. I have tape like this on a $5000.00 +TIG machine setup...ALWAYS TURN WATER COOLER ON! I never forget and never burn up expensive torches before I weld...

It's amazing how this simple yet very effective trick, and message, will train you, and everyone else included. fwiw I had teaching sessions here at my shop from visiting blacksmiths from Colonial Williamsburg for ornamental sheet metal work a while back...and one of the guys remarked "why do you write on all your machines"?

I have avoided countless accidents and saved countless thousands of $ because of this crude, but very effective, technique.

)

wawoodman · Jun 17, 2011

It's purely a safety issue. Sooner or later, that key will go whanging across the shop. With luck, doing no damage.

If he can't/won't learn, but you think he's worth keeping, get a spring-loaded chuck key. I hate them with a passion, but they do work.

S_W_Bausch · Jun 17, 2011

Let's just assume he is testing you.

You have given verbal warnings, now escalate to written warnings. Make him aware the written warning will be placed in his file, and since this is a safety issue, it will NEVER be removed from his file.

I might call his previous employers and ask to drop by and ask a few questions 'off the record', now that you have hired him.

Let them know you will only be asking 'yes'/'no' questions about his ability to take instructions.

See what they say....

John Madarasz · Jun 17, 2011

rklopp said:
He probably has that gene missing from his DNA. My wife never shuts kitchen cabinet doors or drawers she opens, no matter how many times she or I bang our heads on them. This has gone on for years. The house always looks like it's been ransacked.

One time I did a job for a guy, John Nash, one of the original owners of Kensey Nash Co....now a fortune 500 company but originally started in his basement. I needed to use his powder room, so as I was ready to flush, there on the top of the toilet was a simple message written on a piece of index card..."Please hold handle down for 5 seconds when flushing".

If a brilliant inventor who changed medical history was cool enough to go with the index card message...then so was I...and I didn't feel like such a geek for doing something so simple and intuitive as posting a note for all to see... and almost certainly avoid a problem in the future.

Never assume imo

Tonytn36 · Jun 17, 2011

It's not just a safety issue for the perpetrator, it's one for the owner or anyone else who is in direct line of sight to the chuck (could be outside the business if there is a window....). - Not to mention the liability to the business. Next time it's in there, it is written warning time. The next time he goes out the door with his last paycheck. Safety issues should never be tolerated, period. (From a guy that's seen way to many industrial accidents - and every single one of them was the result ignoring safety rules.)

MyrtleLake · Jun 17, 2011

wawoodman said:
It's purely a safety issue... get a spring-loaded chuck key. I hate them with a passion, but they do work.

Here, here. Easiest, most fool-proof answer. Swap the keys. Eliminate the plain key entirely from the building. I wouldn't be surprised if you hear a complaint in short order. Let him know, politely, why it has been substituted and if it is found modified, he will be fired.

Personally, I would keep it there for at least a month. Then, if you feel like it you can replace it with the communication that if you ever see him leave it in the chuck, it will only be the spring-loaded key for the rest of the time he works there. And stick to that.

rockfish · Jun 17, 2011

Even though I never use them, I'm almost positive it's an OSHA law to have spring loaded chuck keys........even for drill chucks.

Frank

moonlight machine · Jun 17, 2011

At least your guy just leaves the key in the chuck....I had a moron working for me that threw it out of the chuck by turning the lathe on.......4 times in one day!!!!!!! first I talked to him, then I got a bit pissed about it and let him have it, Then I gave him hell big time, then I told him next time he is fired. He was fired by 8:20 the next morning.

jim rozen · Jun 17, 2011

"Please hold handle down for 5 seconds when flushing"

Darn low-flow toilets. I have basically the same sign in the bathroom at home.

Most folks read it. Not all. For some reason women tend to be a push the
lever and walk away approach to life. Guess they don't want to watch the
hydrodynamics or something.

But if ya short flush that thing three or four times in a row, bad stuff happens.

Man the lifeboats.

ken moss · Jun 17, 2011

Did it only one time pulled the clutch on a 20" lathe with the key in the chuck I as lucky the lever was on the right size of a very long cariage. cut the 3/4" key right in two and thow it about 30 feet and hit the wall hard. it was the frist big lathe I had run. the next day I came to work and the boss asked me what I learned he didnt get mad. Ken

stebek · Jun 17, 2011

I have worked in shops where notes were very popular and very effective. I wouldn't hesitate to post one as a FIRST step.

IronReb · Jun 17, 2011

In trade school our teacher would get extremely upset over chuck wrenches left in chuck.When he would catch someone they got to wear the Chuck Key Award for the day.The Chuck Key Award was a wooded chuck key about 10'' wide and 14'' long with a strap on it,he would make you wear it around your neck all day while he had you doing "errands" around the school for all to see your award.Had a Red Eye award for no safety glasses in shop also,was a 6'' wooden eye painted red with a neck strap on it.

Our school had LeBlondes,they had the rotary switch that went from brake/neutral/Forward.One of the kids in my class would switch it to neutral to spin the chuck,he had the chuck wrench in the chuck with his left hand upside down and the long part between his ring and second finger,he reached with right hand to put in neutral and went to many clicks into forward (he had been warned before) and the chuck slammed his hand into the ways.It broke the square tang of the wrench and cracked his wrist bone in 3 places..he was actually lucky.Teacher figured that was a good enough lesson so he didn't get the Chuck Key Award.

All you can do is tell this guy how dangerous it is around machinery,applying good safe work habits is his responsibility.If bad habits like this from him seem to happen a lot it will be only a matter of time before your company,another employee or the new guy will pay a very high price for his neglect to safety.Not everyone is cut out for this trade.

Tank · Jun 17, 2011

Two options. Spring the keys so they pop out of their engagement range hence they are idiot resisitat or remove the idiots. It's that simple.

Note I say idiot resistant, as nothing is idiot proof. Sounds like you have a canidate to prove this once again. I love people that are nothing but assholes & elbows when it comes to work, but if they can't follow the most basic of rules it is all lost. You're the boss, you have tried the nice guy approch with many warnings. Lay it on the line, if this happens once more for the sake of all of our safety you will be firered. Document the whole thing (as you should have bin doing right along) and it's a just fireing.

Hopefully it won't come to that, however the shop safty must be maintained.

jdj · Jun 17, 2011

Is he doing the same parts over and over? If not, then it is COMPLETELY idiotic for him to be leaving it in the chuck. NOT, that it is fine and dandy otherwise, but...

Jeff

jdj · Jun 17, 2011

moonlight machine said:
At least your guy just leaves the key in the chuck....I had a moron working for me that threw it out of the chuck by turning the lathe on.......4 times in one day!!!!!!! first I talked to him, then I got a bit pissed about it and let him have it, Then I gave him hell big time, then I told him next time he is fired. He was fired by 8:20 the next morning.

God Almighty, that is f*cking STUPID!!!

Jeff

El Mustachio · Jun 17, 2011

Two brain cells short of a pair.

Every shop's had one, the one guy who it just never clicks with... over and over and over. Try the spring chuck, but don't give him any chances past that. It really only comes down to one issue at that point, safety. Anyone whose had to drive co-workers / employees to the E-room knows there is really only one answer to that problem.

Keep him away from the lathe.

caracadon · Jun 17, 2011

Hate to admit it but I had the same problem. So I made a spring loaded one. Don't know about OSHA and don't care. Just had a problem that needed fixn.

KIMFAB · Jun 17, 2011

The chuck key thing should not even be a consideration.
If he can't think of something that obvious without being told he probably won't work out anyway.
After telling him several times and he still doesn't get it he'll probably do something even dumber later on and really get hurt.

On the other hand tho signs do not work for me, I have several telling me to turn off the z axis dro on the mill and I'm constantly having to replace batteries because I left it on.

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