Safety Reminder - Lathe Accident GRAPHIC DEATH

dalmatiangirl61 · Nov 28, 2020

A reminder for all of us, and should be required viewing for all new(used) large lathe owners. It is GRAPHIC and operator is DEAD!

eKretz · Nov 28, 2020

Wow. That's a rough one. I'm kind of surprised the lathe even stalled, must have been in a high gear. Unless it was just spinning and slipping - until it didn't. Just to add to the *GRAPHIC* warning: that is pretty thoroughly graphic, there's really nothing left of the guy in the end. Any idea where this happened? Sounded maybe like Russian language being spoken in the background.

Almost looked like he was wrapping a long piece of emery cloth around the spinning workpiece and it grabbed and reeled the rest of him in with it.

tdmidget · Nov 28, 2020

And what was left:

eKretz · Nov 28, 2020

Damn. That is pretty rough.

Nerdlinger · Nov 28, 2020

That’s the worst thing I have ever seen. VERY good point, though, regarding safety! We have a few gory pictures by the punch clock, require safety goggles, safety shoes, no gloves when running a drill press, aprons are thin plastic or otherwise stocked together by like 2 threads so they snap if they get stuck in anything. Any other more-or-less “obvious to you” safety rules that might not be so obvious to others? For instance, wearing rings is a nono...my dad was holding a vice with a block in it at a drill press once and a chip curled it’s way right underneath his ring and sliced him pretty good. Are nitrile gloves safe to wear around rotating equipment? Definitely safer than canvas or cotton gloves but would they still pull your hand in or snap?

Tyrone Shoelaces · Nov 28, 2020

I haven't watched the vid. Obviously you need to be very careful using emery in the lathe, I saw a guy lose his thumb nail when he was gripping the emery tightly with his finger and thumb too near a shaft he was polishing. One place I worked at did a lot shaft polishing with emery and the wall in the shop was lined with what looked like big wooden nut crackers.

The idea was to trap the emery in the nut crackers and polish the shafts that way.

Regards Tyrone.

Hillside Fab · Nov 28, 2020

I wont watch the video, but why would anyone hold emery cloth that tight? You can polish and remove a fair amount of material in short order (with the right grit) without putting all your strength into it. Same thing with files in the lathe, just hold the thing so the tang wont slit your wrist when it bucks.

boslab · Nov 28, 2020

God rest his soul, it saddens me, should not happen, I’ve seen too many deaths over the years, all avoidable, I can only hope it was quick, anything less gives me ( more) nightmares, you should expect to come home from work, it troubles me that if we could see these images his family could too, I would not wish my wife to see that if it had happened to me.
Mark

DDoug · Nov 28, 2020

pretty sure this one was posted before, or similar.

Hillside Fab · Nov 28, 2020

digger doug said:
pretty sure this one was posted before, or similar.

Yeah I saw one where a guy was sucked into an 18-24" lathe. Dont need to see it again.

And yeah you should plan to come home from work, but if you expect the machine to never stop turning no matter what, this isn't that hard. Knock on wood.

Milland · Nov 28, 2020

Nerdlinger said:
Are nitrile gloves safe to wear around rotating equipment? Definitely safer than canvas or cotton gloves but would they still pull your hand in or snap?

I've not watched (and won't) the lathe video, but I can partially answer this. Partially because every event is different, but I do usually wear surgical-style gloves, in a very conformal size (no "extra" fingertips or other sections hanging loose). They're also not very thick, about 2-4 mil.

I've had two occasions over the ~20 years I've worn them where the gloves have gotten caught and not immediately broken, but each time I was able to fight the initial pull-in force and ultimately the glove tore with no harm to me.

Not saying that it's perfectly safe, just that if you're always prepared to resist it's almost certain the gloves will fail. But if you do give the machine a chance to bite *you* then all bets are off. Best not to tease the animal too much...

motion guru · Nov 28, 2020

It wouldn't appear that he suffered for very long. Likely the unfortunate soul that had to clean up afterward is still suffering.

reggie_obe · Nov 28, 2020

Quite possibly (hopefully) dead on the first rotation.
The guy who witnessed the dismemberment is going to have trouble forgetting.

lodge&davis · Nov 28, 2020

You never forget a sight like that, I'm an EMT and have seen a lot of accidents that I would like to forget!

jermfab · Nov 28, 2020

I’ll give a moment for the next guy who has to operate that machine as well... you know damn well he’s gonna find a piece of his coworker in the chip pan before his first week is over.

Hodge · Nov 28, 2020

Ugh, I'll pass on watching as well, I've seen enough of these videos to get it, never relax around equipment. But yes anyone starting out needs to fully understand what can happen in the blink of an eye. On a side note I once just about lost a thumb nail when it grabbed. Never forgot that moment every time I pick up a piece of sandpaper to clean up something.

Bobw · Nov 28, 2020

Hodge said:
But yes anyone starting out needs to fully understand what can happen in the blink of an eye.

I won't watch it either..

But.. One thing I learned when I started in this game, is that no matter how safe you think you are being, you never know how many things can bite you until they do (or almost do).

The "don't kill yourself" and "don't lose your finger" incidents are pretty well documented, but there are so many different and varied ways to get hurt and/or need stitches.

Hillside Fab · Nov 28, 2020

Bobw said:
I won't watch it either..

But.. One thing I learned when I started in this game, is that no matter how safe you think you are being, you never know how many things can bite you until they do (or almost do).

The "don't kill yourself" and "don't lose your finger" incidents are pretty well documented, but there are so many different and varied ways to get hurt and/or need stitches.

Hurt / stitches is different. IMO. I find new ways to smash fingers and cut or burn myself every week.

On edit I haven't actually needed stitches in years. I just think it's different from smashing your finger with a hammer or slicing it on a sharp edge, vs what the OP posted.

dalmatiangirl61 · Nov 28, 2020

Trust me, no joy in seeing something like this, but certainly should be a stark warning to all of us, and the next few new owners of a big lathe that they drug home and plan to learn how to run it by watching a few YT vids then winging it. Back in flight school every friday we had to listen to tower recordings of accidents, every one started with pilot cool calm and in control, by the end they were screaming, then silence.....

I have had a few close calls with machines, nothing to be proud of, certainly makes me think about my next move.

bryan_machine · Nov 28, 2020

Riffing on flight school - there are "nasa reports" and a famous serious of youtube videos by the air safety institute. The most useful entries in both cases really make you think "if it could happen to *this* pilot" where the pilot in question was clearly vastly more skilled and trained than I was ever going to be, then "it could happen to *me*"...

For manual machine accidents, sure seems like a number of them are either "things you were told to never do in day 1 of shop class" OR "lots of people do that many times a day every day, what did this person do different?"

There's another deep issue here, which we work with teaching high school robotics students - the lathe isn't a bear, or a deranged terrorist. It won't chase you around the shop like a bear might. To be safe around it, you must UNDERSTAND THE HAZARD.

Stay safe.

Safety Reminder - Lathe Accident GRAPHIC DEATH

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