Shut er down or leave it running?

[speakerme]

What do most of you do when your are changing tools in the tail of the lathe, center drill to finishing drill for example. You have just done the center cut, do you turn off the lathe to put the drill in the chuck, or leave it running for the few seconds of the change out?

It sounds harsh to me when I restart the head each time, 3HP instant on, versus sliding the tailstock back out of the way and changing tools....

Best Wishes
Chuck

 

[BillH]

Interesting, all my lathes have been belt drive so I never gave it a thought, always turned it off. If you go with a VFD and 3 phase motor, you can program it for soft starts to save wear and tear.

 

[joe d]

Hi

I shut 'er down... don't want to tempt fate and stick my off-side elbow into a moving workpiece, it would take ages to polish off all the blood. That is about the only thing I still retain from high school shop classes back in the late sixties, so I guess Mr. Allpress really did drive it into us!

Cheers, Joe

 

[shred]

99% of the time I shut it off. When tempted to leave it on I remind myself that replacement switches and motors are only money, while replacing tender bits of myself may be considerably more difficult. Most of the time I'm re-zeroing the tailstock DRO anyway, so being off for that is a bonus.

 

[pabird]

I shut it down Chuck, just seemed like a good habit to get into.

 

[Loose nut]

how bad do you want to keep your fingers?

 

[cfellows]

I always turn mine off. I have a DC motor with a Variac for variable speed. I also have a toggle switch for forward, off, and reverse. I use the speed dial to turn the lathe off and on. This provides softer starts and it avoids the mistake of accidentaly flipping the toggle switch from forward, past the (middle) off position, to reverse. Does that sound like experience speaking? :-[ Yeah, been there and done that and I can tell you that spinning a 3 or 4 jaw chuck off the spindle at high speed is a little too much excitement.

Chuck

 

[Maryak]

It sounds harsh to me when I restart the head each time, 3HP instant on, versus sliding the tailstock back out of the way and changing tools....

I doubt it will sound half as harsh a your screams follow bits of your body across the shop.

Please, Please, Please - SAFETY FIRST - SHUT IT DOWN, as others have said machinery can be replaced, you cannot and we value your contributions to our forum.

Best Regards
Bob

 

[speakerme]

Thanks to all who replied...

The lathe motor is 220 direct without vfd so I cannot program it for a soft start, As I have done on the milling machine..

The consensus is in, when working around the lathe, turn it off between tool or tailstock changes..

Best Wishes

Chuck M

 

[Cedge]

Simple rule offered up long ago.... "when in doubt, err on the side of safety. The wrong time to decide what should have been is after bad things happen." I shut her down any time I've got to place my hands or body in close proximity to moving mechanical parts.

After assisting with the removal of an fellow's arm from a Hamilton rotary printing press, the message was deeply embedded in my being.

Steve