lathe face mask

[JDarvall]

I'm new to lathe work. I've got a lathe working. And I've got a dozern or so balusters to turn.

I 'think' I'll pull it off. I've had a few practise goes. The only problem I've noticed is whip around the centre. So, I'll just sand to finish around centre and do the fancy beads etc near the ends.

Anyway,,,,my question is. Do I need a full face mask ? Or will normal safty glasses suffice ?

I know its one of those double edge type questions. If you say 'no' you don't need a face mask..... then you open yourself up to abuse :D when I rip up my face when something goes wrong. But.....I'd like to get an idea of how necessary it is. I mean.....is wearing a mask as important as ....say ....wearing a helmet to cross the street. Is it really important ?

I'd especially like to hear from experienced lathe turners. How often does something dangerous occur ?

Has anyone been saved from a nasty facial wound by a mask ?

thanks

[JackoH]

Dust is Dangerous!, (and so are lumps of wood coming off a spoinning lathe.) I would say that dust protection/extraction is the most discussed subject on these forums(should that be fora?) Do a search, everything you wanted to know but were afraid to ask can be found.

[rocabig]

I use both glasses and a face mask depending on what I am turning.
if it is small ie a spinning top I will just use glasses but if it is larger ie a bowl I will use the face mask.

had a bowl explode on me once it shattered the perspex safety gaurd on the lathe then hit the face mask which compressed into my dial breaking my nose and giving me two verrrrrrrrrrrrry black eyes.
I now have that same bowl as it was when it exploded (in pieces) sitting on my bookcase to remind me how lucky I was

Richard

[adrian]

I wear a full face shield when roughing and when a piece isn't secured as well as it could be ie; jamb fit.
I should wear it all the time. I suppose it's because my shield is old and and a bit scratched up so it's good enough for roughing but I have to take it off to do more detailed work.................................................................................Thanks for posting the question because I just talked myself into going out and getting a new one and from now on I won't wipe the thing with a rag to get the dust off. That's what scratches it up and shortens the life.
Safety first. :)
PS. It's good to see this Safety forum is getting some use. When I suggested a safety forum http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/showthread.php?t=9392&highlight=safety+forum it was met with some hostility. It's good to see that some of the people who were against it are now contributing to it. Hey.....the earth really is round.
I guess that's what they call progress. ;)

[Sprog]

It might never happen but it is good to know the face shield is there if it does.

You might consider a respirator with full face shield, there is more danger from dust than flying pieces of timber.

[barnsey]

Wearing nothing:

Broken arm, severe bruising, sinus irritation.

Wearing Safety Glasses:

3 Stitches where the glasses nose piece was buried into my head & a black eye, sinus irritation.

Wearing Full Helmet/Respirator(the orange one!)

Not even a scratch or a sniffle!!!

Now what's the answer???? :D

Jamie

[JDarvall]

Thanks fellas. I'm not too worried about breathing in the dust. I've got an open shed with a heavy fan running, and I don't expect to use the lathe much..... but now having said that I'll probably get cancer :D

But, still I betta get one. Or maybe I could use my welding mask ? ... .Has anyone tried that ?

But really, do many accidents occur when turning between centres ? I mean, straight grained stuff..... The impression I've got, is that you really only get into trouble, when your making bowls and the like out of burl; knotted looking stuff.....off a faceplate.....you know when your work ....'EXPLODES! ' as you guys put it.

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Safety glasses are the minimum. A full-face respirator is the other extreme... personally I dislike these finding 'em bulky and awkward.

In between there's the full-face hoods. I won't recommend the plastic shields as I've found they constantly fog up. IMHO the mesh shields like flyscreen are far better. Same headgear, just a different face plate.

Personally I use either glasses or the mesh shield with a good dust-mask, one with replacable filters.

A poke in the eye can blind, dust can kill... some dusts are extremely toxic!

And yes, spindle turning has just as much risk. If the wood has a weak grain large splinters can fly off, or if you have a large catch you can actually lever the wood out from between the drive/spur centres! No matter what the cause, when a rapidly spinning lump of wood decides to leave the vicinity of the lathe, you really want to have your more "sensitive" areas protected! :D


Oh... and as to how "important" these items are? How "important" is a push-stick or a bladeguard on a table-saw? Same sort of risk level...

[Dean]

How often does something dangerous occur ?


When you least expect it!
:eek:

[journeyman Mick]

..................you really want to have your more "sensitive" areas protected! :D.......

So a cricketer's "box" would be a good idea too? :eek: :D :D

Mick

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

So a cricketer's "box" would be a good idea too? :eek: :D :D

That'd depend on how high the lathe is set up. ;) Reading of incidents with tablesaws I'm beginning to wonder if they shouldn't be deemed mandatory there, too!

Dunno 'bout you, but I don't like being poked in any of my eyes...

[Tiger]

I visited a woodturning club where the majority of members had been woodturning for 5 years plus. I was surprised to see no full face masks and very few people using safety glasses. They relied on technique and feel and when I spoke to some of them, they had experienced very few accidents. Having said that some protection is essential simply for the confidence it gives you. You want to concentrate on technique, not the thought of wood firing back at you. The trouble is finding equipment which is both comfortable and practical.

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

I visited a woodturning club where the majority of members had been woodturning for 5 years plus. I was surprised to see no full face masks and very few people using safety glasses.

[Snort!] Remind me never to visit them. I gather that's the club with the seeing-eye dogs lined up out front? The one next-door to the amputees club for sawyers who don't use push-sticks and blade guards?


They relied on technique and feel and when I spoke to some of them, they had experienced very few accidents.

This is true. Proper methods and intuition do minimise accidents... they do not prevent them though. Worse, it takes time and a few accidents along the way to develop these!!

The "my judgement & skills are so good that I won't have an accident" argument is pure fallacy. We're all only human. We all make mistakes. It's when we do make mistakes that you either appreciate that you were wearing the appropriate gear or curse yourself for not...

A few dollars now on prevention or $K? later trying to find a cure? I know which choice I'd make.


Having said that some protection is essential simply for the confidence it gives you. You want to concentrate on technique, not the thought of wood firing back at you. The trouble is finding equipment which is both comfortable and practical.

True. If you're scared of a tool you shouldn't be using it. This is not to say you shouldn't respect it. If you don't respect it and its' ability to cause you hurt, and if you don't take minimal precautions to guard against such harm, then frankly you're a bloody idiot.

Like I said: safety glasses are the absolute minimum.

[JDarvall]

safty glasses are the absolute minimum.....

Yep, I think your right.

Also agree with the necessity for accidents to latter minimise them. Which means, for someone new to lathe work, like myself, its a must to wear a face sheild.

My biggest fear is loosing another finger , to tell you the truth :rolleyes:

Safety devices, though, can sometimes be troublesome, even, causing of accidents, IMO. Not saying they should not be used, of course, because in general they must help. But, sometimes they worsen things.

I had a jointer accident a few months ago, even though I was quite experienced with using the machine.
When I first bought the machine what I did was, remove the safety guard, because it wouldn't twist properly. Shouldn't have done it, but it was bloody annoying and always got in the way.
Because I could always sight those whirling blades I always immensely careful around them. Good strong overlapping grips over the fence etc....such that if ever something was kicked my hand wouldn't end up in the blades.
One day I decided I better make this safety guard work. Fixed it....put it back on....and because suddenly I no longer saw those whirling blades it gave me a false sense of security.
I became complacient and ended up dropping the tip of my finger into the blades. Took the top 1/4" off. That wouldn't have happened, if that guard was never put back on. Certain of it.

I know that safety devices help in general, but what I think happens when you don't use them you become more instinctly careful. anyway, I think thats what Tiger was talking about, concerning that club that doesn't care about safety. But,,,,, Skew ChiDAMN,,,,,I think your absolutely right.

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Safety devices, though, can sometimes be troublesome, even, causing of accidents, IMO. Not saying they should not be used, of course, because in general they must help. But, sometimes they worsen things.

Agreed wholeheartedly. That's why I prefer the mesh type faceplates to the plain plastic ones. If you can't see 'cos the damned thing's fogged up...



I know that safety devices help in general, but what I think happens when you don't use them you become more instinctly careful. anyway, I think thats what Tiger was talking about, concerning that club that doesn't care about safety.

Yeah, I take your point. I know I'm more careful when I'm working the triton w/out a guard. Perhaps I shouldn't but I do. :o As you said, there's times when the safety gear increases risk rather than reducing it.

I apologise to Tiger if I seemed to come on strong there, but my first impression was definitely "BAD advice." I think he could've worded it a bit better...

[Sprog]

One day I decided I better make this safety guard work. Fixed it....put it back on....and because suddenly I no longer saw those whirling blades it gave me a false sense of security.
I became complacient and ended up dropping the tip of my finger into the blades. Took the top 1/4" off. That wouldn't have happened, if that guard was never put back on. Certain of it.


It wouldn't have happened if your were using the correct technique. You should have been using push blocks then your hand or fingers would not have been any where near the blade.

[JDarvall]

It wouldn't have happened if your were using the correct technique. You should have been using push blocks then your hand or fingers would not have been any where near the blade.

I WAS using them. The bloody machine chewed straight through the push block and ate up my finger :( ....................... :D ... no, joking.

Yes, it wouldn't have happened if I was using push blocks. I was an idiot that day no doubt. tied; in a rush; feeding just one little bit through and I'm 'finished finally' etc.

I've always used push blocks,,,,,in fact , I had made up a couple of my own at the time in addition to the ones that came with the machine.
Its just that I know I would have used a push block, in fact, would have never attempted pushing such a small piece through in the first place, if those whirling blades were in sight, no matter how tied I was.
Just one look at those spinning blades and you tip toe around the machine without thought. Ironically the safety guard disguised that fact.

[gatiep]

Maybe I'm a sissy, but I use an Airshield at least when roughing down and sanding on the lathe. I didn't use it for 1.5 days while doing a demo at this years Pert WWW show, because I forgot the PA system and I ended up 2 weeks off work with bronchitis and sinusitis. That really made me realise how vulnerable a turner is....................only one pair of lungs and after my 2 cancer ops I definately try and avoid visits to the operating theatre.

The cool filtered air blowing over one's face from the fan in the face shield is pleasant, stops sweating of the face and eliminates fogging of the shield and glasses. It is very light and one becomes used to wearing it very soon. The battery lasts 4 hours before a recharge and I use it in place of a regular mask when doing other dusty kind of work, but not for grinding on the bench grinder.
At about $500 its a bit pricey but in the long run it is worth it. I am very sensitive to pine dust so I make sure that I wear it during the basic turning course that I teach. It's become second nature wearing it.....like wearing glasses......you hate it to start with but eventually you don't even realise that you wear it. Also no need for a room air filter in my shed

Have a great weekend all!

:D

[Tiger]

I apologise to Tiger if I seemed to come on strong there, but my first impression was definitely "BAD advice." I think he could've worded it a bit better...[/QUOTE]

No apology necessary, but I do think the majority of woodturners don't wear much in the way of protection (note I'm not advocating that you don't wear protection, but it can be difficult concentrating on the subtleties of technique needed for woodturning when wearing awkward protection).

As a minimum, at least wear safety glasses. In fairness to the club that I mentioned before, they were turning small objects, not sure how they feel about bowls etc.

[Captain Chaos]

I'll go along with Joe in regards to using an Airshield when woodturning & cutting on the bandsaw & sanding etc. I love my woodwork but have found that wood dust is having negative effects on my respiratory system, so for me an Airshield is the absolute mimimum! I've become quite used to it. The only problem for me is cleaning the dust off of the visor. Fortunately I have an air compressor close handy so I just remove the mask & gently blow the dust off with compressed air.
Regards,
Barry.

[bobsreturn2003]

hi had a problem 6 or so years ago a bowl spinning at 900 rpm exploded as i walked past with a scraper . was going to do a finishing cut ,on a wet turned bowl about 300 dia . result metal plate in arm,and on off switch at tail stock end so i dont pass spining bowls. and a lot of respect for the energy the timber has when released suddenly . have several masks and usually wear one when sanding .still love my woodwork but pay more attention to safety . best regards bob

[rrich]

Adrian,
In another life, I rode a motorcycle. My helmet had a a full face bubble shield. I found that using a good paste wax on the bubble shield increased its useful life from a month or two to six or eight months. You may want to try that on your old lathe face shield.

[keith53]

I got by without using any sort of face/eye protection for some years. A few months ago, I was finishing off the bottom of a camphor laurel bowl which was jam-chucked to a face plate. I was almost finished when the bloody thing exploded (at 3000 rpm) and whistled past my face before coming to a halt against the side of my chisel trolley.

It wasn't till after the event that you realise how lucky you've been. I subsequently bought a Triton respirator at the Brisbane WWW show and am very pleased with it. It does a pretty good job of air circulation, isn't that uncomfortable and, most of all, gives me confidence that I'm as protected as I can be. The front shield can be raised so that its not necessary to take the whole unit off your head.

Being a smoker (I'm trying to quit) I'm also worried about the fine dust particles that inevitably occur as the sanding paper gets finer and finer. I'm confident I'm protected here as well because of the double filtration system.

At about $260 I think it was worth the expense.

Cheers,
Keith

[Cliff Rogers]

It's an old thread but worth trotting out again ('cos it hasn't be hijacked yet):rolleyes:

I got a Triton helmet for lathe work. Paid about $270 at Bunnies.
I bought a second power pack for it 'cos it goes flat just when I need it most.... sanding.
I bought the second power pack directly from http://www.triton.com.au
It cost about $100 with freight.
Worth every $.
My sinuses clog up from just about anything.
I drilled about 30 holes in a concrete wall this morning without a mask.
My nose is stuffed solid now. :(
Dopey buga that I am, I put my glasses & ear muffs on & didn't think anout the dust. :o

I also have a very good 3M mask, cost about $90 4 or 5 years ago & the filters are about $20 a set.
It is good to wear, fits very well without air leaks but a bit hot in the tropics.

[savage]

I have only started with my lathe (home made) and not only am I warey of the timber that is placed in it, but also of my "engineering" ability. So far the machine has held up very well but I've had 1 piece explode even before putting a chisel to it. Found out after it was a natural hairline split in thr timber that had been glued with resin and was only exposed on it fracturing. So to answer the question yes I wear safety glasses and full face, yes at the same time. This way I've found that when the shield is full of dust and you can't see, I just naturally lift the shield up to see (not thinking) and at least I have some eye protection. I find that most "accidents" happen while engrossed in what ever you are doing at the time, and safety goes out the window.