Safety guidance for front of minilathe for public demos

[Tinkerman]

What recommendations are suggested for the front of a minilathe when doing public demos? Should Polycarbonae sheet be used or is Acrylic sufficient? What thickness? Can you work polycarbonate with power tools?

What have chapters used when doing public demonstrations to protect the public?

 

[MichaelMouse]

Black-painted hardware cloth. No static problems, and it's light and cheap.

Of course, it goes without saying that you don't fire the lathe up to warp factor three to turn, regardless what you're using.

 

[Bill Blasic]

Use Lexan, expensive but your not going to throw anything through it!

 

[Wyatt Holm]

Huh? I don't get it. Are you scared of shooting bowls at the audience?😕

 

[Owen Lowe]

I agree polycarbonate would be the safest as far as impact resistance goes. You don't really need a bullet proof shield, just something in between the lathe and the audience that will slow down a wayward hunk of wood. The goal is to absorb some of the energy and perhaps deflect the line of travel.

 

[waltben]

Anyone who seriously believes they could have a severe enough mishap as to send a piece of wood forward with enough velocity to hit someone three feet away should NOT be ever demonstrating. All they'd show an audience is how not to turn (unless that was the purpose to begin with).

The only use I've seen shields good for is to keep chips and dust from blowing directly into people's faces. They usually don't have eye protection.

 

[Owen Lowe]

The only use I've seen shields good for is to keep chips and dust from blowing directly into people's faces. They usually don't have eye protection.

The primary purpose of the shield that I've witnessed is to keep the bystanders a respectable distance from the lathe and a barrier for those reaching toward it -- especially kids.

 

[Tony K. in NC]

The reason for a shield

Is like others said mainly to keep people away and protect from dust and shavings, Don't forget some pretty good size pieces can come off while roughing. as far as those that say if you might launch a bowl you shouldn't be demonstrating. 2 rules come to mind. Murphy's law and expect the unexpected, sometimes it happens to the best of em.

 

[MichaelMouse]

Now you've heard a lot of opinions, it's time to get the answer from the only ones that count - the insurers.

There are expensive and extensive solutions, and cheap but effective. Shavings and dust are inconsequential, unless you're going to be sanding with no dust collection and have a plastic cover up close where they can stick and scratch and destroy the view. What you need is to establish distance for the crowd and catch anything with worthwhile mass you may be improvident enough to hack off the piece. Murphy works, but we can do a lot to make sure he doesn't get the upper hand, like trimming the raw blank, cutting at moderate speed, and selecting tools that don't toss our elbows and trash around.

Newly discovered Murphy corollary : The amount and stickiness of the solid in the diaper is inversely proportional to the number of accessible buttwipes. DAMHIKT

 

[n7bsn]

Is like others said mainly to keep people away and protect from dust and shavings, Don't forget some pretty good size pieces can come off while roughing. as far as those that say if you might launch a bowl you shouldn't be demonstrating. 2 rules come to mind. Murphy's law and expect the unexpected, sometimes it happens to the best of em.

Recently swipped from Dale Nish

The longer it's been since you had a catch, the close you are to having one. Nobody gets it right all the time.

When things happen on a lathe, they happen FAST

TTFN
Ralph