Dust collector above powermatic lathe

@Team_Woodshop I had a bowl come off the lathe and hit the duct elbow just above the powermatic lathe. I went up on a ladder and it looks like there is not a puncture to the duct, but its bent pretty good. DC seems to be working fine, but let me know if I need to replace anything. It also shredded the lamp cord that was plugged into the auxillary lathe power box. Box seems fine, lamp is not fine. I left it on the oneway. If anyone has the ability to fix the plug that would be awesome. If not, Ill grab a new lamp and reace it.

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Are you OK? :blankspace:

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It was a little dicey but I’m fine. Thanks for the concern. Very important to keep clear of the danger zone and wear appropriate gear. I should have probably had the cage attached for this one.

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Good reminder…I sometimes forget we have this accessory. Glad no one got hurt.

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I think I heard the bang this afternoon around 1:30 or 2. I poked my head in and things seemed to be handled. Glad nobody was hurt, repairs we know how to handle.

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As a learning point (for me), what caused it to fail?

The cage that someone put on the free shelf a few months ago? That one confused me for sure.

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I was stupidly trying to take another cut from the top on the inside of a very green bowl after it had started to move as it dried. I got a pretty decent catch (should have stopped there) but then I tried to fix it with a scraper and got a worse catch and it blew up. That was compounded by the fact that the oak I was turning had a hairline crack through the center.

So… try to make a finished surface on green bowls as you go. Once you cut past 1/4 inch or so you should only go back with abrasives. And if you think your piece is less than 100% sound, put it in the firewood pile.

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Thank you Ryan for taking the time to show me what happened and why it happened. although your bowl was a total loss, it was a great learning tool for me.

Let me know if you give the oak another try, I have a really large blank ready to go that I am now fearful about.

I have a few more blanks, but I will likely let them dry out quite a bit before trying to give them another go. Jeff C. had one that cracked pretty bad after he rough turned it. That oak might be too angry to turn.

I roughed out a chunk the other day (about 11.5 diameter):

Seems to be doing OK, but I got to most of the cracks with some CA before the developed into something worse. Currently sitting in a corner, chilling in a bag/pile of it’s own chips for a month or two until it learns to behave.

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Ryan, did you have to go home to change your diaper? I’ve had to before… :slight_smile:

It may be this particular oak…MB, I would just be sensitive to how your oak is responding.

One other safety note - Ryan, were you using a 4-jaw chuck?

Marshall, from what I can tell in the upside/down pic, it looks like your crack runs from the bottom to about 1/2 up toward the rim… - it looks just like mine, except, even at 1" rough thickness it cracked through and through. Once a crack develops, superglue may hold it together superficially - but the wood around it continues to move and you cannot see what is really going on. We all have our comfort zone.

As to the “cage” - it is pretty much asking for an accident to be using it - it comes down to a height that interferes with presenting the tool to the wood at the correct angle. We looked at it long and hard before deciding, although had no idea someone had pitched it.

In general, as Ryan pointed out - when in doubt, pitch it into the firewood.

Ha. yeah I had it in the chuck but it split through the tenon. Instant failure.

Totally share your concern. I’ll let it finish drying out and see what’s what at that point. Maybe make a present of it to Ryan. ::gift:

Yep…as @mkart likes to say: “There’s too much good wood in the world to waste your time on bad wood.”

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Sometimes I wonder if we could fund the entire makerspace operations by putting together a monthly “Fail” video and posting it on YouTube. A few million views later and… $$$$!

I’d pay a dollar right now to see this one on video.

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#IceCreamExplosionFTW!

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Happens to us all. In my early years of turning I broke a window and knocked out the center panel of a garage door! I learned pretty quickly where the throw zones were.

That’s important for us to know. As we think about expansion, it would be nice to know where the safe vs. unsafe locations are relative to the lathes.

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Yep. People love watching a good train wreck as long as nobody got hurt and sometimes even then.

This photo sequence was a big hit: A Bad Sumo Flight

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Seems to me, even though I have never seen one online, that some sheets/netting in an appropriate frame in strategic "throw zone"placement would d not be that difficult? Think golf driving ranges or batting cages or football place-kick practice traps.

The more I think about it, the more surprised I am they don’t seem to exist.

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