Safety centers

Rob Keeble

Member
Messages
12,633
Location
GTA Ontario Canada
After seeing some of Stus posts re the use of safety centers i have had a hard time finding sources to look at.

I feel brave enough now to give the skew a proper try out but only if i get my hands on one of these.

Can you spinny guys please point me in the right direction of some sources for the safety centers.

Thanks to all who reply. Budget is top of my list right now but it dont mean i want the cheapest one.:D:thumb:
 
I don't use a safety center, although I probably should and am a disaster waiting to happen.. but my preference to turn most things is to get it in a chuck or on a face plate if at all possible.... I have had some pretty spectacular catches, both with a skew and other gouges, but (knock on green wood - two raps to the skull) nothing has come off the lathe YET.... I'm very careful with a skew because the thought of a sharp blade flying around the shop is kinda scary and I have had one kicked out of my hand - backwards through my grip - fortunately I turn with a leather glove on my left hand because the wood chips hitting the side of my hand hurt - the skew kicked back and the blade slid through my grip and across the shop... no damage to the hand... I did have to check my pants though... scared the ---- out of me.

The worst catch I ever had was on a Zebra wood bowl, on the inside... it slammed my gouge down on the tool rest hard enough to break the cast iron tool rest, kicked the bowl out of the chuck and kicked the handle of the gouge up hard enough I thought at first I had broken my wrist... that probably was a sight.. a bowl flying in one direction, parts of the tool rest in another and Chuck covering and ducking in a third...

I know now it was my fault... I touched the wood which was proably spinning too fast before I made sure the tools was firmly against the tool rest...
 
Hi Chuck This is the reasons that i have the safety center. I have the Nova lathe and it has a pretty sweet safety system on it's own that stops the motor the second it catches ( it is adjustable too). The safety center just lets the shaft spin when you do catch and all you get is a little dig in the wood. No big accident nothing flying off the lathe. Before I picked mine up I had a couple of projects that woke me up real fast. I also picked up a full face sheild ( another worthy investment). The know that I am pretty new to turning but anything that gives me a safer apporch at any tool is worth a few extra bucks.
 
Perhaps I've been lucky but I find that using the skew on a spindle doesn't knock things off but I have had things flying over my shoulder when doing face work. Most common reasoons are...too big a tenon so not enough grip, glue chuck applied badly, wood too soft, bad grain alignment, recess too small. These all happened using a bowl gouge. I avoided the skew at first after a coupl of catches that ripped the wood badly but after being shown how by a pro I find it one of the most useful tools of all. I haven't heard of those safety centres before but I can imagine them being useful though I personally think it iks better to get into the habit of safe practice.

Pete
 
Those of you that use the safety center, do you use it on everything or just selected turnings? On odd shaped wood and green blanks/logs, I drill a level area with a large Forstner bit then use a four pronged center. With this I have experienced a few drawer cleaning episodes with a hard catch. Also, with bowl blanks, I use a worm drive on the bowl top to turn a tenon. Would the safety center work as good as, or better, than the way I am doing it now?

By the way, thanks for the post, Rob. I have never heard of a safety center either but ifin it works well, I will get one and save on the Tide.
 
I use mine on spindle work mostly, it is more suited to that, as the area of contact is not that great, so a larger diameter turning would not be as good.

I use the worm screw with my chuck a lot to start bowls etc, face work, but always with the tailstock as back up.

Cheers!
 
Oneway Safety Center

Had a Oneway Safety center delivered the other day. Today I decided to give my skew a little practice.

All I can say is that it gave me the confidence to actually use the skew. Not sure if I had a 'real' catches, but I did manage to stop the workpiece a couple of times on a knot on the piece of wood I was turning and there was just no drama. Definitely a keeper in the lathe tool box. :thumb:
 
Safety center

I first saw the one way used this weekend at a Seminar. looks just like a dead center to me. So I tried one of the old dead centers that came with my lathe. That worked fine on the small spindle work I practiced on last night.

Joe
 
I first saw on in Alan Lacers video on the Skew, The Sweet Side the Dark Side. He still adjusted the pressure by the tail stock. For those who have one, does it work any better than a steb center with light pressure?
Mike
 
After seeing some of Stus posts re the use of safety centers i have had a hard time finding sources to look at.

I feel brave enough now to give the skew a proper try out but only if i get my hands on one of these.

Can you spinny guys please point me in the right direction of some sources for the safety centers.

Thanks to all who reply. Budget is top of my list right now but it dont mean i want the cheapest one.:D:thumb:
:wave:My offer still stands, Bud! Pay me when you can.:dunno:
 
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