Does This Look Safe To You?

[Richard McComas]

Turning with a shaper.

http://www.youtube.com/v/sf3gaXHS_7s...dded&version=3

[Mark Bolton]

This was posted on woodweb a bit back. Chilling to say the least. Just doing template work with a rub collar is scary enough, that one looked Hobert precarious especially with the cutter at the tip of the spindle and it raised up so high.

Yeeek,
Mark

[Steve knight]

easier to use a router for the job.

[Jim Sebring]

Prolly should be using a face shield - and full body armor! Almost as quick as using a roughing gouge.

[Rick Fisher]

As a hobby woodworker.. there are some things I don't need to do.. That is one of them..

[Bill Huber]

I don't see it as being that bad, he is not even close to the cutter and is behind plywood at each end.

I guess if we had a video of a guy taking a long hunk of metal and sticking it into a spinning hunk of wood ,,,,,,, oh, wait there are a lot of them out there, its called a wood lathe.

[John Coloccia]

Seems OK to me but that's an awful lot of time and effort spent trying to be clever when you can just buy a lathe.

[george wilson]

There are industrial machines that work exactly the same way. I have been in furniture factories where they were used in the 60's.

however,they were surrounded by thick steel guards which all had some hefty looking DENTS in them!!!! Plus,they WEREN"T made out of plywood(the part that keeps the wood from becoming airborne.)

[Karl Brogger]

Looks safe enough to me. It was a smooth process on the video.

Actually looks way safer than having to do arched raised panels by hand.

[Donny Lawson]

I would like to see plans for the setup he has. Looks like it could be made into a nice lathe with a little modification.
Donny

[Stephen Cherry]

This was posted on woodweb a bit back. Chilling to say the least. Just doing template work with a rub collar is scary enough, that one looked Hobert precarious especially with the cutter at the tip of the spindle and it raised up so high.

Yeeek,
Mark

Mark- why are you concerned about the cutter at the end of the spindle- because the cutter is less stable at the end of the spindle or just that it is hanging so far out in the breeze.

It reminds me of my brief time refueling airplanes- while I fueled, the propellers were spinning, and I thought how easily I could be sliced up like bacon, or maybe just turned into goo.

[Jay Rasmussen]

Looks like a fairly clean set-up. I would think it’s a production run of spindles.
Don’t know what other parts he ran with that arrangement but I would have tried to get the cutter closer to the table.

[Don Alexander]

thats alot of exposed spinning cutter with no guards of any kind pushing his contraption with no guide rail or stop in sight and next to nothing for protecting him from flying shrapnel should anything at all go awry i'm not overly impressed with OSHA normally but in this case they would have a legitimate complaint can you imagine what would happen if he slipped even a little especially right at the end of the cutting pass and that shaper cutter clipped the metal drive spindle? not a wise method though creative it looks to me like he stopped a bit short on the design and application of it

[Karl Brogger]

can you imagine what would happen if he slipped even a little especially right at the end of the cutting pass and that shaper cutter clipped the metal drive spindle?

The simple answer is don't slip. As far as digging into his spindles, watch the video again. There's blocks on his template to avoid just that. Unless he foolishly tips the whole mess into the cutter it'd be fine, (which looks like you'd have to try to do so). Definitely not an idiot proof method by any means but looks like it works okay. He's not putting much effort into anything either, probably a "safe enough" procedure so long as you don't turn stupid.

I would think that shrapnel from the cut would be an issue as well, but he's wearing short sleeves, and just glasses, and not really removing that much material. People tend to cover things up if its uncomfortable. Heck, when I use a lathe I'm usually sporting ski goggles just to keep my eyes clear.





Look at the equipment in there! There is some serious stuff! My guess is not this companies first rodeo. That shaper alone is a tank.

[Don Alexander]

i missed the lead in block and the stop on the first look and he is not getting near the cutter with any part of his body

i'd definitely want a hood/guard around that cutter both for safety and for dust collection but maybe thats what the wood assembly on the edge of the table is for it appears that the chips/dust from his demo are being sucked into that positioned where it is