A possible safety tip... YMMV

[Brian Ashton]

I've had my present lathe since 2000 but never thought till now to post a safety tip I've had on it since then. Before I bought my oneway I always had variable speed lathes but they were the old fashioned expanding pulley systems. Next to impossible to accidently brush or knock the speed control lever and have the lathe go wildly out of control... But the (at that time) new VFDs had a very touchy dial that easily spun with the lightest of tough. Right away I thought I know I'm gonna draw my hand across that one day and the lathe is going to go from dead slow to wood shatteringly fast in an instant. So as you can see the simple solution was to find a cheap plastic D pull and screw it on over the dial preventing (most) accidental knocks but still allowing good quick access to the dial.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Brian - cool idea!

So far, I haven't had that particular problem with my Jet - cause I am usually working at the other end of the lathe from the headstock - but I am sure there are folks out there that will find your modification makes sense for their style of turning. Thanks for sharing!

[Frank Townend]

That is an excellent modification Brian!

[alex carey]

Love the idea, definitely a good safety precaution. I've had that happen were you slightly brush it with your arm. Luckily it never went too fast.

[Chris Hayes]

Brian --

That's a great idea. If you don't mind, I may give that suggestion to Marc Adams for his lathes (if I remember all the turning equipment there are one-ways). He (or his staff) might find that to be a cheap, useful, quick safety feature they can utilize there at the school.
Like Steve S, I'm usually on the 'wrong' side of the Jet when I'm working. As I have a 2 yr old who likes to twist all sorts of knobs and push any button he can get his little fingers on, I tend to check the speed control before I start the machine (if I've stepped away for more than 5 minutes).