How far will the chuck key fly?

An experiment that had to be done -- how far will a chuck key fly if left in the metal lathe chuck.
Reminds me of my unsuccessful experiment of getting a shirt sucked into the table saw.
• Shirt sucked into tabl...
More about the metal lathe:
• I finally got a metal ...
Leaving the chuck key makes for more viewer enagement:
• I found the key to vie...

[@JanTuts]

Which obviously raises the question: Can you engineer a solution to maximise the throwing distance of this lathe?

[@BRUXXUS]

This is the real question!

[@OneManBandWoodworks]

I like how you think

[@zeroy]

and for that you would need @StuffMadeHere

[@Reman1975]

Oh Jesus...... Don't give the engineers ideas. :D A mate caught a chuck key in the chest about 20 years ago. It's a MUCH bigger and older 3 phase lathe, with a MUCH heavier chuck key. That thing DOESN'T have any form of soft start. What it does have is big heavy gearbox internals, and a fair weight of drive belts that are all spinning whenever it's powered up. You engage the drive and the chucks pretty much instantaneously spinning at your set RPM. The impact bruised a couple of his ribs badly enough that he eventually went to the accident and emergency department of his local hospital. The doctor asked what had happened and he explained. When he told him about the lathe and the rough weight of the key the doctor asked what protective clothing he'd been wearing, He told him that he'd just had a heavy leather apron on over his overalls, and the doctor told him that he'd been very lucky, because if what he saw on his ribs had happened through thick leather, it would have near as damn it turned his face inside out if it had hit higher ! TBH, he really was lucky. He'd been doing repetitive batch work in his little engineering shop, and had got into a rhythm. Mounting the part against a stop in the chuck, engaging drive, facing it off, disengaging drive and hitting the brake, removing the part and putting the next in it's place, engaging drive, facing off, disengaging, braking, remove part,....... Rinse and and repeat. At some point, because he was removing one part and straight away putting the next in place, he started taking his left hand off the key while it was hanging out of the chuck, then he lost the rhythm, engaged the drive, and BLAM ! If he HAD been holding the key when he hit the drive, it could have easily dragged him in. Large industrial lathes don't take prisoners, and arms tend to be so well attached that once a lathes got one of those, the rest of you is going to follow, so a couple of bruised ribs and finding everything from getting out of his car to breathing heavily excruciatingly painful for a week or two really was him getting off lightly.

[@kmoecub]

It most definitely does not beg the question. It does raise the question though. This comment brought to you by a hobby machinist who holds a degree in English Education.

[@ColinMacIver]

The vocational college where I was taking intro to millwright course; 3-5 horsepower lathes. While I didn't see it, I certainly heard the chuck key jam against the ways until it bent the key, the key then shot up to the cement ceiling (small chips/dust), then the key hit floor and skittered off into a corner about 50 feet away. If you wanted to see an angry German shop teacher, that was the day to be there.

[@jannebengtsson7338]

As someone who has used real metal lathes for several decades I can say that I have definitely forgot the chukkey more than once and on a "real" lathe I promise you that the result differs quite a bit

[@tomashubelbauer]

Yup, seen that as a student in the shop class when one time a chuck key cleared the whole shop floor and missed a group of students by very little after one student made a mistake and turned a lathe on with the key still in the chuck. I think what Matthias says towards the end really is the key difference: those lathes in my shop class had no soft start. Nowadays I'm guessing that's a pretty standard feature.

[@SolarWebsite]

Yeah at school the teacher showed us the hole in the ceiling tile above a lathe (in my memory the hole.was key-shaped, but in reality it probably wasn't) as an example of what could go wrong when you leave the key in the chuck. I kept that lesson in mind and never left the key in the chuck. This was all waaaaay before these fancy safety interlocks 😁

[@anicecoldbepis]

Guy I work with once left the key in and it pinned his hand between the key and the ways. He recovered but it is a risk not worth taking

[@davidcahan]

I was about to make the same point.

[@Bob_Adkins]

1 of the main differences is, in real life it scares the crap out of you.

[@rickharriss]

On a much larger lathe I have seen chuck keys stuck in the ceiling. It can go quite far and quite fast.

[@Packless1]

...~20m before stopped by a concrete-wall - causing a MASSIVE dent in the wall... ...it was in the early 1980s in the apprentice-workshop, so the wall wasn't repaired to show how dangerous flying chuck-keys are... ...if it had hit somebody...! ☠☠☠

[@BloatedKelly]

Why do you people lie about this shit. the chuck key thing has been proven bull shit a hundred times over with noone ever proving it as dangerous other than "a story"

[@chrisallen2005]

The next experiment you can do is the one where your long sleeve shirt gets caught up in the chuck and we take votes on how many revolutions of the motor it takes to stop the machine.

[@therealemmpunkt]

The most concern is not the flying chuck key. It can happen, especially on bigger lathes with a clutch (instant start). More dangerous are bigger lathes with slow rpm. Most accidents happens when the guy at the lathe trys to grab the key at the start of the lathe. Just by reflex. Its dumb, but most of us will do it if something moves... Merry christmas from Germany

[@aserta]

The video with the guy getting sucked in the lathe by his chuck key is online. All i can say is that it was on KZbin and it got taken down inside a day... back in 2009, can still be found online. I'd describe the sound made, like biting in a really crunchy type food.

[@A38]

​@@asertaOpen up a bottle of wine and treat yourself to the video again man, you and "industrial lathe accidents" sound like you deserve each other

[@clew5687]

Yea, reflex has a lot to answer for. I was soldering at work, iron was on 420°C sitting inside its workstation. I moved and my elbow caught the wire and iron fell out, soooooo my reflex was to catch it. Not a great idea, I saw the smoke from my hand before the pain registered. ⛑️

[@chrisallen2005]

I agree with the points you have identified. Just remove the key and you don't have to be part of an experiment in injuries.

[@davidhawley1132]

​@@clew5687 Yeah, you have to retrain your reflexes.

[@steveman1982]

An intruisive thought I've been thus far able to resist.

[@Pracedru]

This is just something that all metal workers get very thoroughly taught, since in bigger lathes this is a lot more dangerous.

[@ronkellis769]

Many of us grew up in the time of shop classes. NEVER underestimate the ability of a teen to injure others. Maybe the shop teacher was lying to us about the pock marks in the cinder blocks.

[@GoodJobCasey]

from the sounds of it. regardless of size for a large, it is good practice to follow all safety protocols so that you have all that muscle memory for when you do use a "real" lathe.

[@Manigo1743]

Do you think Matthias will ever use a "real" metal lathe? He is a woodworker.

[@GoodJobCasey]

@@Manigo1743 I doubt it. Aside from random uses of an angle grinder that makes up most of his metal working. But with that said, we also did not think that he would have any metal lathe, but here we are.

[@stijn9957]

i once forgot it on a big lathe and it flew 20 meters, and a guy in my dad's school forgot once and it flew through one of those strip lights and into the ceiling. It is good practice to take it out.

[@mojognome]

I love your exploratory pre-testing.

[@mpetersen6]

This is something I had hammered into me as an apprentice 50+ years ago. At the slower speeds industrial machines run at. Especially then using HSS the cuckoo key would more likely to be jammed between the bed and the chuck. Possibly damaging the chuck and definitely the ways. Ran lathes from Hardinge HLVs up to ones that would swing 36" at the headstock.

[@mikesorensen5228]

Hopefully not literally hammered into you.

[@Trumpetking93]

I don’t comment on videos, but I feel I have to weigh in here. A lot of people on KZbin look to the things you do as a good example of what to do. While this is relatively harmless in your cheap import lathe with barely enough power to do what a lathe needs to… it is absolutely dangerous in a machine not much bigger.

[@CanadianPenguin_]

At work I have witnessed a chuck key flying 8 feet until it hit the back of a tool box putting a massive dent into it.

[@dantheman1337]

I've had a couple wild accidents with my lathe and I respect it. It once bent a 10mm diameter steel rod I had in chuck, the end lashing around and catching my clothing, ripping through 3 layers and luckily only bruising me.

[@sirmrpresident]

I'm glad you're getting the full use out of this lathe. This is the experimentation I'm here for

[@georgewilmore7599]

When I was in machining class in college a guy left the key in and smashed his hand with the key. He did it twice apparently he didn’t learn the first time.

[@christopher.m.estelow]

I did a lil machining, and the guy who taught me was always telling me about the chuck key..... didn't pay attention the one time, and it flew off and got me in the boys.... valuable lesson learned and never did that ever again. If I wasn't tightening or loosening the chuck, the key way was nowhere near it. Saw someone else do it and it flew off and split his nose wide open!! Just do yourself a favor and keep the key out of the chuck unless your using it.

[@tracybowling1156]

It's always fun to play with your toys! Merry Christmas, Mattias! To you, the kids, and your wife! 🎄

[@darkwinter6028]

It’s more dangerous on bigger lathes that have high horsepower motors, especially if they just have a contactor and no soft-start circuit or clutch. Those can indeed throw stuff loosely attached to the chuck or faceplate quite hard. Also, if you get caught in one of them they’ve got the torque and inertia to pull you in and do very violent things to your anatomy (often fatally). This mini lathe doesn’t really have the horsepower to do that; but if it’s at speed it’ll rip right thru your skin, break your fingers & hand bones, and possibly break your arm bones. If it’s pulling you in from a zero-rpm start it’ll probably just bruise you and hurt really bad. Also, the chuck keys for larger chucks are, as you would expect, larger and heavier than the one you have there.

[@dittilio]

Agreed. There are some unfortunate images of lathe accidents showing parts of the operator's body mingling with each other in the wrong places.

[@everTriumph]

My brother touted lathes with clutches as being safer. He used an example where a colleague had his arm grabbed and was being pulled into his lathe. My brother jambed the clutch from forward to reverse which spat the unfortunate guy out. If he had tried to stop and reverse a motor it would have taken too long, the guy would have been a 'gonna'. As it was he just lost the arm.

[@sshuggi]

I forgot to take out the key out of a metal lathe one time. Luckily it hit the floor, but not without taking out a big chip. I figure concrete is stronger than skull, so I intend to keep it at "one time".

[@DarkHawk666]

I haven't watched your videos for years because I decided to disengage from most forms of technology to live a nomadic lifestyle. It's nice to see that you're still making videos, merry xmas and happy new years.

[@LukeTheJoker]

I have seen a very large chuck key bent 90 degrees on display while I was at Tafe here in Australia, apparently it destroyed the chuck and the lathe bed when it happened.

[@aserta]

When i was a kid, my brother and i used to play with our uncle's lathe. We'd put the key in at 45 (cause that's where we could climb on the splash guard behind) and start the lathe at max speed with the clutch on by a brick. We'd hide behind the lathe and pull a string and come out once the sound came on. We stopped after the key got missing one day. Our uncle handed our asses to us because he'd found it, lodged handle first into the beam of the barn where the shop was. It's been a few decades since, so things are different and sizes are smaller than they once were, but i'd say there's a 5 meter distance from A to B and i can nest almost half of my Nokia 1020 inside that hole in the beam. It may be a 130+yo beam, but it's still oak wood at the end of the day. What i'm trying to say is... we were both aware of what devilry we were doing, and also aware of what could happen if we got hit by it, and we still did it and got our light punishment for it. Some people are not aware of what can happen, they do it, and escape the punishment. Because of that, the world is squarely divided in two. At an even simpler version of that, there's two sides: those who look at the German forklift safety video and think it's ridiculous and those who look at the safety video and never look at a forklift the same way ever again. I've been fortunate to have seen others maimed around me to teach me pains of dangerous lessons so i didn't have to do it myself. I've stopped using guardless angle grinders after i noticed one of the hired workers' wrist and asked him about it. I've stopped getting my fingers close to the blade of a saw because i saw the "sausage" video online and so on and so forth. I liked the other video more, on this video however... free internet, you can post just about anything on it. Even here on KZbin, the video with the mother hit by a brick on the highway is still online and i still point flaunters towards it whenever they mock someone who uses the dump truck cover on videos from people such as Andrew Camarata or others who work in that world. Online, i can't gauge the response of people, but there was this time once where a dump truck driver and i got into an argument over that same subject and at a shotgun response i showed him the video. He didn't seem to want to argue after. There's just something special about showing people the direct consequence, the gruesome, visceral effect. Not on YT, it got taken down really fast - but there's also a video on That website where a guy gets sucked in the lathe by the chuck key. The sound made can be described as getting a bite from a really crunchy meat product. Crispy almost, in that way only a sh!tty anti-theft camera can record. That ramble said, this lathe is too weak and too small to do anything but a broken wrist at worst or a bruise at best, the thing isn't about IT, it's about a concept. We can either choose to respect the concept or not. Dunno about others, but i've learnt that bucking the Bronco is not worth it, how did the kids put it "YOLO"? As usual, just my 2 cents.

[@joshyoung1440]

Bruh this shit was $38.50, not two cents lmfao I remember back when I started reading this thing. Btw, not all gore gets taken off KZbin. Just the other week I saw a video of a woman who gets hit by a train. There's a disclaimer about graphic disturbing imagery that KZbin makes you click through that I've never seen on any other video. I didn't watch the moment of truth, the comments scared the shit out of me too much, until I remembered that a friend showed me a video of a guy on a bike going underneath a semi truck, both of them moving at high speeds, and the guy gets hit by the back wheels and just fucking EXPLODES, AND he showed me a video of the aftermath with viscera just spread over the street with people just sweeping up limbs and scooping viscera into buckets... And that didn't shock me too bad, so maybe I'll watch the train video. Wasn't as okay with the video another friend showed me of a kid getting his heart cut out alive... I mean I've seen gore, mostly just beheadings cause I don't like the body stuff, it's why I decided not to pursue being an ER nurse, but... I guess it's the kind of thing one has to share because in some way one doesn't want to go through it alone? (I say "one" instead of "you" because I detect Germanic in your speech, and "one" is closer in meaning to "mann" than "you," even though we usually just say "you" nowadays. Sorry, I also tend to give much more than 2 cents 😅

[@joshyoung1440]

How... How bad is the video with the brick?

[@MCsCreations]

Fascinating! Thanks, Matthias! 😊 Merry Christmas and happy new year! Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊

[@PeopleAlreadyDidThis]

Somewhere online there was an x-ray image of a chuck key T-handle impaled in the palm of a guy’s hand. That potential seems like the more sensible reason to store the key properly.

[@davecgriffith]

I think I'd be more worried about it catching my hand or clothing.. Besides, safety is, at least in part, about good habits. You don't want to develop a habit on this lathe that could actually be dangerous on a larger one. Who knows, you mind find yourself using one some day.

[@joshyoung1440]

Idk why you would choose to be worried about one more than the other but the chuck key is famously hazardous.

[@davecgriffith]

​@@joshyoung1440 For sure! IIRC, my point was: while he shows that having it fly out probably wouldn't be too bad on this small lathe, that doesn't make it _not_ unsafe since there are other risks associated with having the key in the chuck. At least, I assume so - I was imagining the key getting stuck and becoming something that could catch a sleeve, for example. But that's really an aside, since the key takeaway is that you don't want to develop a bad habit, just because _this particular tool_ won't maim you for doing so.

[@Korgon2013]

So happy to see this!! This channel is awesome!!!

[@cwilliams4227]

I have been a very carefull to not leave the key in the chuck ever since my metal work teacher back in 70'ies would yell about it every class. A momentary lapse in consentration a few weeks back and I left the key in the chuck and turned the lathe on. First time ever. It got me right on the side of the elbow and I had a constant reminder for several days of my failing. (old 9 inch Southbend)

[@OtherDalfite]

Main fear i guess with shop lathes is the tolerances on the keys might be a lot tighter than the one youre using. Tighter tolerances would mean more force to break the grab the key has to the screw on the chuck

[@Ultrazaubererger]

Dirt and debris could also have a similar effect. But with the controller in Matthias lathe, I doubt it would actually damage anything as it would probably notice something's not right and stop the motor.

[@JorgTheElder]

Doesn't change the fact that his lathe will not start without the safety cover down.

[@OtherDalfite]

@@JorgTheElder I think that's irrelevant to the comment I was making

[@ScottPankhurst]

real lathes also have a hell of a lot more torque and don't have the slow-start direct drive lag of that toy.

[@littlehills739]

@@JorgTheElder it dose - you walk into some other work shop with your bad habbits is how you bleed

[@zerumsum1640]

with this experiment we see that a somewhat loose fitting chuck key will be tossed fairly gently from a lathe with a slow start. Variables still to test: dirty/tighter fitting chuck key (could allow for higher speed before the key comes loose), faster lathe start allowing the key to hang in there longer, and having something in front of where that key is that it can hit before it comes loose. tangentially, you could also test what happens when a chuck key that is chained to the late is left in. don't get me wrong, on a small lathe like this you can get away with leaving they key in the chuck apparently, but i have watched a chuck key embed itself in a cinderbrick wall after going through a corkboard after flying off an old colechester before when i was in college for my millwright course. if it hangs on long enough it can get some serious speed behind it when it does fly out of there.

[@apollorobb]

The issue is it may catch your arm or clothing. I've seen it happen and on larger lathes it isnt pretty .

[@Bob_Adkins]

That's why he doesn't do it. That's the point.

[@NicoSmets]

Instead of blabbing about it, just do the experiment. That is absolutely great!

[@SeahawkSailor]

Love it! First new lathe video project: let’s remove the safety guard, and record what happens! 😂

[@briantaylor9266]

0:28 If the electronics in your lathe are like those in mine, you'll want to be careful about bogging down the motor. On mine, the motor control board has 3 MOSFETs that have a habit of burning out under too much load. Easy enough to fix if you're handy with a bit of soldering, but a PITA when it happens. Ask me how I know.

[@zumbazumba1]

Why solder them? Just solder wires and make some sort of quick connector for mosfets if they burn that often.Like wago connector or something similar .

[@TonyHammitt]

Perhaps you could build a nice, box-jointed hardwood rack for your chuck key and other lathe tooling. Something maximally convenient to use

[@hmspain52]

These lathes *could* provide a convenient slot to store the chuck key instead of leaving this to the operator to figure out.

[@Eden_M]

As the famous Matthias Wandel quote goes: *My safety is MY concern!*

[@bernonic]

I appreciate you exploring all of the 'features' of this lathe - I have the same model and I can simply sit back and benefit from your findings - Merry Christmas!!!!!!

[@rayexyes8083]

I have seen the result of a chuck key left in the chuck of a Colchester lathe, it crossed 30m of room at scary velocity and embedded 15mm into a plastered brick wall. That scared me enough to never leave the key in a chuck.

[@1pcfred]

Thank God we don't have meters here.

[@Bob_Adkins]

Yeah, I had one fly off and go through the block of an 18 wheeler. No one was hurt by it, but 7 people got run over running to find the chuck key😉.

[@WoodMachinist]

I very highly doubt that, a tall tale.

[@Bob_Adkins]

@@WoodMachinist Physics!

[@1pcfred]

@@Bob_Adkins and thankfully nothing of value was lost.

[@stephenpaul6858]

A long time ago, 60 - 63, in high school we had a cover over the on / off button that took the chuck key to operate.

[@johnford7847]

Somehow it doesn't feel like a Matthias post without at least one plot - perhaps "Distance thrown versus starting speed?" LOL! Merry Christmas to you and yours, Matthias. Thank you for sharing so many interesting things.

[@shawnsustrich7981]

I'm so glad I follow you and watch your videos

[@lawrencenoctor2703]

I left the in pedestal drill at school that did travel across the workshop . Mr Buck gave lines as a punishment. Iv done it since. Happy new year Matt to you and yours. From Devon UK.👍

[@BeesKneesBenjamin]

I've forgotten a chuck key only once. The dent in the wall across the lathe reminds me to very conciously take it out now hahaha

[@markifi]

i really don't understand why these keys aren't tethered to the lathe body with a thin steel wire about a metre long. the operator of the lathe might not be spared even then, but other people in the room might. or maybe 70 cm long, and then it'd even spare the operator.

[@celestialbeas9214]

Knew a guy who broke his hand because he left his chuck key in the small lathe he had, started it up absent mindedly, and it thwacked him. Leaving you chuck key in the lathe is just bad practice. No matter what. When you are using a lathe, every time you take a chance that itll injure you. You should know this from running a table saw. Also it wears down the pinion gears.

[@typeaboutit]

This gave me a good chuckle

[@ThomasBarone]

As soon as you said something ........I was absolutely dying to know the answer! Great video!

[@Don.Challenger]

Matthias, I was expecting this one would fly out sooner than later, given the mischievous nature of your first lathe chuck key video. Very good to see such comprehensive coverage testing but that probably developed early in your programming days (though note folks this is anecdotal experimentation entirely specific to a singular make model and item - ymmv with any other given case).

[@oldskooljules]

I've always had a deep fondness for your empirical zeal. May you always say "Let's test that!".

[@monophoto1]

I appreciate that it appears that in this anecdotal series tests, the chuck key wasn't thrown very far. But I still think it is unsafe to leave the key in the chuck. A larger issue is that when you flip the switch to start the lathe, you have an expectation about what should happen and you are prepared to respond to whatever that is. But if something radically different happens you will inevitably react in an unplanned way, and that reaction could be the source of danger, especially when working around spinning machinery.

[@cornnatron3030]

why would you turn on the lathe with nothing in the chuck ? i got a way heavier lathe and sometimes leave the chuck key in after taking stuff out the chuck cause than i have two hands to hold the part but in my 10years ive never run in to the issue of a chuck key being tossed cause i dont turn on the lathe without something chucked in and in that case after tightening the chuck i take the key out without fumbeling cause of heavy stuff in hands. so my chuck key could be in there when nothing is in the chuck , if there is something in the chuck the key wouldnt be in there. hell it cant even be in there on mine when i turn it on as i made a safety switch in my chuckkey holder which wont let the lathe start when the key aint in it.

[@NotRexButCaesar]

That last sentence is an improper use of “ain’t”. Ain’t is a contraction of “am not”, so “ain’t” should only be used when “I” is the subject. In your case the correct form was “isn’t”.

[@cornnatron3030]

@@NotRexButCaesar pff thank god its not a official letter and just a yt comment which evidently was clear enough at explaining otherwise you wouldnt correct it lol

[@franklinslagpile]

I've seen em fly. In addition to a faster spin up, another factor may be that more worn keys won't stay in the chuck as long.

[@FLPhotoCatcher]

Sounds like they need to engineer a worn chuck key as a standard safety feature.

[@KipdoesStuff]

@@FLPhotoCatcher only safety feature that will work 100% of the time is competency.

[@GWAIHIRKV]

I remember a tool fitter trying to take a chuck of a wood lathe (415V 3 phase) and was having trouble so he decided to put some pipe grips on the shaft and turn the motor on. Pipe grips stayed on long enough to gain lots of speed, then finally flew some 30 meters, passed through a partition wall before being imbedded in the next partition wall some 50 meters away. The grips had passed over the heads of a women’s production line. H & S not so prevalent in the 70’s. Still, something I’ll never forget.

[@michaelosmon]

I recently got a second hand lathe but it's missing a tool post and Christmas took priority in the budget. It came with a 3 jaw and a 4 jaw chuck. Can't wait to see how far they throw the keys

[@pettigrewwoodworks]

Thanks for doing that. Made my day! 🤣

[@Erpyrikk]

Adam Savage has a story of a chuck key on a big lathe flying off and embedding itself in the concrete wall of the workshop.

[@jabber5632]

It's more of a concern on bigger lathes, as other people have said. But even on this small one my concern would be if my arm or hand were in the way. Maybe you could do another test with a piece of wood held in front. Obviously that's not really a concern either with the safeguard but it would be interesting to see anyway.

[@matthiaswandel]

I did show holding on to the chuck key as it tries to start. Not so much force before it gives up

[@douglasmgriffin]

@@matthiaswandelthe problem is, people turn to your channel to learn and this is teaching a bad and dangerous habit. Take your ‘I know what I’m doing” ego out of the equation and think of your subscribers.

[@carbonstar9091]

@@douglasmgriffin I didn't think this was in anyway a demonstration of how to do anything. Just seeing what would happen if you did.

[@jaygee6447]

@@douglasmgriffinexactly

[@Manigo1743]

@@douglasmgriffin I don't turn to this channel to learn. I watch it for all the crazy things he do, including this.

[@ArtturiSalmela]

The engagement hack is working great!

[@nobuckle40]

That was cool! Now stand in front of it and measure how much it hurts when it hits you.

[@ju55163]

On a minilathe forgetting the key in a chuck may not be a huge issue. However I know a case where a person lost couple of fingers while starting the lathe and the key was left in the chuck. He was leaning on the lathe with other hand and started the lathe with another hand.

[@SawForgeGarage]

Great educational experiment. I've forgot to remove my drill press chuck more than once and it tends to bust my knuckles.

[@Kevin75668]

I always give the chuck a spin by hand before turning the power on with any lathe.

[@strrchristmas]

Matthias, Very interesting testing and video. Now for the TRUTH. OLD lathes will in fact throw the key very quickly and with great force. Now that I have the hater's attention, the lathe you own has been designed with MANY safety features older lathes do not have. 1. Safety shield start engage safety. 2. SOFT START feature. Both of these are designed to prevent issues older lathes have. Many old lathes do not have chuck shields of any kind. Mine does not. Most all of the old lathes are on or off with nearly immediate RPM response. My lathe is at speed within seconds of engagement/starting. Please add a comment/addendum/video stating the differences between NEWER and OLDER lathes to ensure safety issues are properly addressed. I am a long time subscriber and watch all of your videos. I enjoy them very much and marvel at your dedication to accuracy and precision. Keep up the great work. Good Luck.

[@mike0rr]

Another issue on other lathes is, if the key is stuck in the chuck for a few turns.

[@sootys4024]

I've got a length of lightweight chain on my pillar drill chuck key because it hit me in the chest a couple of times and I was sick of losing it ten times an hour! The chain arrests flight nicely meaning zero losses or impacts in the ten ýears since I fitted it. Not sure it would work so well on something beefier like a lathe though?

[@them0leisback]

My friend once forgot about the key, it was a 450mm chuck. The key hit the wall and bend itself, despite being made of 30mm thick steel... If someone would've been in its way he would not have survived for sure

[@piconano]

If you're looking for a disaster. glue it in and run at full speed.

[@ps2727]

Ah, the holy grail of lathe work! Like your channel!

[@aqueousone]

Way to work the algorithm Matthias!

[@Gunbudder]

I think its more fair to say that its just a bad habit to get into. It is not exceedingly dangerous on THIS minilathe, but a key left in the chuck on a much larger full sized lathe could be pretty dangerous. And its not just the key being thrown, the larger danger is being crushed by the key into the lathe on a full size machine. you aren't stopping a full sized lathe with a piece of wood lol. they should have way more torque. i think what you are doing with your mini lathe is just more common amongst woodworkers, where they tend to do things knowing their own risks. its like John Heisz and how he uses his wood working tools. He knows the risks he takes and has learned to be safe with how he uses his tools, despite breaking many "rules" about finger placement or using push sticks.

[@MathieuFortin]

Only lathe-adjacent but I forgot the key in the press drill chuck quite a few times. Scared myself. Now the key is at the end of a retractable lanyard, the kind you put office id's on. Always close, and it changed my habits enough that I stopped forgetting to remove it.

[@C.Rig21]

Ever since I saw you make your own bandsaw's some years ago, I have always wanted to see you make a small boat.

[@joels7605]

I'm amazed. My lathe usually smashes the key into the ways instead of flinging it. I would prefer if it threw it.

[@latinodecorazon85]

Hola Matthias , te agradezco mucho tus sabios concejos, eres una luz para todos aquellos que queremos hacer este arte de la madera por hooby, y aun mas se que tu erez el profesor de muchos chicos pobres que no tienen para cpmparar maquinaria, y con tus concejos las construyen DIOS TE BENDIGA, NUNCA DEJES DE ENSEÑAR, .....FELIZ NAVIDAD Y TE ESPERAMOS EN EL 2024, ERES UN GRAN MAESTRO.......UN ABRAZO DE QUITO ECUADOR.....HASTA LA VISTA.

[@DIYTinkerer]

I know this is a bit of fun but what it is really about is building good habits for bigger lathes

[@paulfrizzell31]

Merry Christmas 🎅 🎄

[@kissingfrogs]

Our metal work teacher (Mr Griff if your out there) was passionate about this. His punishment for our indiscretion was standing in front of lathe, key in chuck, face shield down, the rest of us watch while he flicks the switch. Key bounced around the room abit and scared us in to compliance. They were brutal back then, but maybe for good reason.

[@moparcasey3135]

Cool! I’m going to start keeping my key in the chuck!!

[@Slaphappy-_-]

Merry Christmas to all!

[@laurentprat2274]

long time ago , i vas a student , i ve seen a key flying out of a big lathe, this key get nailed deep into the concrete, 3 persons hanging out a long crowbar couldnt do much to remove it, someone could have been torn apart so easily.... 40+ years later this is still a scary memory ... merry chrismass

[@shadowdog500]

I wonder what other basic lathe safety guidelines you can ignore? You should do a series!

[@bastianw2217]

Wearing the wrong clothes and wearing gloves for example.

[@kevtris]

guy at work did this but with the drill press instead. it flung the chuck key a few feet and stuck into a cardboard box on a nearby shelf. the hole in that box told that tale for many months until the contents were used. he learned the lesson of not leaving the key in the chuck. it was much smaller too than a lathe key. the motor on this one "soft starts" and doesn't kick over with much torque unlike a reluctance start AC motor.

[@DanielConstantinoS]

Mathias you are a algorithm genius. 😂❤

[@iwishyouwaymorethanluck.3804]

I love these type videos… busybodies, citations needed, or stfu… other “lathes” are not applicable, other than to simply pass along the info, and still give me evidence…

[@joenne]

A guy at my job lost his right arm to a lathe 35 years ago. He still comes in twice a year - when the new apprentices have their first week and to our yearly saftey briefing. He talks about general saftey around runnig machines, always mixes in a couple of jokes about having two hands... His last sentence is always how he struggled, when he had to switch to his left hand to wipe while sitting on the toilet

[@narancs5]

Great demonstration. Seems like only mr. Dickinson would be in danger if you stand right in front of it.

[@firenbubble]

Cette vidéo m'a donné des frissons dans le dos, bien joué, j'aurai fait pareil =p

[@PJRayment]

My drill press chuck key has a spring in it that prevents it staying in the chuck unless you are holding it in, which always made me wonder what would happen if a springless one did stay in and I started it.

[@ModernPrimate]

You always do such a superb job testing all the angles and even mentioning what could have been wrong in the experiment (the soft start, in this case). I really appreciate what you do here.

[@mattsan70]

You're tellin me for forty years I could have left it in there all the time without any risk of death! Sheesh!

[@DconBlueZ]

I know I've sent my drill press key across the room before. Oops! Thanks for the video, always enjoy watching!

[@ddueck7640]

We had a safety poster in our shop…”Key in chuck? You better duck”

[@himmlnomml]

It would be a little different with a bigger lathe with a threephase powered Motor which starts instantly at full speed!

[@mlindholm]

Sure is. As others have pointed out, it's not the technicality of this lathe being too small to do any damage, but the habits it instills (and demonstrates) that can have more severe consequences for anyone who later operates a bigger lathe.

[@paulcutty8048]

I have the same kind of lathe, I put a spring at the base of the square a long time ago to avoid that problem. (Yes my key flew away more than once)

[@Vitaly_Nezhinsky]

Matthias you are a real tester.

[@ellisc.foleyjr9778]

The mind of an engineer for you. "Lets see if we can break something, or created danger!" thanks for sharing! ECF

[@AndyFromBeaverton]

My 1960s Montgomery Ward Powr-Kraft will not operate without the chuck being put back into its receptacle.

[@P_RO_]

I've always been extra careful with lathe and drill press chuck keys. I was taught that you always have the chuck key in one hand before you apply power with the other hand. Then you set the chuck key down and go to work. It's not so much the key flying out but the potential for damaging the expensive precision machine. I did ruin the shaft of my mini-lathe when the workpiece fell out at speed. I was using a cheap gritty-feeling 3-jaw chuck and had tightened all 3 positions well, but somehow the chuck bound up before it got tight. Now I check the clamping for security before powering on.

[@Sludgepump]

😂😂😂 You win the "Irritate the KZbin safety nanny badge." So funny!

[@bailey2829]

I’ve had this happen to me on a big lathe and it really got me in the gut. No serious injuries though, I just had a nice bruise and felt like an idiot.

[@goadamson]

I can only imagine the wife opening up the door to the basement shop and yelling ‘what’s going on down there!’