Well, it finally happened!

We’ve crashed machines, tools and such and luckily have never had it be catastrophic. While the EGO was hurt, that was about it.

Here’s a video clip of a 60# lathe chuck spinning at 1,000 RPM come loose and spin off the spindle, lathe bed, and vault onto the ground. Quite an interesting sight to see. More so to experience.

Mori-Seiki MS 850 / 1050 / 1250 lathes weighing in starting around 4-5,000 pounds makes this quite the little beast of a machine. Built to last is an understatement. Since this lathe has already been pretty badly crashed in the past leading to a broken high/low shifter gear fork and compound slide, we didn’t feel as bad as we could have had it been a “new” lathe with no major damage already to it. Still, it was a bit embarrassing…

Well, enjoy the video!

So, if you have a lathe spindle with a threaded collar L-00 or such, make sure to make some witness marks on the collar and chuck and inspect every once in a while – ESPECIALLY if you accidentally throw the machine into reverse just after going in the “forward” direction. OUCH!