Minor disaster

[David Shombert]

I was on the “working’ side of the lathe and wanted the tailstock to be out of range of my elbow, so I pushed it slightly to rotate it to the side. In the 15 years or so that I’ve owned this lathe (Robust American Beauty), I’ve done this probably hundreds of times without incident. This time, it kept on going and the rotational momentum took the lathe over almost entirely on its side. I think two things were in play here: (1) the shock absorber has lost its ability to resist the motion, and (2) the bolts that hold the legs in the position they’re set to were not tight enough. I had moved the lathe a couple of months ago, and that involved adjusting the legs, so perhaps I didn’t tighten them down enough when I was done. Anyway, there it is. I guess the approach to getting it back to upright is to lift at the lowest point (the right-hand foot at the tailstock end), extend that foot back to being in contact with the floor and re-tighten, go to the other end of the lathe and lift, extend THAT foot, back to the tailstock & repeat, etc., a little bit at a time until it’s back upright. I have the jack that Robust supplies with the lathe, but I’m a little concerned about using it to lift in this postion. The business end of the jack is parallel to the floor, but the place where it hooks is now at an angle of maybe 20 degrees. Anyone got any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

 

[John Dillon]

@Brent@TurnRobust

 

[Darryl Fective]

Yikes, that's a scary sight. Glad it didn't go all the way over. Even with the legs retracted it's a pretty wide footprint.

The design is great to be able to adjust height. I didn't even try to mess with getting the nuts on the small bolts above each leg, but I put them in the holes. Even without a nut on the back, they're a good stopper in case of leg clamp failure.

I would think you could use a jack and lift the backside. I'd at least have a rope, strap, strap, or a couple friends to make sure it stays upright. A ratchet strap to help pull it upright would help.

 

[Gabriel Hoff]

I would use a hydraulic lifting cart. We have one, it makes effortless work of lifting a lathe. Put the platform under the back of the lathe and raise it up until the lathe is level. The cart will hold the legs up while you tighten the bolts. Also use an impact wrench when tightening the bolts.

 

[Darryl Fective]

I would use a hydraulic lifting cart. We have one, it makes effortless work of lifting a lathe. Put the platform under the back of the lathe and raise it up until the lathe is level. The cart will hold the legs up while you tighten the bolts. Also use an impact wrench when tightening the bolts.

Platform under the back of the lathe? First off, not many people have a hydraulic lift cart, but secondly, the lathe is going to rotate as it gets upright, potentially slipping off the edge of the cart or tipping the cart.

Also, an impact isn't necessary to tighten the leg clamp bolts.

 

[Brent@TurnRobust]

I was on the “working’ side of the lathe and wanted the tailstock to be out of range of my elbow, so I pushed it slightly to rotate it to the side. In the 15 years or so that I’ve owned this lathe (Robust American Beauty), I’ve done this probably hundreds of times without incident. This time, it kept on going and the rotational momentum took the lathe over almost entirely on its side. I think two things were in play here: (1) the shock absorber has lost its ability to resist the motion, and (2) the bolts that hold the legs in the position they’re set to were not tight enough. I had moved the lathe a couple of months ago, and that involved adjusting the legs, so perhaps I didn’t tighten them down enough when I was done. Anyway, there it is. I guess the approach to getting it back to upright is to lift at the lowest point (the right-hand foot at the tailstock end), extend that foot back to being in contact with the floor and re-tighten, go to the other end of the lathe and lift, extend THAT foot, back to the tailstock & repeat, etc., a little bit at a time until it’s back upright. I have the jack that Robust supplies with the lathe, but I’m a little concerned about using it to lift in this postion. The business end of the jack is parallel to the floor, but the place where it hooks is now at an angle of maybe 20 degrees. Anyone got any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

Hi Dave and all that have responded. We had a long talk with Dave yesterday afternoon, so I was surprised to see this post this morning. As way of background, the legs on the AB are infinitely adjustable, and held in position by a clamping mechanism - which Dave has suggested were not tightened enough after he moved the lathe.

We advised him to shorten the long legs gradually, working a bit from end to end until the lathe was level, and then raising the lathe back up to the original position. As others have mentioned, if he had a hydraulic lift cart, that would expedite the procedure, and you just have to cut a couple of boards with a "V" notch to support the lathe bed. We stand by this advise.

As to the Tilt-Away, that will probably come back into line once the lathe is leveled up. If not, it is relatively easy to realign. As a further note, this is an older machine, made in 2009. We have long since incorporated stop bolts into the design to prevent others from having this same misfortune.

 

[Webb Willmott]

What about sticking a 2x4 under the ways for a lever arm and rotate it by lifting. When level, have a helper tighten the bolts. Once level, you can fine tune the position with your jack.

 

[Kevin Jenness]

Scary, I'm sure - glad you weren't hurt. A solid lifting point above the lathe and a come along or chain hoist would do the trick, as would an engine hoist. Failing that, jack the lathe up, blocking as you go with whatever you have for cribbing, slow and steady. When it's back where it should be, drill for some safety bolts in each leg.

 

[Brent@TurnRobust]

........When it's back where it should be, drill for some safety bolts in each leg.

Great suggestion Kevin, and we made that recommendation to David via email. Just to reiterate, David's lathe is 17 years old, and we incorporated stop bolts into our design over a dozen years ago so that others that didn't tighten the clamp bolts sufficiently would have this issue.

 

[Kevin Jenness]

Great suggestion Kevin, and we made that recommendation to David via email. Just to reiterate, David's lathe is 17 years old, and we incorporated stop bolts into our design over a dozen years ago so that others that didn't tighten the clamp bolts sufficiently would have this issue.

Might be a good idea to pass that on to other owners with that leg design, if you haven't already.

 

[John K Jordan]

I would have had a terrifying moment!
Having not seen the lathe or situation, if there is a strong midpoint on the lathe frame I would probably first consider a hydraulic floor jack since I already have one. Lifts the heavy end of my diesel truck easily. Should also work for the method of gently lowering the extended legs as per that suggestion. Regardless, I'd might beg assistance from a strong, young neighbor! At least for a second pair of eyes.

I like the adjustable leg feature.

 

[David Shombert]

Thanks to all who contributed. I’m happy to report that all is well now.

We had a long talk with Dave yesterday afternoon, so I was surprised to see this post this morning.

Yeah, I didn’t even start on this project until late this morning. Yesterday’s event (late afternoon) was a bit unnerving, and my 84-year old arthritic hands didn’t feel much like tackling it right away after it happened. A good night’s sleep helped a lot, and today was a much better day.

I do not have a hydraulic lift of any kind, other than the jack from my Tacoma, which would not fit under the lathe in any place that would have helped. So, I had to rely on Robust’s excellent little floor jack - not quite as easy to operate as a car jack, but easy enough, and the fact that it was operating at an angle to the lathe was not a problem. Wanting to have some kind of protection against the beast falling over, I rigged up a couple of scrap 2x4s as shown in the attached photo. Would these have stopped it if it had gotten away from me? Thankfully, we’ll never know. But it helped just to see them there while I was working.

I did as Brent’s associate had suggested over the phone yesterday and eventually got it upright. Then I had to raise it quite a bit to get it to the desired height. Getting both ends raised to an exact height while maintaining sideways-level is a little tricky; it helped to go slow, measure the height from the floor at specific points on the lathe after each adjustment, and keep track of those measurements throughout. Took me quite awhile, it was exhausting, but eventually I got there. See the other attached photo.

As I said earlier, I suspect that at least one of the legs had not been tightened down enough and that contributed to this happening. After I got it back in place today, I took the little shock absorber off to check it - I can extend and compress it EASILY by hand. Not good. When this near-disaster happened, when I pushed the tailstock a little to get it out of the range of my elbow, it moved too easily and kept on going until it hit the stop. The momentum of that is what started the lathe tilting and it just….. kept…… going. As Brent notes, this lathe is like its owner - getting old. To all who are reading this and have an AB of this vintage, you should check the shock absorber. They’re not that expensive. I’ll be ordering a new one for mine on Monday.

Also, Brent - thanks for the info about adding the stops to the legs. That’s on the agenda for tomorrow.

Thanks again to all. Peace in the new year.

 

[Dean Center]

Since David is not back upright and things have worked out for him, I'm going to go on a tangent and ask about the product from Wisconsin's Second most famous company (after Robust) I know there are folks on here who have experience and will know the answer.

For those of us with both X and Y chromosomes, the thought of getting a motorcycle is always lurking in the far cobwebs. One of the things that would discourage me from getting a Harley is just exactly what happened to David. What do you do if it tips over? Since motorcycles are far more likely to go sideways than lathes, this is a realistic concern. So, for those who know, if you tip a great big heavy motorcycle over, how do you get it back up again?

 

[John K Jordan]

the thought of getting a motorcycle is always lurking in the far cobwebs. One of the things that would discourage me from getting a Harley is just exactly what happened to David. What do you do if it tips over?

For me the answer is simple - don't use a heavy motorcycle. I've had many, most light weight off-road for extreme trails and jumps and racing. (I was slightly insane.)

I've had just one strictly road bike but the only time it was on it's side was when I lost traction on a wet curve and flipped it a few times. (No injuries - just an abrasion on my leather jacket where I slid across the pavement on my shoulder with my feet in the air. Exciting!) But that bike was light enough for me to pick up.

I have a friend who somehow let his big Harley tip over at a red light on a hill. He got help from a passerby.

JKJ

 

[Otis Kiehl]

I’ve never tipped my Harley over but have stopped to assist when someone dropped there’s it s a big family out there

 

[Joel Daniels]

We learned how to upright a heavy bike in an advanced riding class. I had my harley (road glide) tip over in my driveway because i wasn't paying attention. No damage, but by standing with your back to the bike and using your legs (not your back!), it lifts right up. I’m sure there’s utube videos out there. I gave up riding ~10 years ago because of all the crazy drivers not paying attention - heads down on the cell phones. Too many close calls.