Since LeBlond began in 1887, operator safety has been a top priority for the company. Over the past 100 years, we’ve led the industry in offering key lathe safety features. This still holds true today with our RKL line of manual lathes.
Below are four principle safety features that come standard with any LeBlond lathe.
- Foot Brake: All RKL lathes have a foot-enabled brake at the bottom of the machine that cuts off the spindle motor mechanically and electronically. As machine tool veterans know, you should always adhere to all safety guidelines when operating a lathe. However, if something were to become tangled up in the spindle the operator can hit the foot brake and the machine will shut down immediately.
- E-Stop Button: This stands for Emergency Stop Button and you can find it on the headstock panel. This button stops the motor electronically and the motor coasts to a stop. Again, use the foot brake if you need to stop the lathe INSTANTLY.
- All RKL engine lathes feature a chuck guard that extends around the spindle nose. If you’re running the machine and you lift the chuck guard, it functions like a E-Stop Switch and shuts the spindle down. The chuck guard needs to be in the closed position to start the machine.
Belt Guard On
Belt Guard Off
- LeBlond lathes have a belt guard or end cover on the headstock side of the lathe. When this cover is off, the spindle won’t run as an additional lathe safety feature. This cover shelters all the belts and end gearings for the machine. You might need to remove it to lubricate the end gearings. The machine will not run with the end cover off. Replace the cover to start up the machine.
In addition to these four lathe safety features that kill the spindle motor, RKL manual lathes also feature a standard chip guard which helps keep the chips in a confined area.
Rest assured if you use one of our lathes, you will be using a machine designed with lathe safety features foremost in design.
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Are there OSHS standards that cover the safety features listed above?
We’ll look into that Mike. Someone will contact you. For immediate service, call us at 888-532-5663 and select option 1. Thanks.