My garage sale lathe nearly turned my driveway into a Jackson Pollock

Picked up a used record cutting lathe for $50 at a garage sale in Reno, and the first test cut had the blank disc fly off and spray hot PVC chips all over my neighbor's car. Has anyone else had to rig up a proper vacuum chip catcher before their first real cut, or am I the only one dumb enough to try it on a concrete slab?

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2 Comments

lindahunt2mo ago

Did you check the cutter depth before you fired it up, or just wing it and hope for the best? Because most of the time a disc flying off means the vacuum or hold-down wasn't set right, not just bad luck. A cheap shop vac rigged with a 2 inch hose works fine, but you gotta test it on a scrap piece first.

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the_miles2mo ago

Whoa, hold on. You mean you actually ran a test piece with the shop vac before you trusted it with a real project? That's some next level patience right there. I usually just flip the switch and pray the disc doesn't take a chunk out of my drywall. Guess that's why my last attempt ended with a groove in the garage floor.

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