Same as Mark P, I removed the chuck guard from my Warco 290V, it just got in the way although to be honest it did catch flying swarf, you pays your money & takes your choice.

Tony

I initially kept the guard on my WM240, but not for long.

when I got my Chester Comet lathe it came with a solid steel guard, as I don't have x-ray eyes I threw it away.

My Bantam came with a flip down guard with no micro switch, I use it when drilling or turning with the coolant on to contain the spray. Usually I am working to a stop, so do not need to see with coolant on.

Chris Gunn

My chipmaster didn't come with a guard and the first thing I did was fit a quality industrial guard.
This was based on my experience in industry many years ago, where safety was heavily enforced.
A properly designed and installed guard shouldn't interfere with the majority of operations.

I realised the value of chuck guards after being hit in the face hard enough to draw blood by a ball of swarf. Completely out-of-the blue with absolutely no warning, wallop. I wear glasses, but the incident made me think seriously about my eyes. After that I put the guard back on and now always use one.

My blood was spilled by a 600W mini-lathe at about 1100rpm. I've upgraded since to 2500rpm at 1500W. The bigger machine is markedly more dangerous if swarf is catapulted, work comes out of the chuck, a tool snaps, or a sleeve gets caught.

Pleased to say Model Engineering is pretty safe compared with wood-working: not that unusual for them to saw a hand off…

Dave

I removed , but in return I fitted 2x specific holders on a swing arm for 1-The Chuck Key and 2-The Toolpost Lock Key. Both activate a switch which if any one of them is not in its place the lathe cannot run, or if removed while the lathe is running it stops and must be reset, in series with the other safety swictches. I thought this may be a bother but quickly got used to it, so far it never bothered me. I also added a foot switch on the ground I can step on if I want to stop it and both hands occupied, same with vertical bandsaw.

My first lathe was supplied with a chuck guard. Nanny state rules – necessary for many, I suppose, in this day and age. I soon removed it. That was about 30 years ago.

My subsequent lathes were never fitted with such safety features and if I need extra protection I can don a visor as well as safety specs. I never stand directly in the line-of-fire except when the lathe is at very slow speed (like threading). After 73 years, I still have all my digits intact – even though operating machinery throughout my life, including some substantial woodworking machines.

My pendant control lives at the tailstock end of the lathe and I rarely reach past the rotating chuck while it is at high speed.

I grew up on a farm. One of my after-school jobs was refitting the governor rod on a Fordson Standard, when it popped off (while the fan blades were rotating at high speed). That was when I was about 7-8 years old. We knew, by that age, that we needed to take care to avoid such dangers – and they were abundant back then.

Chuck guards have to be fitted to machines used in schools, technical colleges or training establishments

Myford told me that when I explored buying a new machine..

MY larger BL 12-24 came with an acrylic guard over the toolpost, and over the chuck, (operating a microswitch so that the lathe is inoperable with it open..

The toolpost guard prevented seeing what was happening. The one over the chuck had to be modified to clear the Faceplate., and fouls the rear toolpost, preventing working close to chuck with a collet chuck.

So the chuck guard mounting was modifies so that the lathe can be operated without the guard being in place. when using a collet chuck, or sometimes the Faceplate..

Otherwise it remains in place to limit how much swarf or cutting lubricant can escape.

Sadly, the guard on the Mill/Drill came off soon after taking delivery, so that the machine can have work mounted for machining, and has new been refitted.

CARE is the watchword

Howard.

We have a chuck guard on the museum's Smart & Brown model A which has a microswitch added and it works very well. It saves my back when switching off the lathe and everyone who uses the lathe has to use it with no exceptions, after all this is in a museum, not a private shed, and we have to pay at least lip service to H & S.

My Sieg C6 came with a clear plastic 'chuck guard'. I don't know whether it's purpose is to guard operator against unintentional contact with the rotating chuck, or to guard the operator against things flying off the rotating chuck. Either way I would not want to use my lathe without it. Not only does it prevent loose bits of swarf flying into my face, it also prevents cutting fluid from creating nice patterns on my clean shirt, and is a great reminder to remove the chuck key before switching on. The only times it has been a nuisance is when holding a large odd-shaped item in the 4-jaw, which wanted to hit the guard every revolution.

By contrast, my 1929 Ideal does not have a chuck guard and has more than once caught me 'off-guard' resulting in a painful whack on the finger on knuckle. Fortunately the only time something more serious happened (caught the sleeve of a jacket on a corner of the object being turned) the slip in the flat belt drive was a sufficient safety clutch to prevent the rest of my arm from feeling the effects of a 500RPM lump of heavy metal. If there was an easy way of adding a chuck guard to my old lathe I would do it. As an alternative I am looking at a large clear plastic shield on a movable arm that can be moved into or out of position as needed.