Lathe controls position

[not done it yetParticipant @notdoneityet]

I expect it is because in ye olde days, everyone had to be right-handed. Sword scabbards would be clashed if they were on the ‘wrong’ side, infantry with pikes would not be uniform with ‘lefties amongst the line, archers would clash when drawing their bows or extracting arrows from the quivers. Jousting might have been a bit awkward, too!

All machines were made for ‘righties’, not ‘lefties’. Just like left handed scissors only being available in relatively recent years.

Every one of my circular sock knitting machines is right handed. Only recently manufactured machines are now being offered in either left or right versions.

Go back only a relatively few decades and school children were not allowed to be lefties – they had to conform to the standard of being right handed – no wonder some children’s education was a bit lacking!

’Nuff said? Try picking up heavy workpieces and fitting them in the chuck with your non-dominant hand.

[Anonymous]

Posted by not done it yet on 20/04/2019 22:05:58:

Go back only a relatively few decades and school children were not allowed to be lefties – they had to conform to the standard of being right handed – no wonder some children’s education was a bit lacking!

I don't recall being forced to use my right hand in the 1960s, although I started in a private school. In contrast in the 1930s my father was hit on his left hand with a ruler until he used his right hand. That was until my grandmother when down to the school and gave the teacher what for.

I've got a pair of left handed scissors, but I use them right handed.

I fly right handed, except for the Auster where there was only one throttle in the middle, so in the lefthand seat you had to take off and land left handed with the throttle operated by the right hand.

Andrew

[Mike PooleParticipant @mikepoole82104]

My father was left handed but some things he did right handed, he batted at cricket left handed but used a knife and fork right handed, used a pen left handed, I doubt anybody can use a wheel brace drill left handed it is just wrong, maybe left handed drill bits would be the answer so not just for drilling out snapped studs. The world and its machines are definitely made for right handed people. As we seem to do less and less manual work it will probably not matter which hand we are as we will not need to use them.

Some configurations of robot can be left or right handed and the command set has instruction to force the arm into the desired configuration, the wrist can also approach from an over or under configuration, it can be strange if the arm is not properly programmed you can have some unexpected tangles.

Mike

Edited By Mike Poole on 20/04/2019 23:41:01

[vintage engineerParticipant @vintageengineer]

You used to be able to get lefthand cheque books.

[Paul KempParticipant @paulkemp46892]

Posted by vintage engineer on 21/04/2019 11:07:00:

You used to be able to get lefthand cheque books.

You used to be able to get cheque books too! Come to that we used to have a bank in town that you could walk too, now it's £6 on the bus to see one. When you go inside its full of computers and you won't find a counter! I think that makes the banking system truly ambidextrous, you don't need a pen!

Paul.

[Enough!Participant @enough]

Posted by Mike Poole on 20/04/2019 23:24:54:

My father was left handed but some things he did right handed, he batted at cricket left handed

I'm right handed but use a cricket bat left-handed …. and probably would use a golf-club left handed too if I played the game.

Comes from learning from a left-handed older brother.

[not done it yetParticipant @notdoneityet]

The only thing I do left handed (I think) is shooting a rifle or shotgun. When ‘knee high to a grasshopper’ I could not close my left eye (only), but could close only the right – hence the cork guns at the fairgound were shouldered on my left so I could sight the target with one eye closed. My master eye happens to be my left eye, so likely a good job I started that way.

When I had a FAC, my rifle was a Browning T-Bolt – right handed, but the bolt simply pulls back (without first rotating it, like most bolt action firearms do).

I recently fitted a left handed stock to an air rifle and changed the bolt action from right to left. Seems very awkward, operating the bolt with my left hand.

Nearly all semi-auto shotguns used to be right handed (only Franchi made a leftie version, as I recall) in the last century. Things have changed recently.

[Author]

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