I don't think I need to retract anything here, purely because I stated what I feel is correct, no flaming at all.
A major point I would like to raise, is the way my words were TOTALLY misconstrued and twisted to make it look as though I was the bad guy.
There is a great difference between
I would suggest that you don't ever post anything on here ever again about a lathe you own either breaking or burning out
and this, my original words
I would suggest that you don't ever post anything on here ever again about a lathe you own either breaking or burning out, as you will get no sympathy from this quarter, in fact, I will sit back and laugh at your machines' demise.
There is just too much of this going on, people doing and showing things without doing research into the final conclusion. If you have to do that sort of thing, then complete the whole process first, test it, and only then post the results. There is a great difference between many people who KNOW what they are doing, and know what the final outcome will be, and those that are just trying things out to see if it will work.
The reason I raise this point is that if there is someone who is totally new to this sort of thing, will maybe follow the written word, and blindly follow along doing what is said. If you don't know the final result yourself, you are most probably leading someone down the same path of disaster that maybe you will end up in.
While I am here, before I take a much needed rest from forum following (my personal problems are starting to affect my posts), I would just like to raise a point that Rob showed. This is an extract from that reminder about rules and regs.
We are going to take our cues from the famous HMEM model engine site
Now this in no way is a poke at the original poster about his problem, he most probably didn't know any better, but the experienced people on here should have known better in that they shouldn't have replied at all to the post. I will follow on with the details in a bit.
Now relating to the quote above. If you search back on the archives of HMEM you will come across a discussion about helping people out with their electrical problems on an open forum, and it was decided that it should NOT be done, purely because of the safety issues involved.
This is the details bit.
In my personal view, and I have already mentioned this problem to Eric, if someone has to ask how to wire something up, then they are not qualified to do that wiring themselves, and should be getting someone in to do it for them.
Mains electricity is just too dangerous to play about with, and to tell people how to do it on an open forum is asking for trouble. There only needs to be one mishap with either instructions or the unqualified person playing about in where they shouldn't, and you could be looking at someone spending the rest of time in a box, whether as ashes or wormbait.
I have asked such questions myself in the past, to get clarification for my workings out, and really I shouldn't have done.
But maybe this is now the time to get some rules and regs in place BEFORE someone has an accident. Let people play about with electricity behind closed doors if they want to, that is the risk they take, but to encourage someone to do it isn't the way to go. There is an anonymous search feature on the web that can be asked which will most probably lead them to the answers they require, without involving Q & A's on open forums.
This could also be applied to anywhere where giving out information about dangerous practices is involved. It should really be discouraged, purely because you are giving them the go ahead to follow an idea where they shouldn't really be going. If they want to do it, then on their heads be it, not on the forum members conscience, when things go wrong.
You would have to make up your own mind about what is classed a dangerous practice, you would have to look at the context of the question, and decide whether that person would have sufficient experience and common sense to follow down a dangerous route or not. Any doubts, then leave it well alone.
We, the more experienced, really do have a duty to tell someone of less experience that the path that they have chosen is the wrong one, and that it shouldn't be discussed on an open forum, as it may lead others to try things out that they are just not experienced enough to do.
See you in a while
Bogs
