I teach a local Makerspace "Intro to the Metal Lathe" course, and the subject machine to get people started is a 1953 Logan lathe. It is fairly small, and drives off of a leather belt on the headstock. The belt is a poor fit, and if something happens with the lathe, it would probably just slip the belt, and no harm done. I consider it a "little kitten" of a lathe.
HOWEVER, we now have a 7 hp, Direct Geared Takisawa Industrial Lathe, and it has taken us several months to come up with a way to teach THAT to people who have very little machine tool experience. In fact, when the subject of a course for this machine was raised, it was pointed out by several people (myself included) that this new machine was a VERY DANGEROUS piece of equipment. In my first intro to the small lathe, I point out it's low power, and how safe it is, relatively speaking. And then I point out that the Takisawa is very different. When you mess up with a woodworking tool, you get some stitches and bandages for a few weeks. But a gear-driven metal lathe or mill, of multiple horsepower, is a different situation. I usually tell students to go on YouTube, and watch some of the lathe accidents (predominantly from 3rd World countries where the safety standards are lax or non-existent, compared to the U.S. or other more progressive countries) Someone who gets caught in a heavy lathe or mill usually dies, or at the very least has a limb removed. There are many videos where the lathe operator is reduced to component parts, and the machine never DOES STOP until someone else in the factory physically turns it off. The wood saws at the local Xerocraft Makerspace have "instant stop" blade brakes, so the second a finger touches a spinning blade, it stops with a BANG! The person using the saw is then required to pay for a new blade brake, as they are a one-use item that needs replaced every time it fires.
So far, in the 3 years I have been teaching the course, we have had NO injuries of any kind with the small lathe, and I am hoping this continues with the heavy lathe. I give a pretty good 'scare talk" when introducing students to either machine. The Logan is badly out of tune, is poorly mounted on a warehouse wooden floor that was erected over 100 years ago, and the entire facility is in a former warehouse that is 30 feet from railroad tracks that get a VERT HEAVY freight train about every 15 minutes. HOWEVER, even with these known deficiencies, students do a VERY GOOD JOB of sneaking up on their tolerances, nearly ALL of them working to + or - .001" on the training project. I always tell them that if they can accomplish THAT, then they will have no trouble working with ANY OTHER LATHE, as the Logan is about the worst beginning you could have for a machine tool, but my training course deals with how to get the best out of it, and nearly all students DO THIS. I had one young lady who actually got EVERY SINGLE DIMENSION DEAD ON for the starter project, and I would say that about 90% of the students get the idea and can work to VERY close dimensions.
Training, and the safety talk is really critical in starting them off right in the use of tools. I commend you on your efforts for safety and training with new students! Getting off to a good start will pay off for them for YEARS into the future.
