One thing I did learn pretty quickly was, you learn by your mistakes and we all make mistakes, even the tradesman. In the machine shops at college the students had a habit of talking to each other while doing machine work on the lathes which can be very dangerous, the amount of time we spent replacing shear pins from students running auto feed and running the tool post into the chucks, or fore getting to take the chuck key out and turn the machine on, that's a very dangerous one its the first thing they learn is to always remove the chuck key and never leave it in the chuck, another thing is some student just don't want to listen, parting off tools are another one not getting the speed right or feed right, when they break they make a hell of a bang.
The best lathes we had was the Colchesters we never had any problems with them in all the years working with them, but other brand lathes we were always working or repairing them.
Ashley