Keeping things clean

Looking for a bit of advice on keeping the lathe and surrounding areas clean. Usually sweep and vacuum to pick up majority of swarf but there is still a lot of smaller stuff which stays stuck to various surfaces particularly if using cutting lube. I don't want to wash down with solvent/kerosene or other cleaners if possible. Although the lathe has a drip tray underneath it has no drain hole, so any liquid used to clean would need to be mopped up when finished. What do others do?

.

Usually use a cheap paint brush to knock them into the tray.

Nick

I usually avoid using any fluid to clean my lathe i find it tends to wash dirt into places it would not normally get to and the same goes for compressed air - it blows loose swarf everywhere and into places you didn't even know your lathe had !

I wear some leather gardening gloves to bundle the bulk of the long stringy swarf out of the tray and dump it in the bin i then scrape the majority of whatever is left out into a bin ( a home made scraper consisting of a piece of inch wde flat bar about 6 inches long welded or screwed to a piece of 5/16 rod so it forms a T shape works well )

Then i have at it with a vacuum cleaner and use a paint brush to move the stubborn stuff - i find this gets most of what is left off the machine .

If there is any oily residue i use cheap paper toweling to mop it up and i usually wipe the ways down also.Occasionally i will give it a wipe over with a rage moistened withe white spirits ( shellite ) or automotive wax and grease remover , i mainly do this after machining cast iron but if i feel the machine is dirty enough it gets a wipe over . If it gets a wipe with shellite or wax and grease remover i then re oil the ways and if the machine is going to sit for a while i wipe on some lanotec to stop rusting .

Ian

Same as Nick, use an old or cheap new paintbrush to flick the muck off then scoop it up from the drip tray when the layer is too thick.

Posted by XD 351 31/10/2016 04:22:53

"I usually avoid using any fluid to clean my lathe i find it tends to wash dirt into places
it would not normally get to and the same goes for compressed air - it blows loose
swarf everywhere and into places you didn't even know your lathe had !".

I found the complete opposite to this ,when i used to machine dry i used
a vacuum cleaner , when i went over to neat cutting oil coolant after removing
most of the heavy swarf using the oil spray the years of accumulated
muck on the lathe was washing out for months after ,leaves the machine
cleaned and oiled.

Chucked out the soluble oil from the cylindrical grinder and gone over to
neat grinding oil for the same reasons ,works better and the machine
stays clean and rust free.

John

A cut down plastic milk carton makes a good dustpan for awkward places.

Dave
The Emerald Isle

The brass swarf is almost up to my leadscrew at the moment - I find it does an excellent job of protecting the lathe from dirt

Neil

You won't be so pleased with your pile when you drop a small brass part into the ever increasing mound

John, i was alluding to the use of a spray bottle full of kero or the like that i have seen a lathe drowned in , all it did was wash the fine particles into the gibs and into the saddle drive mechanism . Then they took to it with compresed air to dry it off and this just pushed the crud in deeper .

Ian.

depending on the make of your lathes mine is a boxford and i use a paint roler tray underneath catches most of the swarf so i just brush of into that

kevin

I'll fish it out with a magnet ... err ...oh....

I've worked out that making 3mm gears with a small 1mm boss and all gears less than full diameter of the bar and with a 2mm parting tool means >>50% of my beautiful brass is becoming swarf...

Neil that is just plain cruel !

I would hate to think what is on the floor !

Ian.

Well, not nearly as impressive as Neil's slovenly pile, but funnily enough i was making a chuck backplate adapter tonight,and looking at the devastation around me, wondered why my lathe/workspace never looks like the lovely pristine ones i see in pictures and videos on tinterweb forums.......

Neil's 'slovenly pile' at least has some possible monetary value! A coarse sieve, to fish out the lost pieces, and a magnet to gather up any ferrous waste might leave eough brass there for a good sized casting!

I will let you know if I find it.

If only I can find a way to smelt that back into something usable - must be a few dollar's worth there!

Neil

Neil,

Presumably the dimples in the pile of swarf are from the weeping of the operator?

Thanks for the replies. After picking up the bulky stuff i've been using an old paint brush followed by the vacuum cleaner for a final clean, but on the old lathe (1920's vintage) the coarse surface of the cast iron seems to trap a lot of the finer residue. I've been using thread-cutting lube in a pressure-pack can for turning stuff that needs lubricating, so i might try using that as a cleaning spray as well, but it's a bit expensive.

Maybe i should strip the lathe down and repaint it so the unmachined surfaces are a bit smoother and less likely to collect grime. Sounds like something i could possibly do over the Christmas holidays.

Cheers.

I'm sure that some of the guys who send in photos have two workshops, one where they do all of their work, and another where they photograph the display item. Well maybe not, but the lathe often looks too clean.

Ian S C

Workshops that are too clean.. it's a bit like seeing a really skinny chef.

My two tips..

wrap a dog poo bag round a magnet on a stick, wave it all over, then pull it off straight into the bin. Felt a bit stupid when I failed to notice I was working brass once, but still a cheap alternative to the posh magnet sticks sold for the job.

Lidl have an Ash Vacume cleaner in the specials this week for £30. Does a good job on general workshop crud including swarf ( and also does the living room fire, which is obviously why I used the household budget to buy it....)

Matthew

.

You would be lucky to get much more than £2 a kilo for it.

... But prices seem to be rising, so it may be worth hoarding.

https://www.greengatemetals.co.uk/scrapmetal/Brass.html

MichaelG.