Hot lathe chips

Hello

Is it normal for the chips to be hot enough to leave little burn pimples on your skin where they bounce off your arms / hands? The chips aren't blue, they are nice and silver. Is being prickled just part of the fun of turning?

Cheers

Ross

Quite normal.

As Jason says, it's normal if you're taking big cuts at high speed.

If you don't like it, as I don't, reduce speed/take lighter cuts/use coolant.

Sometimes it can be fun to brave a hail of chips running a 200 thou cut at 300 ft./min. with full-flow coolant, and the chips still coming off smoking-hot, but as I get older I think more and more that's for adrenaline junkies... 

Edited By Mick B1 on 25/06/2018 16:27:08

That's nothing, wait until one goes down your shirt front. Then the air will turn blue, never mind the chip. If you're running hard then the chips should be blue or purple.

It's also why you should be wearing googles, or as a minimum safety glasses, when turning. Get a hot chip in your eye and it's game over.

Andrew

Other search engines are available

But excusing the frivolity, as you say eye protection is a must. Brass particles in particular can ping everywhere.

That's quackers!

Andrew

haha cheers chaps, knew I could rely on you The most I have braved with my lathe is a 3mm depth of cut in mild steel at around 600rpm for a 40mm piece of stock. Didnt go blue which was a good sign!

And yep always have the safety specs on, I feel naked without them.

If the chips are coming off blue they are around 570F or 300C. That is hot enough to cause nasty burns and can even embed themselves in plastic shields.

A magnetic base or eclipse type pot magnet can have a deflector of aluminium, Perspex or polycarbonate positioned to keep the hot chips off your arms or hands. I would strongly resist any temptation to wear gloves on any machine tool.

Mike

And of course the doctor cannot pick brass out of your eye with a magnet. When I had an MRI I was told that non-ferrous swarf is as much of a no-no as ferrous which surprised me.

Brian

I've had turnings land on my scalp....not pleasant...

Ergo, wear some form of head protection...

When wearing just overalls and one goes down the front you find out how hot they are!

Back in the early sixties I was working underneath an aircraft floor in the freight bay, it was a big transport aircraft, and I felt something fall into my eye, no wasn’t wearing safety goggles it was pre health and safety days and before my eyes became too knackered to manage without specs, anyway my eye was really sore and it didn’t get any better, in fact everyday it seemed to get more sore. This went on for a couple of weeks and I decided that I would have to see the doc, he pronounced that he could see rust forming on my eyeball and promptly despatched me to hospital. There the eye specialist found a long steel splinter had embedded itself end on in my eye, he used local anaesthetic, a tiny scalpel and a magnet and managed to remove the splinter. I was lucky, I learnt from that how valuable but vulnerable our eyes are, be careful when turning, milling or drilling we only get one pair of eyes.

Dave W

...and I think all this says keep speeds, feeds and depth of cut sensible. We're model engineers and we're not on piecework rates. We don't have to stand grinning into a storm of projectiles...

So much Talk about Chips - Grab a Pint and watch some Porn...

**LINK**

Joe

Gets real interesting in the tropics where thongs (flip-flops) are standard safety footwear. Red hot swarf landing on sensitive feet is not that much fun. But its the bits that get between your toes and stick there so they don't dislodge when you shake your foot that really hurt. All this standing one one foot shaking the other mostly seems to happen when taking that critical final cut under careful hand feed of course.

“Little burn pimples”. Depends on how tough your skin might be.

Some will be more sensitive than others. Most hot chips, as described by the OP, would need to settle on my hands or arms to leave a record. Yes, I do feel them as they bounce off and I do pull my shirt neck tight, to prevent them getting inside! I also wear gloves if hand feeding the long travel, as the hand wheel is directly below the chip fall. I don’t think think a nitrile glove is a danger - I would not wear gloves which can get caught in the moving machinery.

I have a few scars from scrapes and cuts,over the years, but still have all my digits attached - and functioning reasonably - after seven decades of use.

Safty glasses, a hat, and do up the top button of shirt/overalls. No gloves, my lathe has a metal guard on the left side of the saddle, and the feed wheel is on the right on my lathe.

Ian S C

Unfortunately, on my lathe, a very much appreciated improvement in apron function was achieved when the previous model was ‘up-graded’ to my version.

A vast improvement, except that the hand wheel was relocated to the other end of the apron. But as compromises are usually/often required, the inconvenience of that handle position was far out-weighed by the other improved attributes.

If One gets up Your nose You get the smell along with the pain. On Your lip seems to be the pain apex.