Vaccum for a milling machine.

I am picking a milling machine up tomorrow. I have watched many you tube video's of using them. Usually I see chips everywhere & some using a airline to blow them away. Where to I do not know. Probably all over the floor. I was given a Henry the other week. Which could sit nearby & be plumbed to create a suction near the cutter. Is this something done or is there a reason not to. I do tend to overthink sometimes. Any input.

Steve.

Doubt its worth the bother on a manual machine, small paintbrush to sweep swarf out the way between operations does me and a quick vacuum around the work area once a week or two.

I've just been milling a cast iron slab to make a bevel straight edge.
I can assure you that my old Aquavac (original) has seen plenty of use, though not plumbed into the mill.

Less use near the lathe as the curly swarf clogs the vacuum tube, but well worth having for general workshop use.

Bill

Edited By peak4 on 11/03/2020 20:40:56

If you're doing a job where the chips can't get away (sinking a slot for instance) then using the vacuum to get the chips away and prevent re-cutting is useful

Small and large brushes for moving swarf when cutting. When cutting a pocket a bendy straw can be useful to blow the swarf out. Bet the **** government didn't think about machinists before they banned bendy straws!

Cleaning up after machining done with brushes and dustpan and brush. The floor gets swept/vacuum'd as needed.

Andrew

Don't plan on using the vacuum for anything else. The hose will forever be seeping cutting fluid....

Good job you dont have a saw bench and planer as the dust gets everywhere.

Ha Ha. I like it. It was just my brain running away with itself. Like you go to look at a new house with the missus. It is a total mess , but you look at it & think yes I could really do something with this. You then leave & the missus says what a dump.

So my thought were a spray mist to one side of the cutter attached to the quill somehow so always pointed at the job. With a low pressure as to not get swarf & cutting fluid everywhere. Then on the opp side a powerful vac like the spare one I have , with a reduced Nozzle, smaller than the 1 1/4" tube to maybe 3/4" to cause a strong vac. Machine, blow, swarf, suck, gone job done. See I told you I overthink every thing. Cannot change a life time habit. Teachers at school gave me a wide berth because I always came up with some better way of teaching. No not going home with a free ice cream. Good idea though. It was only an idea. The guy I am buying it from has a large extraction system throughout his garage. I mean large. But he does woodwork too, so that is probably why. Remember the URN Brew advert in the maternity wing. When the woman says something like meet Fanny. He looks disgusted but after a swig of Urn Brew everything seems ok. Yes my granny was a Fanny he said. Amused me for ages. Need to buy some. Oh & Corona at Aldi going cheap. Wonder why.  

steve.

Edited By Steviegtr on 11/03/2020 22:36:24

No correct, I was thinking of it living under the bench & dedicated for the job. It is aqua so fluid would not bother it.

Well I've got a universal saw/planer/thicknesser/slotter.

I cover the lathe/mill/shaper etc with old nylon sheers (remember them) and use the vac on the machine to try and catch most of the dust whilst it's working.
Next job is to put weights on anything light, open the garage doors and break out the leaf blower.
It works a treat, including dislodging things I lost months ago.

Bill

Oh my god a leaf blower. It's not a 32cc 2 stroke is it. If the dust don't kill you the 2 stroke will.

Steve.

Agreed, but over the years dust and chip extraction has improved greatly. My old circular saw now has extraction from the guard and at two separate points beneath the table; as a result the mess is drastically reduced.

Needless to say, it's a health plus, too.

No I use the electric one indoors, the 2 stroke outdoors.
Perhaps surprisingly, it's pretty much dust free at the operator's end, provided I open the window at the end of the garage.
It actually gets used pretty regularly inside the garage for its intended purpose.
I prefer to work with the main doors open, and there's some strange eddy currents in the wind round our house, meaning that the garage fills with dead leaves.

Bill

Ditto for me apart from the straw; have an old Vax wet/dry vacuum that copes well with dabbed on fluid (wet swarf ).

George.

I used to use an Aldi shop vac on oily swarf, but stopped when I saw oil droplets in the little grille covering the air outlet. I decided that filling the shop with cutting oil aerosol probably wasn't good for me and possibly a fire risk! Now I brush the swarf straight into a bin and clean up the oil with paper towel. Still use the vac for dry aluminium and brass chips.

I think of a vacuum cleaner as a workshop consumable. I'm on my 3rd in about 20 years. It's an Argos cheapie cylinder - unbranded - cost about 40. The short, narrow crevice nozzle is on it most of the time, and that'll get oily chips out of the T-slots in the crossslide and the dirt-grooves in the bedway. There's a long tube-thing with a flat nozzle for the floor. On brass or wood I sometimes hold the nozzle close by the tool and hoover up the swarf on the fly.

I think I've got another 2 or 3 years before I throw it and buy another.

The only problem with the Henry I got given ,it's a site vac, so 110v. Pain but beggars eh.

Steve.

Vac cleaners are ok,for small metal chips but do not work with the longer curly stuff.,can be pain to get the curly stuff out of the flexible tube Do not use a vacuum to suck hot steel direct off the cutter ,especially using carbide tooling without lubricant,it will soon cause a fire in the cleaner.I generally clean up cold swarf with a old steel dustpan and brush,then use a cheap paint brush to clean the nooks and crannies,then a Tslot cleaner cut from sheet steel, plus a narrow vac hose to clear out the bottom of the T slots.

I have a cheap workshop vac from Wickes which is used for cleaning down lathes and mill. Recently, for the first time in several years' use I managed to get a small bird's nest of chips stuck in the hose. The workshop broom handle failed to dislodge this but then I thought of the rarely-used drain rods gathering dust in store which did the trick.

I'm not sure anyone has mentioned Cyclone dust collectors. I have one attached to my Henry and it seems to work very well. I've been doing some light sawing inside recently (I usually do it outside in the summer) and I've been vacuuming up each end-of-day and it seems to be keeping things fairly clean & Henry's bag is still empty. All my (metal) working machines are kept covered unless in use by the way.

I've also used the Vac + Cyclone to tidy up after Shaper work (a few small curly chips always tend to get thrown outside of the collection box - and the combination worked well for that too. I've got a swarf bucket for the long stringy swarf - and generally just pick it up (always with work gloves on of course). I think the Cyclone would be fine with cast iron - it picks up very fine wood dust..

Regards,

IanT.