Way Wipers?

Evening all,

What's the consensus on way Wipers? Are the worth fitting. I have my compressor and blast in between operations, if I am emery clothing I put a bit of paper down. Only reason I asn is on a lot of mini lathes there is a big gap which would also need a wiper. I'm complentating fitting a way protector (rubber sheet) and installing some ball oilers. My train of thought and use of felt is that it just gets hold of gundge and acts as am abrasive tool. I have seen it in the gland packing on prop shafts.

Thanks,

Woody.

Carefully designed way wipers will help to keep abrasives out. If the saddle has them left and right, it would be a good idea to provide a way of getting oil into the area between them.

Smart and Brown model A lathes have a positive oil feed to the cross slide and the saddle from the reservoir in the apron which has a pump which works as the saddle moves. In their manual, it says never use compressed air for cleaning.

I have my compressor and blast in between operations

Machine Killer !

Many machine tools used to have a plaque stating using compressed air to clean down invalidated the warranty.

My Super 7 has a felt wiper under a sheet metal cover at the front of the saddle that seems to keep the worst of the swarf out. Larger machines tend to use moulded synthetic rubber way wiper profiles, which can be bought either as straight lengths to cut & fit as required, or fabricated assemblies that fit closely around the slides. A catalogue from one supplier here

I tend to use the Myford oil gun regularly to purge under the saddle & clean up with paper towels. I also use wet & dry paper rather than emery cloth when required , as it doesn't seem to shed abrasive as much.

Nigel B.

Edited By mgnbuk on 14/12/2020 20:33:22

Felt wipers are used on a wide variety of lathes successfully.

If you decide to fit them and have to make your own, then chiropodists' felt ( look on the web) seems to be a good material and less likely to wear quickly than the soft felt from craft shops.

Rod

I kept the standard wipers and fitted a couple of home made extensions as the photo. Under the free end I put a strip of 3mm thick rubber to act as a primary wiper. I made these because most of the swarf and muck falls straight down into this area, I've seen similar on industrial lathes, and felt that some protection would be worthwhile. I did it a couple of weeks ago and they really do work well.

aaaagh nooooooo! Vacuum by all means but blast forces muck into small gaps.

I have a tray fixed to the front of the saddle of my myford which catches most of the swarf, and a backplate arrangement behind the milling machine vice which deflects chips away from the Y axis slide at the back

I have fitted a felt wiper to my M Type Drummond/Myford lathe with an aluminium plate shaped to shape of bed. It works great.

David

Some time ago, the late and lamented John Stevenson wrote an article in MEW on making new "rubber" wipers using a proprietary product for one one of his lathes.

From memory it entailed making a simple pair of inner and outer dies and casting the "rubber" between then until cured, ready for fitting to the lathe.

I would not use compressed air to clean a machine, because of the risk of forcing particles of swarf under a wiper.

If this happens, every movement will be lapping the very surface that the wiper is supposed to protect. As Apprentices, we were told never to use a blowgun to clean the machine, only cloths, which could be replaced.

Howard

This might be a job for Sugru self-setting rubber.

Remember efficient way wipers will removing pretty much everything on the ways including oil, so you may need a lubrication system to apply oil through the saddles.

I seem to remember Sparey commented on using compressed air for this purpose, and I dont think he was too keen on the idea, not even blowing with your gob, so that just about says it all !

Felt is cheap and easy enough to get and fit, so why risk it ?

Is there a reason why a close fitting piece of Delrin wouldn't make a good way wiper? It wouldn't trap swarf like felt can.