Low cost swarf guard/dovetalk protectors for Mini Mill?

I've been getting on with my new Sieg Mini Mill great. But swarf and flying chips are becoming a problem, they go onto the dovetails behind the x-y table and onto the floor and carry on shoes. The Arceurotrade mill doesn't come with those rubber bellows.

Has anyone got a quick or low cost solution?

Philip,

Arc sell the bellows you're after. A phone call or email on Monday should provide you with a suggestion for which style and size to go for. As for the chips flying about onto the floor and getting trodden into the house - well, apart from holding a vacuum cleaner nozzle up to the work as you machine, I have no solution. If you come up with one, the hobbyists will beat a path to your door, as will the domestic goddesses!

John

You could try something like this:-

Bit difficult to see as the polycarbonate sheet is very clear. Must admit I don't use it very much but it is there if I need it. When not in use folds away to the column. More details here ** Journeyman's Workshop **

John

Unfortunately most plastic type guards just seem to get in the way no matter how cleverly desgigned or positioned. A magnetic swarf picker-upper tool is great for around the machine and on the floor. I made my own out of copper tubing in an hour or so, but you can buy them.

Obviously of little use for non-ferrous stuff though! That's a vacuum / brush job.

regards. Mike

I like this idea as a small guard would fit nicely around the back of the vice. Haven't found any small ones online though aside from a metal camping stove wind guard.

You can get small magnets from Ali Express already drilled, which will almost pick up the vise, never mind the chips !

I have one of them screwed to a piece of dowel rod and it has no bother picking up my visegrip from the floor every time I drop it [dont ask how often that is ]

I find that it is ideal for cleaning up the mill table and the lathe, cheap and effective.

Whatever slide-way screen my Myford VMC mill had originally, was missing when I bought the machine second-hand. I made a basic knee and vertical slide protector using left-over butyl garden-pond liner, held by the existing strip on the cross-slide, and a length of thin aluminium-angle screwed to the existing holes in the column.

The sheet also protects the elaborate metalwork I had to build to hold the cross-travel DRO strip.

The angle forms a little shelf, so I drilled a few holes in it to store things like the drill-chuck key and edge 'wiggler'.

I may see what ArcEuro can offer in that size though, ready for when the pond-liner eventually expires, though it seems to be holding up well.

One of my problems with swarth I do a great deal of aluminium milling and turning more on a large scale size.

Small chips my vacuum can pick up but bigger bits clog the hose.

Is there an ally magnet? I applied for a job years ago at a refuse recycling place and they had something that automatically removed the different assorted metals on a conveyor this was on a small scale.

I have the SX3 and could not justify spending even more on the bellows. I have a roll of 100mm DPC leftover from building the workshop and I have made similar covers for my lathe.

They do not help with the floor but does keep it out of all the working parts of the mill. The ply is from the packing crate. For the floor I made a duck board so at least I am not standing in swarf.

The Z-Axis is held on with self-adhesive magnetic tape.

The table front and rear covers are screwed on.

Note: I also made stops for the Y axis which were sadly missing from the original spec.

To keep the adjacent benches clean I am planning on buying the clear plastic strips used for freezer curtains and making a semicircular curtain attached to the bottom of the head.

Edited By AdrianR on 10/03/2021 09:55:29

Not as such but they use an eddy current separation system that generates in-built electro magnet within the aluminium. See ** 911 Metallurgist ** for more detail.

John

Now I know how its sorted

Now I know how its sorted

Non-magnetic from magnetic is easy - just a magnetic head drum on a conveyor belt. The non magnetic falls away before the magnetic by half the drum width separation.

The machine I saw working separated the non magnetic metals aluminium, Brass, copper etc.

When my "chariot a vis" (ref albums) was underway, there was a huge amount of mess very quickly as all the big parts were cast iron. A sheet of thin polycarbonate from the local friendly hardware shop was cut up as required and clipped to anything close using bulldog clips. It contained most of the mess, was very cheap, fairly effective. Don't over think it!!

cheers

Bill

Adrian -

Thank you for that tip!

I was wondering what best would shelter the slides and lead-screw on my Harrison lathe's cross-slide, (exposed when the slide is anywhere towards the apron) and a strip of DPC, which I have, might just fit the bill.

The shoe problem is easy to overcome - change footwear at the workshop door.

I normally wear slippers in the house but I use a pair of 'Crocs' to go to the garage/man cave then I swap them for a pair of safety trainers, I also put on a pair of cargo pants over my 'joggers' plus donning a warehouse / lab coat with the sleeves rolled up. as for the swarf issue my soluton was to use a piece of formed acrylic to use as a guard..

..Yes, I've already had the 'fish tank' comments, but it does the job.

George.