Lathe bed way cover

I while ago when fitting a dro to my WM18 mill I decided to replace the original column accordion way cover and rubber cover Z-axis cover with a roller blind type cover. The original covers did take some travel in both axes, so I figured a roller cover attached to the head and and the saddle will give me the maximum travel you could possibly get from the mill. Also all the chips remain on the table not fall behind the saddle.

Had the cover on the mill for about a year now and I'm quite satisfied with it, so I'm turning my attention to doing something similar for the lathe.

The one on the mill was a scratch build project, so made a hairspring from packaging steel strapping and a roller from some scrap steel and the cover from thin pvc fabric. The contraption although compact in size for the mill will not work for the lathe, it needs to be smaller.

I found a small broken roller blind which I plan to gut and recycle for this project which might work. The idea is to attach the roller to the headstock under the chuck and the pvc cover to the carriage, without loosing any travel.

Looks great! The only issue I can see with using it on a lathe is that, being horizontal, the swarf will stay on it and get rolled up in it as it retracts.

Rob

It would certainly be possible with imagination to make one to suit a lathe, these things are available to buy, but are very expensive.

Hi Rob thanks, yes swarf staying on the cover and rolling up is a concern, I was going to tackle that with a wiper, I'm still figureing out how to go about it so any comments are appreciated.

@old mart, was not aware they are commercially available, most I had seen were teloscoping or bellows type. Good to know, I'll do some research and see what they look like.

I have just googled "lathe leadscrew guards" and one of the hits was just the ticket.

**LINK**

That looks like it works much better than the standard type on mills, what material is it? Is it meant for a machine or repurposed?

I have used oven liner material to provide a swarf guard, it seems to stand up to hot chips very well and is very flexible.

Doug

The material is reinforced pvc fabric, not meant specifically for a milling or lathe, but its flame and water resistant. I bought it off ebay. Served me withou issues for about a year now with no signs of any significat wear or deterioration. It's frequently covered in oli and swarf and the most I do is give it a wipe with a brush.

Did you buy like that, or replace the material on a window roller blind?

I used some left-over butyl garden-pond liner for my milling-machine's guard.

It's not an ideal design as I have arranged it, but the material itself seems to be standing up to use and keeps the cross-slideways and screw clean.

No the whole thing is shop made, at the time I could not find a roller blind small enough to fit. The roller itself is simple to build, just a frame with a hollow tube passing through. The wind up spring needed some thought, so I came up with a spiral flat spring and put it in a housing as it had a tendency to pop out.

Neoprene is like rubber but much tougher than rubber, it stays useable for 5-10 years plus with no visible deterioration

We've had a bendy dog bowl made from it which has survived well over 5 years hard use without the pinching effect cracking the edges of the material, (I suddenly realised after many years how good it still looked)

Posh double glazing uses neoprene seals

I had a similar idea a while ago and bought a couple of rear side window sun blinds on Volderbay. They were too wide but were easily reduced in size. The business end where the spring is housed was about 20mm in diameter, so quite unobtrusive. In use, I didn't like the way they draped across the gap and intended to to fit a "towel rail" type guide to the lower end but never got around to it. I finally discarded the system and reverted to the concertina type from Arc.

John

Edited By John Hinkley on 07/06/2021 08:03:50

That type of guard was a standard fitting on the Willson slant bed lathe. The fabric used appears to be cotton canvas.

The Willson also had covers for the bed ways which in my experience are effective in excluding chips and saving the ways from damage; the bottom way, however, does need regular cleaning.

Another point is that like many lathes the cross slide dovetails and screw are exposed at full extension; I have fitted a concertina which helps with this.

This morning found some time to start this project. Disassembled the roller blind and cut it to the size I need. Made some brackets for the installation and then mocked every thing in place to see how it fits. So far it looks like it will work fine.

Blind cut to size and new cover material

Cover installed directly to headstock, should cover the ways and beyond

Carriage travel unaffected, top cover should prevent swarf winding up inside the blind.

Cover extended, temporarily held with a vice grip, looks like it functions well.

Finished this project a while ago and it's been un use of these couple of months. I'm happy with it, cleaning is a breeze and keeps swarf away from the ways effectively.

Messy job,

Lots of cleaning to do,

5 minutes later

Looks good, have you used it in anger with tipped tools yet? Just wondering if it stands up to hot swarf?

No issues with hot swarf, I have the same type of material on my mill and had it for a couple of years with no issues. The reinforced PVC so far resists oil and heat well.

That's good to hear, I want to protect the ways on my mill and lathe, with something that can handle blue swarf!