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How big to make a chip tray?

For a Chester Champion Mill

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John Coates05/04/2010 19:05:13
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558 forum posts
28 photos
Just bought a Chester Champion Mill to accompany my Barker lathe
 
Whereas the Barker has a chip tray (albeit with a square missing from one corner due to a brick pier in the previous owner's garage or shed but my brother in law can help me weld in a patch) the mill doesn't so I think I'll get one made for it before I bolt it to the table
 
Question is - how big and what thickness steel ?
 
My brother in law should be able to help me get the sheet steel and cut and weld the corners
 
Thanks guys
 
John
Peter G. Shaw05/04/2010 21:44:35
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1531 forum posts
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Hi John,
 
I made my own trays for use underneath my lathe & milling machine. They are made of 1mm sheet steel for the base, and 25 x 3 x 3 angle for the edges. I used pop rivets to fasten the steel sheet to the inside of the angle iron having first partially drilled a wider hole from the outside of the angle so that the pop rivet (inserted from the inside) could expand into the widened hole and the excess filed off flush. I also used a strip of bent 1mm x 20mm x 80ish mm on the inside of the corners to hold the vertical sections of the angle iron together. This strip was also fastened with pop rivets. Hardly beautiful, but very functional. The whole assembly was then painted with a very smelly green two coat type paint (avoids giving tradenames, does that!).
 
In the case of the lathe, this meant that the steel sheet base was 3mm above the bench top, but as I wanted a large (75ish mm) diameter washer on top of the wooden bench anyway, it was no big deal.
 
In respect of the milling machine, the size was dictated by the top of the trolley I was mounting it on: it had to be a minimum of 25mm wider on each edge so that the sheet steel base sat flat on the sub-base.
 
In both instances the tray is clamped in place by the fixing bolts for the machine concerned.
 
The milling machine tray is 780 x 520 mm with the front 100 mm in front of the base of the milling machine, a Warco MiniMill.
 
Off machine, both trays are a bit wobbly - as you might expect. But once clamped down, become very rigid indeed.
 
 Hope that helps,
 
Peter G. Shaw
Clive Foster05/04/2010 21:45:54
3630 forum posts
128 photos
John
 
A common size of chip tray for bench mount mills approximates, usually a bit under, the rectangular footprint of the machine with the table centralised plus enough to accommodate the upward angle of the sides and front.  Three or four inches (ish) at 45 or so degrees seems to be considered satisfactory for the sides and front.  As most bench mills end up backs to the wall its common to make the back go straight up to whatever height seems reasonable to keep things clean.  Make sure that the front extends far enough to shield any drawers or shelves underneath and, if possible, arrange a hinged section or loose gap filler piece so you have somewhere to sweep the chips out.  Pushing them up over the side gets old fast and some always miss the dustpan.
 
As you are custom building consider including a pair of carefully sealed drawer units to go alongside the chip tray proper under the space occupied by the table when it moves to its extreme positions.  Possibly make the main chip tray a bit narrower and extend over the top of the drawers.  There is never enough storage space in a workshop and its good to have as much as possible of the milling necessities close to hand. 
 
Clive 
mgj05/04/2010 22:17:07
1017 forum posts
14 photos
As Clive has suggested - chip tray is a bit of misnomer. Drip tray may be more appropriate.
 
As your mill is set., how wide does it have to be to catch all the drips off the table. Or, what are you prepared to let spill?
 
As for pulling the chips into a dustpan - I've  made a thing like a small rake without the tines. Gets under the lathes and around the mills very well. Doesn't leave much behind. I wouldn't sacrifice waterproofness given the amount of coolant that milling uses for the sake of a bit of swarf. You'd empty your coolant tank onto the floor in minutes.
 
(Those who cut dry are obviously so rich they can afford to keep scrapping cutters, and coolant improves the finish enormously.)
 

Edited By mgj on 05/04/2010 22:17:28

Ian S C06/04/2010 10:35:36
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7468 forum posts
230 photos
Not too sure what size I,d make it, but I'd slope the sides 45deg or so and roll the edges outward perhaps around a 3/16" or 1/4" rod, i,d make the tray out of about 1mm galvanised steel, if it were mine it proberbly would not be painted. Ian S C
John Coates09/04/2010 20:39:42
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558 forum posts
28 photos
UPDATE
 
As I started to create the workshop space for the lathe and mill in my garage in earnest this week, one of the tasks was to put up some Dexian shelving. Well, having put up what I need, I find I have a surplus of this now and it looks like one of the shelves could make an excellent chip tray as I have two or three sizes to choose from, the largest being 800 x 600mm
 
Result !
Gone Away10/04/2010 01:55:33
829 forum posts
1 photos
I needed a drip tray for an ML7 lathe that I picked up to refurbish. I just bought a sheet of aluminum ready cut to size, cut out the corners appropriately, then bent up the sides to a 45 deg angle by clamping the main part of the sheet to the edge of the bench then using a hammer and wood block till the corners met. I then caulked the corners to seal them and gave it a coat of paint to match the machine.
 
Took about an hour, working carefully, for the cutting/bending/caulking and made a lot of noise (I wore ear protectors). The wife went home to mother (well, actually, I waited till she was visiting her Mum to do the job).
 
Works fine, looks fine and certainly traps all that excess oil that drips out of Myford headstock bearings when you can't adjust the oiler flow sensitively enough.
Ian Parkin11/04/2010 11:51:39
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1174 forum posts
303 photos
I made a largeish drip/chip tray to fit on my bench cut away holes for the handles and find that it cuts out a lot of drips and chips on the floor...I made it out of 1.5 mm stainless...perhaps overkill but no probs with rust .
[IMG]http://i417.photobucket.com/albums/pp251/ianpark1/IMG_3056Medium.jpg[/IMG]
 
Ian

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