On Jul 29, 10:14*am, Ignoramus6705
wrote:
With this Bridgeport Interact CNC mill, I find myself doing things
that I have never done before, like milling deep pockets. So I have
new challenges. The current one is chip clearance. Say, I mill a deep
pocket. How do I get the chips out of there? On production VMCs, they
blast a stream of coolant into the work area at 200 PSI, and that sure
takes care of chip removal. But what can a poor fellow like me do?

With wax and such, I use a Shop-Vac. I am not sure if it would work
with steel as well, or even aluminum, due to greater density of
chips.

i

I did some pocket milling at school as part of my metalworking course
- (a G-clamp from a block of steel) the shop vac worked fine on
everything, particularly if you were standing there anyway to drip
coolant (cause flood coolant is a real bitch to clean up)
Usually, a 1 inch Good Condition paintbrush was more than adequate to
clear chips at the end of each pass, all that was needed in most
cases...also using compressed air to clean anything (except completed
jobs in a separate area well clear of the machines) was grounds for
being booted out of the class instantly - you have no idea where the
swarf is going to wind up, and like the legendary "Lost Screw" it will
find its way into something that will go into destruct mode and you
incur the fearsome wrath of your teacher....

Andrew VK3BFA.