Bob La Londe wrote:
Way Covers & Chip Removal
?????????????

Alrighty now. The old Blue Beast was brought back into operation
yesterday. (My Hurco KMB1 retrofit) When I got it the machine had
rubber way covers on the Y axis. They were pretty much thrashed. I
replaced them with similar rubber way covers and they lasted maybe a
year. Less after I started really using it. I've tried various things
including the heavy clear plastic you see being used for air barriers on
cold rooms that allows a forklift to drive thru.

I suppose I could put an accordion way cover on the front, but there
really isn't room on the back. So what material is going to last the
longest and be flexible enough to do the job? Should I just accept a
very limited life and buy a roll of the material? If so where do I buy
a roll that doesn't break the bank?

Speaking of accordion way covers. Three of my smaller high spindle
speed mills came with accordion way covers. The rear Y axis one on all
three machines has failed and I am now using a piece of rubber on them
until I find something better. The rubber I am using (the toughest of
about 3 formulas I have) starts to split after about 3 months of use.
Should I just start installing them with snaps and learn to live with
it? LOL.

Now lets talk about chips. When the Blue Beast went down a year and a
half ago I just left it set pretty much the way it was and learned how
to do steel milling on a high speed machine. Today I started the road to
actually putting the machine back into real world service. Part of that
was removing a gallon of so of 4140HT steel needles that seem to have
the affinity for human flesh of a jumping cholla cactus. Using scrapers
and paper towels I removed the bulk of the steel chips. Still its far
from clean. Every T slot and the table drains have lots of them left.
I learned last time around that a shop vac really isn't up to the task,
and I sure as heck don't want to blast those little missiles of torture
& destruction all over my shop with compressed air. I'm not really set
up to do a wash down, and I'm not ready to fill the coolant tank back up
just yet. Still I'd like to get every last one of those little buggers
off the mill. Then when I get it mostly cleaned... I've found even
then before I put a vise on the table the only thing that seems to
remove the last chip from the surface is my hand. The thought makes me
cringe.

Go watch Keith Ruckers latest video on way wipers he made. He was using
a rubber piece backed with felt.

--
Steve W.