I've been turning a large piece of D. fir burl that is full of resin and it
is quite dry. I've shavings and chips flung about the shop for miles and
miles. They are literally in and on everything in the shop, again! And in my
shop that ain't good. It is a small shop and I've a lot of 'stuff' on
shelves and like that. There has got to be a simple(?) way to contain the
debris. What do you all do? Turn in a tent?

--
Tom in Qualicum Beach, BC

One way to contain chips (but not fine sawdust) is to hang an (or series
of) ordinary plastic shower curtain(s) around your turning area. The
curtain(s) will cause the flying chips to drop to the floor, making
cleanup much easier. I've used this to good effect by hanging as few as
two (one directly out on a right angle from the axis of the lathe
spindle on each side of the lathe, one about two feet beyond the back of
the lathe, and another about two or three feet behind my typical turning
position for roughing out bowl blanks. Once I get into hollowing,
though, the long tools I typically use make a third curtain (directly
out from the working end of the spindle) quite a ways out, and not all
that helpful, because the energy involved doesn't throw the chips nearly
as far in that direction. By the way, most of the time I've been
turning green norfolk pine, and the initial roughing involves a lot of
thrown water as well, so the curtains significantly reduce the amount of
water that gets beyond the lathe area.

--Rick

Tom Storey wrote:

I've been turning a large piece of D. fir burl that is full of resin and it
is quite dry. I've shavings and chips flung about the shop for miles and
miles. They are literally in and on everything in the shop, again! And in my
shop that ain't good. It is a small shop and I've a lot of 'stuff' on
shelves and like that. There has got to be a simple(?) way to contain the
debris. What do you all do? Turn in a tent?

"Tom Storey" wrote: (clip) There has got to be a simple(?) way to contain
the debris. What do you all do? Turn in a tent?
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I just let the chips fall where they may, but I have a friend who pulls down
a pair of window shades at the front edge of his workbench for just that
reason.

On Tue, 31 Oct 2006 06:10:02 GMT, "Tom Storey"
wrote:

I've been turning a large piece of D. fir burl that is full of resin and it
is quite dry. I've shavings and chips flung about the shop for miles and
miles. They are literally in and on everything in the shop, again! And in my
shop that ain't good. It is a small shop and I've a lot of 'stuff' on
shelves and like that. There has got to be a simple(?) way to contain the
debris.

What do you all do? Turn in a tent?

Close! I put the lathes in a seperate room because I was having the
same problem. Considering the amount of debris a lathe produces, it
might be worthwhile for you to put up a couple of light dividing walls
to isolate it. They don't have to be structural, just block the
shavings. My turnery was already in place, but all it is is 2x4
framing with wood panelling to make two walls in the basement (the
other two are the foundation). Works great, and keeps everything else
clean.

"Tom Storey" wrote in message
news:_MB1h.226764$5R2.149476@pd7urf3no...
I've been turning a large piece of D. fir burl that is full of resin and
it is quite dry. I've shavings and chips flung about the shop for miles
and miles. They are literally in and on everything in the shop, again! And
in my shop that ain't good. It is a small shop and I've a lot of 'stuff'
on shelves and like that. There has got to be a simple(?) way to contain
the debris. What do you all do? Turn in a tent?

I turn on centerline, or very close, so about 90% drops into a bag in front
of the lathe when turning convex, same percentage onto my hands or the table
which abuts the wall when turning concave. Chasing the other 10% can get
to be fun if I've done a day of roughs. Can't imagine going bagless again.

Oddly enough, turning with angles that drop the shavings is easy on my
forearm, and leaves better surfaces than throwing shavings or chips against
gravity.

Angle the tool so most of the shavings drop down. My problem is dealing with
the dust that the collector misses. Shavings go into a garbage can or on to
the floor. Snow shovels work great for cleanup.

--
God bless and safe turning
Darrell Feltmate
Truro, NS, Canada
http://aroundthewoods.com
http://roundopinions.blogspot.com

I prefer my chips with fish!

Alan