A length of thick string works well too and neatly avoids domestic ire with using the guvnor’s toothbrush!

Brian

Please tell me you guys are not holding on with your fingers to pieces of string or pipe cleaners wrapped around a revolving leadscrew under power? But I am having trouble imagining how you would use string or pipe cleaners othewise. Am I missing something?

+1 on toothbrushes for all sorts of workshop cleaning jobs. Very handy.

Just don’t do like my mate’s very unpopular boss did. This tyrant kept his personal toothbrush and toothpaste in a glass on the sink in the staff toilet/washroom. I can’t mention in polite company what his disgruntled staff used to do with his toothbrush when they were unhappy with him nor which parts of their anatomy it was used to polish clean.

Why am I seeing html markup in the OP?

On 2 September 2024 at 00:36 Hopper Said:

On 1 September 2024 at 23:21 Charles Lamont Said:

Why am I seeing html markup in the OP?

Seems to happen a lot on the new improved forum.

“New improved forum”.  That’s wishful thinking.

Using string on the leadscrew is no more dangerous than using emery paper or scotchbrite on a work piece.   ie use fingertips only.

On 2 September 2024 at 10:18 Oldiron Said:

Using string on the leadscrew is no more dangerous than using emery paper or scotchbrite on a work piece.   ie use fingertips only.

Agreed, it is not more dangerous than using emery paper as you suggest. This is a very dangerous practice and is one of the major causes of injuries with machines. You DO NOT put your precious fingures anywhere near rotating machinery. Machine tools are only safe when the big red button is pushed fully home.

A recommended way of polishing is to use emery on a stick. Then the arguement is if you should use the stick over or under the work on a lathe.

Things were very different when I was an apprentice.

JA

I have never been comfortable with the modern recommended practice of wrapping a long piece of emery tape around the job and holding the two ends. Too easy for that tape to snag on the job and pull your hands into the job before you have time to let go. Or so it seems to me.

I still do it the old fashioned way with a small pad of emery held in the finger tips onto the job. Yes finger tips are in closer proximity to the spinning job, but the small piece of emery will not wrap around the job or fingers and pull fingers into job.

I once saw a work colleague wrap a bit of emery tape around his finger and stick it into the bore of a bit of tube running in a lathe….. I didn’t dare say or do anything until he took it out. I then hit the E-Stop. When I told him why he went a bit white and had to sit down.

Don’t do it.