Keeeping Machines Clean, New idea or Old?

[Martin King 2Participant @martinking2]

[Martin King 2Participant @martinking2]

Hi All,

Having spent a week last month hard at various small jobs on the Myford, mainly making small parts for the various tools that we restore, I was aghast when I saw the state of the lathe, covered everywhere in fine brass and steel swarf, oil and grease everywhere.

It took a good hour of elbow grease to get everything clean and regrease all points and clean all tooling.

It ocurred to me that if I were to cover the tray with layers of cling film this might make the cleanup next time easier and it really did! Just carefully peeled back the film with all the s**t on it after brushing the lathe down. Nothing got spilt and a quick wipe round a nd as good as new!.

Just done the same thing with the mill as shown.

Probably been done before but a revelation for me!

Cheers, Martin

[Capstan SpeakingParticipant @capstanspeaking95294]

Ok if your swarf is cold. However a long swarf trail might snag it and drag it in. Nasty.

Eee wen I wurr a lad we ad ta clean down for the next shift every time.

[Roger Provins 2Participant @rogerprovins2]

I've just accepted that machines and machine rooms get mucky. I clean away most of the swarf and oil as I go along throughout the day then have a major clean at the end so it's nice for the next morning. The main thing is to deal immediately with anything that might be a danger, rubbish on the floor, piles of swarf around the chuck et cetera.

It is after all a workshop not a showroom and the machines are tools not showpieces.

Roger

[Thor 🇳🇴Participant @thor]

Hi Martin,

I have never used cling film to cover lathe or milling machine. I have a removable sheet metal tray under the lathe bedways and it is easy to get rid of the swarf produced. I see you have covered part of the milling table with some pieces of wood, I do something similar on both milling machine table and the lathe bed.

Thor

[Brian Rice 1Participant @brianrice1]

I have a lady that does

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

Didn't know there were grease points on the Myford, I thought they were oil nipples. 'Fraid I just dig my lathe out just before it disappears under the swarf.

Ian S C

[Capstan SpeakingParticipant @capstanspeaking95294]

A benefit of an occasionally grubby machine is that you have evidence to show the misses for why you spent all that money.

Plus it discourages her from trespassing in the mancave. Bonus number two.

[Paul LousickParticipant @paullousick59116]

Mine is a work horse not a show pony but try to keep it reasonably clean and well oiled.

[Martin King 2Participant @martinking2]

Hi, Totally agree that the machines are there to be used but I quite enjoy string work on something that is tidy.

i take the point about long swarf and will keep an eye out.

martin

[Roger Williams 2Participant @rogerwilliams2]

Hello all, went to see a machinist friend recently, and this is one of his Holbrooks. The chuck was actually rubbing on the compacted chips.I know its a tool to make money, but now and again a bit of a clean up wouldnt go amiss !.

[FMESParticipant @fmes]

Admittedly some forty odd years ago, the MoD apprenticeships of the time had instructors that insisted that the machines were kept clean not only at the end of each class, but during the machining operations as well.

Its a process that I still keep to today, and even insist on our current apprentices following a similar procedure.

We wouldn't be able to adopt the cling film method as all of our machines have slurry trays / drains in the base so a little vigilance on maintaining a clean working environment always pays dividends not only in how you personally feel in working in a sh*t tip but also on the longevity of the machine.

If I'm machining materials that chip I often use an industrial vacuum to remove the chips before they become a nuisance which means very little cleaning up at the end of a session.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

I can just Imagine John Stevo raiding the kitchen as I type this ready to cover the lathes for mondays work.

I keep a 1" paintbrush that does throughout the day to clean off the toolpost when changing holders and flick the worse down into the chip tray. Empty the chip tray when it starts to look a bit full so frequency depends on what I'm working on or if I drop a part in the swarf.

Same brush boes for cleaning the mill vice and a workshop vac will do the tee slots and surrounding area.

Tend to have a general tidy up at teh end of Sundays session but don't go as far as getting the polish out

[Jesse Hancock 1Participant @jessehancock1]

I was always told that you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs and of course this can be applied to making more or less anything.

Cleaning up after yourself is very necessary on many different levels which I don't intend listing here but it really helps in the main to take stock of where your project and your machinery are. It gives one a chance to scrutinise wear and tare more closely. It gives you a chance to think about what you'll need when you next start work.

Well that's what I do when cleaning up.

The revelation should be that a brush will last much longer than cling film and so in general terms a brush is more economical.

Edited By Jesse Hancock 1 on 08/03/2015 11:28:18

[steamdaveParticipant @steamdave]

Cleanliness is next to Godliness.
As it seems we are no longer a god fearing lot, that would explain the state of Some workshops!

Dave
The Emerald Isle

[Capstan SpeakingParticipant @capstanspeaking95294]

Lots of valid points. If you look after your kit it will look after you. A good craftsman will keep his space to the same standard as his work.

Everyone who has a choice sets their own standard but it's not a showroom or a pig sty.

[Jesse Hancock 1Participant @jessehancock1]

Dave: For anyone who thinks freely understands that fearing God was a way of getting the general population to cow tow to those in power.

Today they think up other plans to get you to toe the line.

Edited By Jesse Hancock 1 on 08/03/2015 12:10:46

[mechman48Participant @mechman48]

Lots of opinions from one degree to another, I generally do a reasonable swarf clean up at the end of my man cave session, tools back in their respective storage locations, a quick sweep or hoover up of the floor, a once a week good clean down & that's it until next weeks clean through. I have a stainless roasting dish under my lathe bed for swarf collection, plus a 1/2" & 2" brush for sweep off of the top slides & t slots, the same on my mill.

George

[Oompa LumpaParticipant @oompalumpa34302]

Been thinking about this since I saw it this morning. The clingfilm would drive me potty. I balance a fine line between getting on with it and trying to keep the workshop clean. I would be the first to admit I am a bit (okay, a bit more than "a bit&quot OCD when it comes to tidiness.

The fact is I cannot, will not, work in a pig sty. A good friend of mine who is a very talented engineer has a workshop that is just one massive Hazard. I am quite open with the fact that I am quite cavalier with rules and regulations, interpreting as I see fit but the chances of tripping and shoving your hand into a moving machine in my friends place is pretty high.

I realise I am talking about organisation and tidiness here and not cleanliness. But they both go hand in hand in my opinion. I forget who it was, but when he built his new workshop he reduced his workbench size considerably. He recognised that he was untidy so reckoned that if he reduced the workbench he would have less space to create clutter and then it wouldn't be an onerous task when he finally realised it was time to "tidy up".

Cling film is a bit of an extreme really, it actually reduces your ability to work if you think about it. When I am working I use the surfaces, tables, vice, whatever to take measurements from and to clamp to. Messing around with cling film – or indeed any covers or shields just increases the time taken to carry out a simple task in my opinion.

As many of the people have said, a good tidy up at the end of every day (or session) with a good vacuum in all the nooks and crannies at the end of the week works for me. What makes this a bit easier is having everything organised so it is easy to clean around or in the drawers and shelves. Planning your shelving and storage areas is far more important I think. I like nice open shelves as this serves two purposes for me. Firstly – I can see what I have got and where it is. How many have bought an angle plate only to discover that actually they have one that size but forgot? Plenty I would venture. Secondly, it makes cleaning just so simple. All the heavy stuff on the bottom and the lighter stuff on the top, swarf goes – generally – downover so you can vacuum everything up to about waist height with impunity, difficult to suck a milling vice up!

The other, vitally important aspect is to lubricate everything, the slideways and tables on my kit all have a light film of Mobil Vactra. Rust is something that I just couldn't cope with.

graham.

[John HaineParticipant @johnhaine32865]

Unfold an old newspaper onto the chip tray, works quite well and absorbs the cutting oil.

[Roger Williams 2Participant @rogerwilliams2]

Oh well, better have a tidy up then

[Involute CurveParticipant @involutecurve]

Let your mates use your lathe for a small turning job! on the understanding they leave it as its mean to be! not as they found it….

[Nigel McBurney 1Participant @nigelmcburney1]

On larger machines,with coolant pumps,brush swarf off slides after use then let coolant drain from the swarf and clean down machine next day,saves coolant and the swarf is relatively dry.I could not work with clingfilm on my Myford,its so easy to use 2 inch brush and dustpan ,news paper on the drip tray could be dodgy if hot swarf set it alight.During my apprenticeship it was hammered into you do not clean machines with an airline,and clean your machine ensuring it was free from soluble oil before going on to cast iron jobs,cast iron and slurry turns the iron into solid lumps.All machines not in use were thoroughly cleaned on a friday,and and those in operation would be rough cleaned and swarf removed during the last ten minutes of the day.A simple tool for operators was the swarf hook,a 1/4 inch dia piece of rod with a handle formed at one end like a meccano screwdriver and the last 2 inches of the other end was bent at 90 degrees, strings of swarf could be pulled off the lathes with this hook without cutting your hands, no gloves issued in those days, I still use a hook on my Colchesters.

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Posted by steamdave on 08/03/2015 11:20:26:

Cleanliness is next to Godliness.
As it seems we are no longer a god fearing lot, that would explain the state of Some workshops!

Dave
The Emerald Isle

.

Thank God I'm an Atheist.

Actually I'm not, I'm an Agnostic because Atheist's don't get bank holidays.

Jason, don't need to raid the kitchen, keep big rolls of cling film in the workshop for wrapping parts onto pallets how ever don't think I'll go that far. Lathes and mills usually get a clean every week, often time big rats nests get lobbed in the skip if they get in the way.

However there is a big difference between a hobby shop and a working shop. In a hobby shop cleaning up can be part of the hobby and pride of ownership. Working shop, it's just a chore to knock money off the bottom line.

Bought a brand new TOS lathe 15 – 17 ? years ago now and put it into service. After a couple of weeks noticed that the paint on the apron, which was just a single spray coat onto bare metal was coming off, being abraded by the chips and was rather disappointed. Then realised that this machine had been bought to work, no polish and all was well in my mind. It soon lost most of it's paint on the carriage and apron but it's all machines surfaces anyway, as opposed to cast and 15 odd years on it doesn't look much different.

Last two brand new machines I have bought a 14 x 30 lathe in blue and a Warco WM40 mill in green I have had colour chipped at the local body shop and bought 2L of enamel paint for each. Mainly to paint attachments like the ex-Beaver slotting head that now resides on the back of the WM40. Recently fitted a 4" packing block to the same machine but this still needs to be painted as does the Hoffman dividing head that usually lives full time on this same machine.

At some point in the future I may properly clean, solvents etc, the TOS and titivate it up, more to match the newer machines that anything else, but please don't check the Bodgers Lodge thread every night waiting to see it

[Martin King 2Participant @martinking2]

cheers

Hi all, I perhaps should put my thinking re the cling film in perspective!

I do lots of really small jobs over the period of a week or so producing very small amounts of swarf which I brush down into the tray. I walk away at the end of the session and just carry on next time. Once a week or so I will just carefully pull the film away and have proper clean up. Just seems to save me a bit of time is all.

I do like having things fairly clean but don' t consider myself anal about it….

Cheers, Martin

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