Leadscrew cleaning

[jimmy bParticipant @jimmyb]

<p style=”text-align: left;”>As title, how do you clean your leadscew?</p>
 

Having took the travel restricting spring thing off my Chestet Crusader, I give it a good clean before screw cutting.

 
<p style=”text-align: left;”>I did use a brush a rag, but was never happy with the result. I now just use 3 or 4 pipe cleaners pulled around the leadscrew and run it up.</p>
A couple of minutes and I’ve got a spotless leadscrew!

 

Jimb

[DiogenesParticipant @diogenes]

Sounds good; I did the same, and currently use a toothbrush for cleaning, but I fear it’s only a matter of time before she notices.

[Brian WoodParticipant @brianwood45127]

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

Brian

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

Redundant toothbrushes, after cleaning, are very good for this job!

Start leadscrew running, engage brush and let it work its way along, pushing out the rubbish as it goes.

Howard

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

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.

[Anonymous]

I use a toothbrush, no way I am going to wrap stuff around the leadscrew. The only frightener I’ve had with my lathe was getting my old, tatty, jersey caught in the leadscrew. Never again! The jersey went straight in the bin.

Andrew

[Charles LamontParticipant @charleslamont71117]

Why am I seeing html markup in the OP?

[Charles Lamont]

On Charles Lamont Said:

Why am I seeing html markup in the OP?

Seems to happen a lot on the new improved forum.

[Hopper]

On Hopper Said:

On 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.

[Brian WoodParticipant @brianwood45127]

Just to set the record straight on the use of string since it seems to be attracting some criticism.

One loop over the leadscrew pulled into the “thread” is what I had in mind so that you can pay out the string as it gets clogged with debris to keep a feed of clean string engaged throughout the process. Quite why that was interpreted as having to be held it in contact with your fingers I don’t know, a method I would certainly not endorse.

Brian

[OldironParticipant @oldiron]

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

[Oldiron]

On 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.

^^^.  Just like using emery strip to polish/remove the odd thou.  Simples really, with common sense.

[Oldiron]

On 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

 

[FulmenParticipant @fulmen]

Yeah, I don’t see the problem either. Obviously you shouldn’t wrap the string around your fingers, and you might choose a weak string just in case.

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

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.

[FulmenParticipant @fulmen]

IIRC I got hurt once by wrapping the emery around the part and pinching it with one hand fairly close to the part. It snagged, pulled my hand in and pinched my thumb before I could let go. Painful, but no real damage. So now I always hold with both hands and never wrap more than 180degrees, and I still have all my thumbs attached.

[Charles Lamont]

On Charles Lamont Said:

Why am I seeing html markup in the OP?

Used my phone to post, not happened before??

 

Jimb

[jimmy bParticipant @jimmyb]

With regards to holding the pipe cleaners, I hold them in pliers. Older and wiser!

 

Jimb

[Robert Atkinson 2Participant @robertatkinson2]

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.

[Author]

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