Workshop hoover

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

“Hoover” is a brand!

I did have a ‘Henry’, which indeed is made by Numatic, but it was too bulky for my cramped workshop.

So brushes and dustpan for most machine and floor cleaning; augmented by a small, hand-held, battery-powered vacuum-cleaner from one of the discount shops, for dry swarf on the machines. (Oily swarf just sticks.)

For getting up close and personal with mucky chip-trays and clogged T-slots, old paint-brushes and a child’s polythene beach-toy spade about eight inches long as compact dustpan, are very effective.

A piece of 3mm PVC sheet cut to profile scrapes out the milling-machine table T-slots.

Kitchen roll and perhaps a spot of WD-40 for final wiping-down, then light film of oil.

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The Harrison lathe tray can hold a lot of serious swarf. I blessed it with an ornate hand-forged swarf rake with ring handle, barley-twist stem and swan-neck end with flattened tip. I made that from 10mm square hot-rolled steel bar, in a Club forging evening when we had access to a school workshop!

 

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

Sadly, like Bernard they are in my shop and beside my keyboard!

Being very short of space,  Ferrous swarf is puished into old baked bean tins, (using thick leather gloves, before the lid is replaced and hammered down.)

Ferrous swarf on the floor amd elsewhere is picked up using a stick magnet inside a copper tube with a  thinned end cap.

Non ferrous is collected with pastry brush, or handbrush into a dust pan.

Otherwuise, a small hand held old Black and Decker vacuum cleaner (Bought from one of SWMBO fund raisings stalls) is used. It wa probably designed for cleaning the less acessible places in cars.

Being bagless, the contents can be shaken into whatever is the receptacle of choice.. Being so small, this is a frequent event.

The little cloth filter now has to be retaiained by an elastic band around it. “C’est brusque, mais ca marche”

Howard  (The gremlns have been at it already, TWICE)!

[Lee RogersParticipant @leerogers95060]

Karcher . Tough as old boots still going strong 10+ years. Re-use bags by slicing them open and re-seal with duct tape. A shorter hose would be handy when clearing occasional swarf blockages. I’ve just used mine to vac up barley straw from the gravel mulch on my Banana plants. Without the bag it’s ok for small washing machine type floods  . Domestic Dysons are mopeds, my Karcher is a Transit van.

[peak4Participant @peak4]

Re the Lidl/Parkside vacuum I mentioned earlier.
I was in the Glossop store yesterday, where they had three of these larger ones, along side the smaller offerings £90 each.

Bill

[Tony Pratt 1Participant @tonypratt1]

I use a Titan wet/dry vacuum cleaner from Screwfix, cheap but does the job.

Tony

[Mick B1Participant @mickb1]

I use a bagged corded cylinder that cost about 40 quid in Argos maybe 5 or 6 years back. It’s powerful enough to suck lightly-oiled swarf out of the T-slots on the Warco’s crossslide, and the bags are easily available online, so I can chuck ’em out when full.

It’s simple, cheap, reliable and effective.

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

I vacuum with an ancient VAX Aquamat partly because it being a wet and dry cleaner increases my confidence that it will keep metal particles out of the motor.  The delightfully simple VAX appears well sealed compared with my less robust domestic machine.

I always remove as much metal as possible with a magnet wand first though, to reduce the chance of blocking the hose.

The one thing I don’t do is blow swarf off with compressed air, even though a few machinists I respect on the web do it.  Long before I cut metal myself, someone somewhere convinced me the problem with air blasting is not knowing where the stuff will land.  Air blasted muck comes down wherever it will, penetrating ways, motors, eyes and lungs, or floats in the air eventually dusting clean tools and materials with a corrosive powder, even outside the workshop. Not exactly a second Chernobyl, but an easily avoided nuisance.   Shame really because squirting air is so easy to do, provides instant gratification, and the operator might never connect cause and effect when problems emerge later…

Dave

[Nigel Graham 2]

On Nigel Graham 2 Said:

“Hoover” is a brand!

It’s also now a generic name and is acceptable as a place holder for vacuum cleaner.

regards Martin

[Mark RandParticipant @markrand96270]

I’ve got a stainless steel Titan ‘wet and dry’ vacuum cleaner from Screwfix for dust and swarf. It isn’t completely water tight. So I’ve also got a moulded plastic Titan unit that’s normally only used for spills and to drain out the surface grinder’s coolant tank. Between them they cope with cleaning the floor, the lathe & milling machine.

There is a proper dust extractor for wood spoiling and welding smoke that should, by now, have had ducting around the shed so it can cope with smoke/swarf as it’s produced (Yet another job on the list).

I did have a VAX pro 100 dry vacuum cleaner that I picked up by chance for 15 quid from Sainsbury’s when visiting for something else (they announced it on the Tannoy), but after 15 years of work in the shed, one or more of it’s motor bearings has gone west. I could fix it, but I can’t be bothered…

[Martin Kyte]

On Martin Kyte Said:

On Nigel Graham 2 Said:

“Hoover” is a brand!

It’s also now a generic name and is acceptable as a place holder for vacuum cleaner.

regards Martin

I have often wondered, Martin … Is that because the word is onomatopoeic ?

… In principle, though … I’m with Nigel regarding the abuse of names.

MichaelG.

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Edit: __ Bank Holiday weekend … so some might enjoy reading this:

https://www.itkmagazine.com/articles/generic-trademarks-you-might-be-using-everyday

 

[VicParticipant @vic]

I use a Nilfisk Wet & Dry. Not too noisy and good suction. Can be used with or without a bag. I’ve had mine for over 8 years now I think and it’s proven to be very reliable. It also has a large filter cleaning push button on the top for maintaining suction.

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