Monday, Apr 24 2017
Chip Guard
There is some truth to the saying that a mill is a device to make things for your lathe. And the corollary, of course; a lathe is a device to make thibngs for your mill. Today the mill was put to use making a chip guard for my lathe.
Plastic chips
Milling polycarbonate
I’m making the guard out of 1/4" polycarbonate. Why? Because I had a chunk in my junk pile. The size of the guard is 100 mm by about 55 mm. The 55 mm dimension could have been anything. The piece of polycarbonate I had turned out to be 55 mm after milling it square.
I used two pieces to get the guard above (I hoped) the carriage lock I’d earlier made. The narrow piece is a spacer to raise the guard. It was going to be close.
Lathe chip guard
Clears carriage lock
Needed 0.020" shim
Too close. I needed to add a 0.020" shim sandwiched between the two pieces of polycarbonate to get the guard to clear the carriage lock. The 3 piece sandwich was mounted using the 6 mm x 1.0 tapped holes in the lathe saddle intended for a follower rest. I did’t have the needed size screws. Collet chuck to the rescue. I used it to turn down the large heads of the screws I had and shorten them to the desired size.
The chip guard should help keep the ways of the lathe in good condition.