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Bridgeport way covers & chip guard ideas?

gearhead_bunne

Plastic
Joined
Jun 17, 2009
Location
WI, South Central
I have to keep my Bridgeport oiled to prevent rust and the chips really stick to the uncovered Y axis ways. I've searched here and looked at a few pictures of the accordion style and the rubber flap style guards. Since I'm currently unemployed I don't have a lot to spend, but I do have time to build something.

So lets see your ideas. I know this group is resourceful, someone must have come up with something clever to manage the chips and keep most of them out of the moving bits. Also wondering about methods to keep the little buggers contained to at least one corner of the shop.

Thanks!
 
I use a rag as a budget gib cover when needed. A shop I worked at we used a Bridgeport for mostly cast iron. We jury rigged gib covers from thin rubber sheet attached to the felt scraper.
 
+1 to what Paul C says about the thin rubber sheet, put em on fresh ones and take em off old BP's all the time. I use 1/16 thick stuff from a local supplier and it works great

Prolly about a $10 project and worth many times that :)
 
Anouther option is to get some of the heavy pvc fabric reinforced cloth - canvas big tar paulins are made from. A strip about 12" wide is folded up concertener style, clamped solid and the edges just warmed with a hot air gun, when released of the clamps once cool it will have formed a clasic bellow shape. I simply caught the edges under the alu way wiper plates. Its amazing how much of the swarft lands on them, perticualy on the non operator side.
 
+1 to what Paul C says about the thin rubber sheet, put em on fresh ones and take em off old BP's all the time. I use 1/16 thick stuff from a local supplier and it works great

Prolly about a $10 project and worth many times that :)

Where do you buy rubber sheet inexpensively?
 
I get mine at a local place called Welton Rubber in Madison Heights, MI. They are a distributor for Gates belts and hoses. Perhaps there is a place like that in your neck of the woods.

Doug
 
Try Enco (page 871 current internet catalog), they have a nice selection of sizes and types of rubber/vinyl sheeting. And seems fairly priced too! EBay also has rubber sheeting goods. Good Luck.
 
Well I think I'll avoid the novelty shops....too far of a drive from the middle of nowhere & I'd hate to have to tell someone where they came from in fear of another coffee incident.

I do have some PVC liner laying around from the recent tile shower remodel. It's not fabric reinforced, but plenty thick enough. I'll try adama's trick with folding & the heat gun and see if I can get anything like the accordion bellows to come out of it.

Thanks
 
the trick shouls still work, just remember warm it, till it sofens, not till it melts and becomes a solid!
 
Way lube and cutting oil combine with and remove the plasticizers in most plastics and rubbers, leaving the material very stiff after a few years. PVC, neoprene, EPDM don't last well and those are supposedly oil resistant. Buna-N stays the most flexible. It seems expensive, but consider buying the material twice and installing it twice and the initial cost looks reasonable. Available at McMaster Carr.....

Neil
 
Neilho lets ee here, 10 minutes work and what $5 in matirials? Say 6 year life span, mine are still going just fine after 5 years. Now how much do you want to spend on just rubber sheet? Heck forget the adult noveltiy store, just cut it out of your special service - very personal, assistants skirt! Heck you can have a lot of funn in any remaining time too!
 
Industrial Roof Membrane

If you're looking for a good cheap rubber to cover your ways try rubber roof membrane. It is VERY thin and flexible so it is easy to cut, drapes nice and flat over the ways and doesn't get all bunched up behind the saddle and interfere with table movement. If you'll look around for a construction site and talk to the roofing contractor, sometimes they'll let you have the end off of one of the rolls. It might cost you a six-pack but that's still cheap. That's how I got mine and I've yet to see anything that works quite a well. Steve
 
LOL u guys are funny. +1 on the flat material (be it whatever) for the rear section. I have something I use which is made for a mill, sort of a rubberized plastic flat sheet but has ss flat strips as front and rear edge trim riveted on.

I found it beneficial to drill & tap the front of the ram dovetail 10-32 on each side to secure it and then below that on the column two more 10-32s that hold a bungee cord. This bungee holds the cover tight up against the underside of the ram and against the column, and still allows the guard material to move in and out with the ram.

I need to start posting pics on here. What I described works extemely well.
 
Neilho lets ee here, 10 minutes work and what $5 in matirials? just cut it out of your special service - very personal, assistants skirt!

Forget the skirt, man! I'm goin' straight for the underwear. Those Depends should work great!

Neil
 
I used toolbox drawer liner from horrible freight held on with metal strips screwed to the column and the saddle Its a little sticky at first but its cheap.
 
JTS Machinery & Supply Co. WebShop Has a set for $39. I can not find it on there web sight but it is in there catalog on page 916. Part # 1-541-400

I do not have this set but I would like it. I used black cavas from wallmart. I cut it to size and it works great. I needed to soak it with oils after the install though so it would relax. Works great.

The thing that is nice about the store bought set up is you can blast it with some air to blow the chips off, and it wont flip up and dump all the shavings all over the ways. That is the only draw back to the homemade covers.
 
Crude but effective. These are what I came up with using the .040 thick PVC I had on hand. I used a piece of flat stock and folded it back and forth and used a propane torch to soften / crease the part after each fold. It took a few tries to get the technique down, but after a little practice it went really quick. We'll see how long it lasts, so far so good for my home shop. I'm afraid the really hot chips would melt and stick on so probably not good for a production shop. I have enough of this stuff to last me a lifetime if needed.
 

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