Advise required - Lathe Chip Guards

Hi folk - firstly Happy New Year

OK, I've decided in 2018 to put thoughts into action! ... I'm fed up of hot chips flying all over (especially me).

I want to fit a guard to my Hardinge HLV-H and would prefer a curved one rather that any other design, the main common one's in England are Cleevue and they don't make curved ones ...

So I've seen this on MSC (USA): Lathe Chip Guard and I can get it in the UK ... any thoughts or experience of this model?

If there are other US suppliers (or European) then I'd like to know who provided they are not tooo expensive and I don't want "Microswitch" versions.

Many thanks in anticipation.

John

OSHA required some kind of guard be available on our HLVH at work. There was no specific kind
required, just that operators had the option of using a guard.

My approach was to purchase:

1) strong magnetic base.

2) strong segmented flex indicator holder (the kind where you turn a knob to tighten a cable inside, makes
the links go solid).

3) flip-up motorcycle helmet shield. I could not find the older, JC Whitney type bubble shield but
what was what I was looking for.

Combine the three and you have a removeable, adjustable, curved chip guard.

Hi Jim

Thanks very much for your imput and suggestion ... If I could find a good curved plexi glass screen then that's certainly an option

I'll see what other options present themselves too ..

John

Happy New Years to you too John.

I put a couple of the metal ones of these on the larger lathes at work. Definitely helped keep chips in the machine, and eliminated them going down my neck when boring through.

Might check them out. Don’t know if they are available in England though.

Flexbar Lexan Latheguards - Flexbar

Jersey John said:

Hi Jim

Thanks very much for your imput and suggestion ... If I could find a good curved plexi glass screen then that's certainly an option

I'll see what other options present themselves too ..

John

Click to expand...

Flat works, too. The "trick" - if there IS a "trick" is simply to position a SMALL plate as close as practical to where the chips begin their travel. Eg; the tooltip and its chip-breaker.

Intercepting them within the first inch or few and deflecting them away from the operator's zone can create a sort of cone or "shadow" - giving you lots of freedom from chips in a very large area for the rather small size of the interceptor/deflector.

Try that. Cheap enough experiment. As little as a 4" or 6" slice of Lexan or Acrylic.

Sacrificial, of course. Hot chips WILL erode transparency. Flat slices are waaay cheaper than motorbike shields, though.

Set up "just so", common safety glasses are all that is needed to look over or AROUND the deflector nearly all the time.

Coupla these as portables, clip-on to TP or 4-Way bolt-heads, served me from sub 10" lathes to six-footers, HSS tooling being reasonably predictable as to where the majority of chips are going to be aimed.

Water-based "flood" coolants is where you need the larger-area curved or multi-panel flat shields. Even full enclosures, CNC balls-to-the-walls throughputs.

"Dry", brush-on, or mist cutting, less intensive rates of turning, human-operator setting the pace?

Not so complex a need after all.

manualmachinist said:

Definitely helped keep chips in the machine, and eliminated them going down my neck when boring through.

Might check them out. Don’t know if they are available ... in England though.

Click to expand...

Ha! ... that's exactly where the chips go and I'm getting soft in my old age

Looking at what you've shown me and the link to my original MSC link ... the two products look very similar indeed and I can get them in England.

One thing I should say is that I don't mind buying from the US if it will do the job

John

I recommend making your own out of Lexan and laminated glass. In my experience the plastic shields get scratched up quickly and make it hard to see. If you join 2 curved plastic segments with a flat glass window in the plane of your vision it will remain clear much longer. Should be easy enough to gin up a simple metal frame to join the 2 curved plastic segments together with glass in between.

Happy new year to you and yours John

A quick google gave me

Lathe Chuck Guard

Lathe Chuck Guard PTO 3

Find Chuck Guards From TDT Technology | Fully Compliance

Lathe Chuck Guards - Procter Machine Safety

Silvaflame Cleervue | Machinery Safety Guards | Staffordshire |

Enjoy your digging

Hi Scott

Thanks very much for your input - much appreciated!

The idea's and options are starting to flow in nicely so I should be able to arrive at the best option at the end of this thread either by buying "Off the shelf" or "constructing" one.

John

Limy Sami said:

Happy new year to you and yours John

A quick google gave me .... Enjoy your digging

Click to expand...

Hi Mark

Yep ... I'd googled several of the quoted but sadly didn't win the Euro Millions last week ... they know how to charge!

Some great idea's coming in too

Will give you a call in the near future but start a house move tomorrow

John

Jersey John said:

Hi Mark

Yep ... I'd googled several of the quoted but sadly didn't win the Euro Millions last week ... they know how to charge!

Some great idea's coming in too

Will give you a call in the near future but start a house move tomorrow

John

Click to expand...

Yeah I know they don't come cheap

If you can live without a clear see thru guard (they don't stay clear long !) .a cut down HD black builders bucket on a swing up arm over the chuck etc it as good as any.

Good luck with the move, ......you have my sympathy .

Hello Jersey John
Check out my album to see what I did for a real cheap ($5.00) splash guard on my lathe. I never use it as a chip guard, I only use it when I'm running coolant.

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/members/ciszewski/albums/modernized-my-monarch/index2.html

Oh, I forgot to add that Lexan isn't that hard to heat form. I've made electrical shields out of material as thick as 3/8" by heating with a heat gun and bending over wood padded with cotton flannel. It does take a while that way and may require heat .. bend some .. heat some more .. bend some more but it can get the job done.

Jersey John said:

idea's and options are starting to flow in nicely so I should be able to arrive at the best option at the end of this thread either by buying "Off the shelf" or "constructing" one.

Click to expand...

No need to hold-out for the "best" option, John.

Lots of simple low-cost, even no-cost stuff can get you a genuine - and very WELCOME - reduction in red welts up yer arms and the count of sharpish s**t embedded in the rest of yer kit.

Don't over-think it. Do something. Anything.

Improve it later on yer own needs and experience.

Ain't none of it as classes with an Alpha Centauri space shot.

Scottl said:

Oh, I forgot to add that Lexan isn't that hard to heat form. I've made electrical shields out of material as thick as 3/8" by heating with a heat gun and bending over wood padded with cotton flannel. It does take a while that way and may require heat .. bend some .. heat some more .. bend some more but it can get the job done.

Click to expand...

Softer Acrylic/"Plexiglass" can be bent in a stew pot of hot water with "oven mitts", usually found in the same kitchen.

Flat - or two flats, jointed - is usually good enough, and much less hassle to replace more often.

Ciszewski said:

Hello Jersey John
Check out my album to see what I did for a real cheap ($5.00) splash guard on my lathe. I never use it as a chip guard, I only use it when I'm running coolant.

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/members/ciszewski/albums/modernized-my-monarch/index2.html

Click to expand...

Hi Ciszewski - Thanks very much for your input and link to your work

Yet another idea ...

John

Scottl said:

Oh, I forgot to add that Lexan isn't that hard to heat form. I've made electrical shields out of material as thick as 3/8" by heating with a heat gun and bending over wood padded with cotton flannel. It does take a while that way and may require heat .. bend some .. heat some more .. bend some more but it can get the job done.

Click to expand...

Hi again Scott ... yet another thought ... saves another question on forming Lexan

Thanks

John

Monarchist said:

No need to hold-out for the "best" option, John.

Lots of simple low-cost, even no-cost stuff can get you a genuine - and very WELCOME - reduction in red welts up yer arms and the count of sharpish s**t embedded in the rest of yer kit.

Don't over-think it. Do something. Anything.

Improve it later on yer own needs and experience.

Ain't none of it as classes with an Alpha Centauri space shot.

Click to expand...

Thanks Bill

Just working through all your comments and suggestions - as normal, ALWAYS greatly appreciated!

Having just finished dinner I can now "Read and inwardly digest" ... like the bit of a small shield around the TP.

John

Jersey John said:

... like the bit of a small shield around the TP.

Click to expand...

There's more to it, actually. Early-on, (early 1960's) the mining/rail Job Shop had exactly ONE choice of neg-rake Carbide inserts. The "chip breaker" was built-in to the edge of the top clamp, of course. We also had one each W&S and one each Gisholt turret lathe. Some of THEIR tooling used a separate chip-breaker even on HSS as well.

"Seemed like a good idea" to me to use a separate chip-breaker, "always", as it meant less time spent top-grinding one INTO an HSS blank. Better yet, it meant one could easily change the chip-breaker angle and set-back without having to re-grind the whole cutter.

So I've done that, as often as not, and ever since, by clamping a separate slice of HSS blank ON TOP OF my usually-4-Way TP mounted HSS tools. They need some combo of wedges or shims in any case, so it isn't really all that much of a PITA.

It applies to HSS in general because it means one can easily choose where to "aim" the chips as well as what size to allow before forcing the break.

Inserted Carbides of today, and QCTP holders?

Less of a need, I'd have to guess (I don't - yet - use them meself) because they are already standard and repeatable as to position where the chips can be expected to go.

The "small" shield does have to be adjusted, but relies on that predictability for any given setup, feed rate, and DOC, as well as the particular characteristics of the material.

One angle/position fits all isn't going to apply to a larger shield, either.

If you go that "full" shield route, nice if you can provide for altering its angle and position at least a smidge, too, so as to guide and direct chips and coolant alike, thereby improving chances of good visibility.

Monarchist said:

There's more to it, actually.

If you go that "full" shield route, nice if you can provide for altering its angle and position at least a smidge, too, so as to guide and direct chips and coolant alike, thereby improving chances of good visibility.

Click to expand...

... and the final few words matter most as the one area my eyes are poorest now is the 20-30" range so clarity matters immensely.

Definately going to have a play around now ... BUT I guess no decissions for a week or so as I start a house move tomorrow

John