Cleaning Chips and Swarf out of the table T-Slots

Okay boys and girls – how do ya’ll get all the chips and swarf out of the T-Slots in your mill table?

Air seems like the best bet, but that blows the stuff all over hell and creation. A good strong vacuum might work too if you had an attachment that was narrow enough to allow you to get down into the slots. A magnet only gets out “most” of the iron/steel stuff but leaves the non-ferrous stuff behind.

So, how do you do it??

Bridgeport Mill T Slot Cleaner 8631374 - MSC

T-slot cleaner.

gbyoung said:

Okay boys and girls – how do ya’ll get all the chips and swarf out of the T-Slots in your mill table?

Air seems like the best bet, but that blows the stuff all over hell and creation. A good strong vacuum might work too if you had an attachment that was narrow enough to allow you to get down into the slots. A magnet only gets out “most” of the iron/steel stuff but leaves the non-ferrous stuff behind.

So, how do you do it??

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air hose AND vacuum hose at same time. tslot cleaner only brings last few chips to the end of the table for vacuum. long curly chips that can plug vacuum often better to push to a pile and use brush and dust pan or small hand shovel

gbyoung said:

Air seems like the best bet, but that blows the stuff all over hell and creation. :

Click to expand...

and hogging shit at 300ipm doesn't?

Most of the time, it's the shop vac. I try my best NOT to use air on my machines.
Oh, and I've also got masonite table covers that keep most of the chips out.
https://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=236656&stc=1&d=1535389905
JR

T-slot covers are really underrated IMO. The only time they are ever "in the way" is when setting up
an occasional stock end stop. I like the individual slot covers though as you can Band-saw them in half and put them around whatever is on the table. Compressed air helps, just be wary of dro scales and way seams.

But mainly, clean the machine every day!

Pet peev of mine is when guys let chips build up on the table to the point that they start to rust into crusty masses in the T-slots .

In our VMC's I find that using a coolant wash-down hose takes care of 99% of all chips in the machine. Rinse everything down into the pans or conveyor at the end of the day, then dump it all out first thing in the morning once the coolant has had a chance to drip out. If it's only a few chips, well you'll be done that much quicker!

just be glad tee slots not full of cast iron fine chips rusted solid from months. many a time a brass bar and hammer only thing going to loosen it up. then scraping with a screwdriver before a t slot cleaner will even fit in there
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i have seen dozens if not many hundreds of times. can easily take 1/2 hour to clean out the tee slots. best not to let any vise or fixture stay on too long

Run a thin strip of wood down the slots. You don't need to get another special T-Slot tool for your collection.

Cover the slots on each side of a vise with shower liner, which is used underneath mortar bed tile jobs.