A chip tray attached to the carriage, good or bad

[TorontoBuilder]

I have been a follower of Matthias Wandel for years since I found his wooden gears program.

But I dont follow his youtube that closely and just noticed he bought a mini-lathe for which he made a chip tray to attach to his carriage.

Watching his sheet metal work was amusing for me having done more sheet metal than I wish to remember and I thought it may be amusing to others. But more so I wanted to ear how many others thought this was not a good idea for protecting the ways

 

[Martin w]

I’m thinking the first time you get a long curly swarf it’s going to to grab everything and fling it at you.
I like when they fall down between the ways. Only my opinion.
Cheers
Martin

 

[Megar arc 5040dd]

I think he will probably use this lathe for wood as much as for metal so for that may not be a bad idea. I have been following his youtube channel for over 10 years now. I even built a 16 inch bandsaw from his plans.

 

[whydontu]

I find I’m often moving the carriage all the way to the headstock and pulling the toolpost out to clear the chuck, when I have a short workpiece and using a centre drill in the tailstock. Having a sheet metal tray on the carriage would restrict my options, or I’d be removing the tray every 20 minutes.

And I agree with @Martin w

 

[PeterT]

Some points to ponder.
- if you remove the chuck & install a face plate, all the action moves to the left & the current plate length is probably too long for where the compound would be positioned.. which means some other kind of mod
- sitting on my way, right close to the headstock casting, is my position-able stop clamp. I use it all the time & you should have one too, haha. The plate might interfere with that.
- not sure why exactly, but sheet metal doesn't seem right to me. It would seem easy to brush swarf & catch drip, but also maybe chance of bounce back & making a shallow nest. I have cheapo cafeteria trays under my bed. The crap just goes down to them I pull them out to clean. the main tray stays quite clean.

On another note, I am getting concerned about dormant cutting fluid sitting on my ways even though I'm pretty deliberate about wipe downs. It makes for some dark brown goo that might even have corrosion specs when it surrounds steel swarf. I got wondering about my way oil, but I recently popped the lid on a drill set I hadn't used over the summer & sure enough, the same crud on the drills I used. I've been trying different cutting fluids as of late, all commercial grades. But I think some of the ingredients that help with machining may nit be as kind to the machines themselves. TBC.

 

[TorontoBuilder]

I think he will probably use this lathe for wood as much as for metal so for that may not be a bad idea. I have been following his youtube channel for over 10 years now. I even built a 16 inch bandsaw from his plans.

I thought wood too but he said to prevent ways from being scratched and I cant see wood doing that, nor is it convenient to use cross slide to turn wood, or safe to use hand chisels with the compound in the way.

 

[DPittman]

I've made a couple of trays for my lathes but on a smaller lathe the quick build up of swarf closer to the chuck becomes a liability. I found it was better to let the chips fall where they may. I did however have one on an Atlas 618 that was mostly successful. It covered some of the most vulnerable ways but then channeled and allowed the swatf to fall down between the frame/ways (proper term is escaping right now!).

 

[1018Machine]

I've been using one for years! I wouldn't work wet without it. Made mine from polycarbonate film so it's flexible and lined the bottom center with some scrape sheet brass to protect it from hot steel swarf. When running with coolant it helps keep the ways dry and oiled and helps mitigate all the slope from building up on the ways.