I couldn't stand the mess in the lathe chip tray, so cleaned it up. At least 20lbs of oily shavings. Gave it to a guy down the street, along with a set of truck rotors and drums, who collects scrap metal, who in return gives me doggy treats (for our dog!), or the occasional 6 pack of beer.
The chip tray has a drain which use to go into the coolant pump system, which I don't use anymore, for a myriad of reasons. But I never blocked it off, so cutting fluid would eventually seep down the drain and onto the dolly which holds my chucks, covered so crap doesn't go into them of course. So I removed the drain flange and cleaned it up, and much to my surprise, it's cast bronze! Covered the drain hole with a sheet of aluminium and sealed it with gasket maker goop.
The rubber matting was just laying on the concrete floor, but the edges would curl up, so I tried using duct tape to hold it flat, which didn't work very well because of the raised checker plate ridges. And ended up making a gooey mess by the lathe and a tripping hazard at the ends. I thought contact cement was the only recourse, but I read cyanoacrylate would work. Swept, scraped the bits of swarf stuck underneath the rubber, vacuumed, decreased, and glued it down. Works amazingly well.
Maybe in a couple months, I'll do a complete clean, drain and replenish all the fluids, and adjust leveling feet as necessary.
The chip tray has a drain which use to go into the coolant pump system, which I don't use anymore, for a myriad of reasons. But I never blocked it off, so cutting fluid would eventually seep down the drain and onto the dolly which holds my chucks, covered so crap doesn't go into them of course. So I removed the drain flange and cleaned it up, and much to my surprise, it's cast bronze! Covered the drain hole with a sheet of aluminium and sealed it with gasket maker goop.
The rubber matting was just laying on the concrete floor, but the edges would curl up, so I tried using duct tape to hold it flat, which didn't work very well because of the raised checker plate ridges. And ended up making a gooey mess by the lathe and a tripping hazard at the ends. I thought contact cement was the only recourse, but I read cyanoacrylate would work. Swept, scraped the bits of swarf stuck underneath the rubber, vacuumed, decreased, and glued it down. Works amazingly well.
Maybe in a couple months, I'll do a complete clean, drain and replenish all the fluids, and adjust leveling feet as necessary.
