I'll give it a bump. I might consider felts on a shaper to be better for adding lube, not removing (wiping) it as the ways usually seem to be well away from any flying debris.

Recent felt thread.

I got a sheet and would describe it as medium hardness

You can use a leather punch tool to punch neat holes in it

Mick,

My Acorntools 7" (UK version of Atlas) has both felt and neoprene "wipers" – the felt is on the inside, with the neoprene on the outside. Formed aluminium covers (with oil holes) hold them both in place (although mine are somewhat chewed up). They are fitted to both the ram and the cross-slide. I tend to agree that the ram doesn't attract much swarf (and it also has slide-way oiling points) but the only lubrication on the cross-slide is via the felt oilers. This area also gets a lot of swarf on it, so I think the neoprene wipers are useful here.

They are simple to cut with a sharp knife and as Ady1 says, a leather punch will make the required holes. I drew a CAD model, printed a simple cardboard template and cut/punched the oilers/wipers from that.

I don't know what arrangements your Boxford normally has but if the manufacturer fitted oilers/wipers, then it's probably not a bad idea to maintain them. 

Regards,

IanT

Edited By IanT on 19/08/2017 09:51:51