I usually avoid using any fluid to clean my lathe i find it tends to wash dirt into places it would not normally get to and the same goes for compressed air – it blows loose swarf everywhere and into places you didn't even know your lathe had !

I wear some leather gardening gloves to bundle the bulk of the long stringy swarf out of the tray and dump it in the bin i then scrape the majority of whatever is left out into a bin ( a home made scraper consisting of a piece of inch wde flat bar about 6 inches long welded or screwed to a piece of 5/16 rod so it forms a T shape works well )

Then i have at it with a vacuum cleaner and use a paint brush to move the stubborn stuff – i find this gets most of what is left off the machine .

If there is any oily residue i use cheap paper toweling to mop it up and i usually wipe the ways down also.Occasionally i will give it a wipe over with a rage moistened withe white spirits ( shellite ) or automotive wax and grease remover , i mainly do this after machining cast iron but if i feel the machine is dirty enough it gets a wipe over . If it gets a wipe with shellite or wax and grease remover i then re oil the ways and if the machine is going to sit for a while i wipe on some lanotec to stop rusting .

Ian

Posted by XD 351 31/10/2016 04:22:53

"I usually avoid using any fluid to clean my lathe i find it tends to wash dirt into places
it would not normally get to and the same goes for compressed air – it blows loose
swarf everywhere and into places you didn't even know your lathe had !".

I found the complete opposite to this ,when i used to machine dry i used
a vacuum cleaner , when i went over to neat cutting oil coolant after removing
most of the heavy swarf using the oil spray the years of accumulated
muck on the lathe was washing out for months after ,leaves the machine
cleaned and oiled.

Chucked out the soluble oil from the cylindrical grinder and gone over to
neat grinding oil for the same reasons ,works better and the machine
stays clean and rust free.

John

The brass swarf is almost up to my leadscrew at the moment – I find it does an excellent job of protecting the lathe from dirt

Neil

John, i was alluding to the use of a spray bottle full of kero or the like that i have seen a lathe drowned in , all it did was wash the fine particles into the gibs and into the saddle drive mechanism . Then they took to it with compresed air to dry it off and this just pushed the crud in deeper .

Ian.

I'll fish it out with a magnet … err …oh….

I've worked out that making 3mm gears with a small 1mm boss and all gears less than full diameter of the bar and with a 2mm parting tool means >>50% of my beautiful brass is becoming swarf…

Well, not nearly as impressive as Neil's slovenly pile, but funnily enough i was making a chuck backplate adapter tonight,and looking at the devastation around me, wondered why my lathe/workspace never looks like the lovely pristine ones i see in pictures and videos on tinterweb forums…….

I will let you know if I find it.

If only I can find a way to smelt that back into something usable – must be a few dollar's worth there!

Neil

Workshops that are too clean.. it's a bit like seeing a really skinny chef.

My two tips..

wrap a dog poo bag round a magnet on a stick, wave it all over, then pull it off straight into the bin. Felt a bit stupid when I failed to notice I was working brass once, but still a cheap alternative to the posh magnet sticks sold for the job.

Lidl have an Ash Vacume cleaner in the specials this week for £30. Does a good job on general workshop crud including swarf ( and also does the living room fire, which is obviously why I used the household budget to buy it….)

Matthew

Matthew,

Hope the fire is out when you use there!!!

Alan

You must eat a lot of Baked Beans! My swarf goes out by the bucket full.

Ian S C