Cleaning up

[michael howarth 1Participant @michaelhowarth1]

I asked my mentor, a retired engineer, how often he cleans up his lathe etc. He said, "When it needs it", but would elaborate no further. When I see photos in MEW of other peoples kit it looks absolutely spotless and feelings of guilt and shame overwhelm me. No matter how hard I try, I cannot seem to keep my stuff clean for more than a day or so before it is covered in swarf etc and looking as if it has just been hauled out of the bottom of a skip. Any advice?

[michael howarth 1Participant @michaelhowarth1]

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Clean it once: Take lots of photos:

Publish as and when required

MichaelG.

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

Albert Einstein – "If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?"

That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

Neil

[Derek DroverParticipant @derekdrover32802]

I tend to clean mine when I get to a convenient point doing a job (which can last weeks)… so the swarf can build up to a fair old pile.. doesnt take very long to brush away.

I remember we alwasy used to say a clean desk is a sign of a dirty mind !!!!!

[David Clark 13Participant @davidclark13]

Hi Mick

I expect people clean down their lathes when they are photographing an article for MEW.

regards David

[Bob PerkinsParticipant @bobperkins67044]

I have a friend who restores old motorcycles. His workshop is cleaner than an operating theatre.

[RobboParticipant @robbo]

If you watch one of Rudy K's videos/DVDs you will see that he cleans up as he goes along. But then he is being filmed!

I go round the lathe etc with the magnetic pick up device, gets rid of most of the swarf in minutes, straight into the bin.     Make yourself one, a great device.

Phil

Edited By Robbo on 04/03/2013 20:52:00

[Ian PParticipant @ianp]

Posted by David Clark 1 on 04/03/2013 18:46:13:

Hi Mick

I expect people clean down their lathes when they are photographing an article for MEW.

regards David

My money is on DCs interpretation.

Its a bit like when my wife and I were invited to a neghbours house for dinner and finding out how warm the hosts house is heated to. I later discovered that normally they are miserly (economically sensible) with the central heating unless guests are present.

Ian

[_Paul_Participant @_paul_]

Posted by Stub Mandrel on 04/03/2013 18:13:07:

Albert Einstein – "If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?"

That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

Neil

+1 especially as the swarf bin is full…..again

[Kevin FParticipant @kevinf]

I clean my machines after I use them ,I also oil the bedways ect if I know I won't be doing any machining for a few days ,my motto is ' look after your tools and your tools will look after you '

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

When the chip tray gets full i just buy a new lathe.

Yer right

I try to clean up on a Friday afternoon, If I stopped to clean after every job I'd get nothing done.

Not unusual to have 15 different jobs in the same day.

[Trev TParticipant @trevt]

In 'cleaning up', what do we do with the swarf? Does everybody have swarf bins? Do we separate ferrous and non-ferrous swarf, using separate bins? Is it practical to recycle swarf? Or do we just dump it into landfill…? Does anybody have local (council) operated collection services?

Are we acting responsibly ….??? Does this put an end to this thread …!

Trev T

[AndyfParticipant @andyf]

As the local council encourages me to put steel and aluminium cans into one of my recycling bins, I put steel and aluminium swarf in there too, along with any offcuts which are really too small to come in useful sometime. I don't put what few chips of brass/bronze/copper I create in there, because being non-magnetic it would probably end up with the aluminium.

Andy

[Trevor Drabble 1Participant @trevordrabble1]

Mick,

Similar to Mick ,for me it is most important not just to clean the machine at the end of a session, but also to fully oil it both before and after use, especially with machines that are kept in a shed. Yes, this does mean an excess of oil, but since my machines use pumped cutting oil anyway, it really does not go to waste. And, given the replacement costs of machines, I believe better a little to much ( relatively cheap ) oil than the onset of the dreaded rust bug.

Trevor T,

Yes, I do have small but separate swarf bags, and although I do not produce vast amounts of swarf, when combined with other scrap it makes a single trip to the scrap yard viable, especially since very fortunately, it, and the dump-it site are across the road from each other.

Trevor.

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

Posted by Graham Meek on 04/03/2013 17:56:32:

I regret to say it is all down to discipline, and where you have set your standards. For myself I never leave swarf overnight on the bedways or cross-slide of the lathe, similarly the milling machine table is never left covered in swarf, and 9 times out of 10 I clean out the swarf trays of both each night, lets face it if it is done regularly it does not become so much of a chore, and it only takes 5 minutes.

My standards are those set by my Employers when I was an apprentice, they seemed like a good idea to me and at the end of the day I want my machines to last, allowing detritus to build up on them does not seem like a good idea.

" Tidiness is next to Godliness" used to be the motto in my day, or "A tidy workplace indicates a tidy mind".

Gray,

+1 here. Knocking off 10 minutes before the factory siren blew and cleaning down the machine, workbench etc was drilled into me for life when I was a spotty apprentice. Still do it at home. Flipside is, you walk into a nice clean, tidy workshop next day ready to start work without wading through cr.ud

[Phil MogerParticipant @philmoger15177]

I'm a beginner at this metalworking malarkey but a serious hobby woodworker and recognise this problem of when to tidy up and the comparison between photos of other woodworkers pristine shops compared to my own dusty heaven.

But my best tale on this line was told to me over the weekend by a professional woodworker whose shop mirrored my own.

He described a visit to the premises of a fellow professional cabinetmaker of international repute whose workshop was immaculate and before entering it, he was asked to take off his shoes.

Phil

[Joseph RamonParticipant @josephramon28170]

Surely the joy of having your own workshop is that you keep it as tidy as YOU want and don't have to match anyone else's expectations? From OCD to total slobbery – it's your domain!

Joey

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

In my first job us electronics engineers were allowed to use a couple of old machines in the local workshop. As they were communal it was only polite to clean up after use. Repeat offenders would find they bumped into the vacuum cleaner as they headed for the door.

[colin hawesParticipant @colinhawes85982]

So, some people are actually making something. Colin

[nigel jones 5Participant @nigeljones5]

I clean mine when it becomes unrecognisable a a lathe…strangely I keep the mill very clean. Im not into claning. or painting!

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

My friend is the vacuum cleaner. I just have to listen out for the noise of allen keys etc. shooting down the tube.

Neil

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

I'm sure some people have two workshops, one for work, and one for photography, well maybe not, I'm like fizzy, and when I clean up, a bit like Neil with the vacuum cleaner.

I'v still got, and use the little shovel that we made in the Airforce, as our first welding project, Our instructor said at the time it would be useful for the rest of our days (that was 1964). Ian S C

[SpringbokParticipant @springbok]

Niel,
I do like your quote Now cleaning up keep all non fersios for my mate who has a kiln, rest goese into the metal bin

Bob

[John CoatesParticipant @johncoates48577]

Posted by Bob Perkins on 04/03/2013 19:15:08:

I have a friend who restores old motorcycles. His workshop is cleaner than an operating theatre.

As a fellow motorcycle tinkerer I can appreciate why. The smallest bit of metal inadvertently introduced into a freshly built and tuned engine can wreck 100's of hours of meticulous work. Most professional restorers and tuners and race teams have workshops as clean as your friend's. Then again there are the guys doing the same in garden sheds akin to that BBC programme "Speed dreams: Bonneville" which could not be described to be as clean as an operating theatre

[Author]

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