Warco Lathe Guard mod

[petro1headParticipant @petro1head]

Just thought I would share this mod

I find when using coolant I end up getting covered so have modded the guard so it slides out over the work

Std

Extended

[petro1headParticipant @petro1head]

[Mick B1Participant @mickb1]

That's a good idea if you use lots of coolant, but I can't really see why you'd want to unless you're taking big cuts.

Me, I avoid coolant except the odd squirt of WD40, or SAE30 for screwcutting, and take all the guards off so I can see what I'm bl@@dy doing… !

[not done it yetParticipant @notdoneityet]

Simples! Stand to one side, out of the line of fire (or splash)?

[petro1headParticipant @petro1head]

I tend to only use it when parting off and just a case of trying to keep things clean

 

Anyway was just a mod I did and I am happy with it

Edited By petro1head on 17/10/2018 10:59:06

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Now you need to work out a way that it will move to the left so you can get close enough for faceplate work

[David Standing 1Participant @davidstanding1]

Posted by JasonB on 17/10/2018 11:00:45:

Now you need to work out a way that it will move to the left so you can get close enough for faceplate work

That's simple Jason, you just slice it in half with a bandsaw

[petro1headParticipant @petro1head]

Posted by JasonB on 17/10/2018 11:00:45:

Now you need to work out a way that it will move to the left so you can get close enough for faceplate work

TBH I have never used a face plate

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Would be quite useful to have a guard that could be slid sideways for occasional flood cooling and equally quickly dismounted for close up work. Although the guards aren't difficult to remove, it's a bit of a fuss putting them back. Some form of quick release mechanism would encourage staying safe whenever it's not necessary to take the risk.

After a mini-lathe threw a ball of swarf in my face with enough force to draw blood, I've kept the guard fitted to my lathe even though there are many times when it gets in the way, and not just when using a faceplate. I don't think lathes are particularly dangerous, but they certainly can and do bite!

Dave

[FMESParticipant @fmes]

Had to take the guard off mine as you couldn't fit the face plate, damn clever these Chinese, comply with legislation – to hell with functionality

Regards

[Brian GParticipant @briang]

Posted by JasonB on 17/10/2018 11:00:45:

Now you need to work out a way that it will move to the left so you can get close enough for faceplate work

I made a shallow guard from aluminium sheet for my son's mini-lathe. I don't see the advantage of being able to see the edge of the faceplate or collet chuck whilst working, so a solid guard works pretty well.

There is no way I would work without some kind of chuck guard as (when I can stand) I fall suddenly and without warning. I REALLY don't want to faceplant a moving chuck on one of the rare occasions I actually dare using the machine.

Brian

[Joseph Noci 1Participant @josephnoci1]

I made some guards for my EMCO Maximat V10P. For interest I have included some pics of the as-supplied guards on my EMCO 14D lathe.

The V10 Guard slides left/right on a rail, and can be hinged up completely out of the way. The 14D has a small swing-up safety/splash guard above the chuck, and then a large guard that also slides left/right.

I would not be without these guards – keeps swarf from taking up residence all over the shop – esp when cutting hard brass! I do not use coolant much, but when I do it is from my shop-made 'mist' coolant device – not really a mist device, but nice small drops of oil suspended in an airflow, onto the cutting edge. That does still eventually great an oil film which is flung by the chuck, so the guard does the job again – keeps the oil from my spectacles…

V10 Guard at left side – front view

Guard slid to the centre of the machine.

Guard hinged up out of the way.

14D Chuck small Splash/safety guard down in place

Same guard raised. Lathe will not turn on in raised position.

Main Guard at left position.

Main Guard in working position.

Oblique view of in-place guard. Hands and arms fit around the guard very easily to manipulate handwheels and levers.

Main Guard slid to the right

Joe

(Yes…I know…The machines are too clean…)

[petro1headParticipant @petro1head]

Just had to go one better, show off

[not done it yetParticipant @notdoneityet]

Not really ‘one better’, I think. A sliding splash guard is actually useful when turning a longer part.

One can always fall onto a long workpiece, being turned, and get caught up. A short ‘coolant splash guard’ is just about useless on a workpiece which requires coolant further along the bed, so how far does your guard extend?

I reckon they are better suited to protecting hands from chuck jaw contact. My current lathe never had a guard, even when new. Perhaps Common Sense was still alive and kicking back then?

[Brian GParticipant @briang]

Posted by not done it yet on 17/10/2018 17:25:23:

…My current lathe never had a guard, even when new. Perhaps Common Sense was still alive and kicking back then?

Having as a schoolboy seen how far a chuck key (not mine) flies, I quite like having an interlock on the chuck guard just in case memory fails. If nothing else it makes a handy isolator.

Brian

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

Since we are discussing moditying/removing chuck guards, My BL 12-24 (and probably Warco BH600 and Chester craftsman also) a) fouled the Faceplate and b) with my 4 way back toolpost fitted prevented working close up with the Faceplate or ER Collet Chucks.

The Faceplate foul was cured by cutting away the area of the Acrylic fouled the Faceplate, to provide slight clearance. The problem of working close up still remained.

The solution was to make the guard easily removeable. This involved removing the guard, and the shaft carrying the cam that operated the microswitch. To enable the machine to run, it was wedged, as a temporary expedient, with a washer.

Once the guard was off the shaft, the shaft was parted off halfway along the section protruding from the housing. A sleeve was turned up, long enough to cover both parts of the shaft, and bored to be an easy sliding fit over the shaft.

The sleeve was drilled and tapped, at one end, to take the guard, and at the other, to clamp into the cam end of the shaft . Having refitted the shortened shaft, it was dimpled the provide a location for the screw that clamped the sleeve to the operating end of the shaft.

Now, if there is a need to work close up to the Headstock; for that time; the guard is closed, (so that the machine can run) and the clamping screw slackened, so that the sleeve carrying the guard can be removed. Once the work is completed, the sleeve and guard are slipped over the shaft again, and the clamp screw tightened into the dimple. "Normal service is then resumed"

Howard

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by FMES on 17/10/2018 12:14:27:

Had to take the guard off mine as you couldn't fit the face plate, damn clever these Chinese, comply with legislation – to hell with functionality

On the SC4-500 the guard is easily removable for faceplate/large work (no tools needed) and the interlock switch is designed to allow it to work with it removed.

The ease of removal means you don't have any qualms about putting it back afterwards.

Neil

[Mike PooleParticipant @mikepoole82104]

In a tool room I worked in very few of the machines had guards but portable guards were often used to protect gangways from hot flying swarf. Everybody who worked there was a skilled man and safety was their responsibility. Of the few hundred men who worked there I didn’t know of any with missing eyes or digits. These days we treat everyone as an idiot and guarding is a lot more intrusive even in skilled areas where people are trained and understand the dangers. Guarding on equipment used by unskilled operators is of the highest standard and very often higher than the assessed risk calls for as is is easier to standardise at the highest level. I suspect we often use guards just to enhance our own comfort from swarf and suds and not to protect us from spinning work and cutters. I had a close call with long hair when using a lathe, being short sighted I liked to get close to the job and I felt my hair just being gently pulled, I jumped back a bit sharpish. At work it was mandatory to wear a snood and as it was the hairy seventies we all wore them, at tech though things were a bit more casual and this is where I had my close shave. I doubt if many of us have long hair these days and although I trimmed my locks many years ago these days a haircut is very quick and long is not really an option.

Mike

[Mark RandParticipant @markrand96270]

Thanks, both Petro1head and Joseph for the pictures and ideas. I've been trying to get my head around the idea of chip and coolant guards. The HLV doesn't have any apart from a very small one that slips over the mandrel nose of the lathe to redirect cutting oil from small, short, collet mounted work. I'd dearly love to be able to use the coolant pump sometimes, but really don't want to go back into the house wearing a gallon of cutting oil!

I had also been thinking of a small, dedicated, chip shoot to redirect chips down to the chip tray, but the larger movable guards look like they will do the job better. This was the lash-up I was using yesterday, and it isn't good .

**LINK**

[Mike PooleParticipant @mikepoole82104]

A magnetic base with an aluminium or polycarbonate sheet can be very useful to deflect swarf and suds, it is easy to move and position. It’s funny how the traverse handwheel on some lathes puts your hands right in the firing line but on others it is positioned as far away as possible. Go CNC and put the whole machine in a box with maximum flood coolant to clear chips and keep everything cool.

Mike

[petro1headParticipant @petro1head]

Good idea mike

[FMESParticipant @fmes]

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 17/10/2018 19:05:32:

Posted by FMES on 17/10/2018 12:14:27:

Had to take the guard off mine as you couldn't fit the face plate, damn clever these Chinese, comply with legislation – to hell with functionality

On the SC4-500 the guard is easily removable for faceplate/large work (no tools needed) and the interlock switch is designed to allow it to work with it removed.

The ease of removal means you don't have any qualms about putting it back afterwards.

Neil

Mine is a GH1330, and the rotating spindle for the chuck guard mount was actually inside tthe diameter of the faceplate so removng the actual guard was no use at all – the whole interlock switch unit had to come off to get the faceplate to fit.

Additionally once the switch unit was removed it left two holes that had been drilled through into the headstock gearbox which leaked oil as soon as you ran the lathe.

Remaking the guard and mounting on to the splashback cured the problem and stops a lot of the mess going over the back of the machine as well.

Regards

[Author]

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