Turning a glass lens on a lathe

[ScrapMetal]

For keeping the grind dust down would it be possible to use a water mist sprayer? I would think that would "ground" the dust and at least keep it out of the air even though it would still be a bit of a mess.

-Ron

 

[fgduncan]

For keeping the grind dust down would it be possible to use a water mist sprayer? I would think that would "ground" the dust and at least keep it out of the air even though it would still be a bit of a mess.

-Ron

I can't see me misting my lathe with water! The cleanup was not that much of a problem with a shop vac and oil rag-only took a few minutes. Besides, I can assure you that trying to keep up with the grinding operation was quite enough of a problem without having water mist swirling around. Really, the dust was white and quite easy to see and clean up. It's not like it was ground in. It is simply sitting on the surface of the area and it is very easy to see it and when you vacuum it up, you can readily see where it is no longer there. Then I did an oil wipe to pick up the rest of the dust-if there was any and put a protective layer of oil on the lathe. I live in southern Louisiana and rust is an ever present threat.

The easiest way I think of dealing with it would be to fix the suction of the shop vac to the tool post with duct tape and let it suck up the dust as it is made. There is actually a certain amount of directionality possible with the grinding operation since the diamond wheel can be used on the up grind side or the down side grind. The Dremel spins clockwise from behind the tool, so if you let the wheel grind with the left side, it is what I call up grinding or the face of the tool is moving opposite to the rotation of the glass disk. This means that the majority of the swarf is directed towards the chuck. Now if I were to use the right side of the diamond wheel, the swarf would be coming off of the back side of the glass disk and not get on the chuck so much.

I have noted several people who were concerned about the cleanup and I can assure everyone that it only took a few minutes to have the work area, including the floor, vacuumed and ready for the next project. I was a LOT more concerned about that glass disk breaking that about a little dust. As it turns out, my technique held the disk very well and the dust was no problem at all.

Frank

 

[george wilson]

If working with antique glass,a diamond is best used in a glass cutter. This is because the old glass has hard and soft spots,and a wheel type cutter does not do an even job of scoring the glass. Remember,glass must be broken instantly after scoring due to its nature.

 

[core-oil]

Excellent post,& a very good insight into working with a most "un-user friendly material" I have always felt nervous about working with glass , give me molten iron any day! As a safety measure would it be standard practice to wear a face visor & protective gloves in case the glass shatters, One only gets one pair of eyes.

 

[fgduncan]

Excellent post,& a very good insight into working with a most "un-user friendly material" I have always felt nervous about working with glass , give me molten iron any day! As a safety measure would it be standard practice to wear a face visor & protective gloves in case the glass shatters, One only gets one pair of eyes.

I didn't mention eye protection since that should be as basic as breathing to any machinist. Besides, I have to wear glasses anyway, so specifying them is something I don't even think about. I felt that the dust mask was a fairly different type of personal protective equipment that is not usually worn, so I did mention that. As to wearing gloves, I have never worn them around machinery. I've been told it is bad mojo since if the machine grabs the glove, it may remove an appendage instead of just bumping or cutting you. Even if the glass had broken, I can't see it cutting anyone since I wasn't using high speed. If it had broken, the pieces would have flown a couple of feet at most. The cutting action comes from the high speed diamond wheel which exerts very little force the way I did it. I just kept it in contact and let the wheel do the work. I was like you and rather afraid of breaking the work, but that didn't happen. But I didn't want to find out just how much pressure it would take to break. The wheel cut quite fast enough and as I pointed out, even though I wasn't pressing too hard, it was cutting faster than I had expected-that 2 to 1 ratio of cut to diameter can catch you off guard if you are not pretty alert.