# How do You Clean Out Your Lathe Chip Tray?



## erikmannie (Feb 15, 2021)

OK, enough of slicing up my hands. I have a medium/large chip tray underneath my lathe that has chips of all sizes, DRO cables & coolant.

I don’t want to throw away my coolant. I could use a square plastic scoop, but then how do I save my coolant?

The ideal solution would be a scoop with holes that would allow my CF to drain out.

The DRO cables are tough; I am not worried about damaging them.

I will post some cheap ideas here, but I’m wondering how you guys do it. I know that bare hands don’t work.


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## erikmannie (Feb 15, 2021)

This wouldn’t be terrible. One could drill a lot of holes or slots in the dustpan.









						Mini Carpet Dust Pan & Whisk Broom Set
					

Our auto dust pan and car whisk broom makes for easy carpet clean up. Our mini dust pan and whisk broom set can be stored in your car or auto.




					www.lanescarproducts.com
				







Another idea would be to fabricate one.


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## erikmannie (Feb 15, 2021)

This one looks good. You could use the whisk to sweep the chips into the dustpan. It would need holes drilled for my purposes.









						Mini Hand Broom and Dust Pan Set - Made By Design™
					

Read reviews and buy Mini Hand Broom and Dust Pan Set - Made By Design™ at Target. Choose from contactless Same Day Delivery, Drive Up and more.




					www.target.com


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## DavidR8 (Feb 15, 2021)

What about a restaurant size slotted metal spoon and a metal colander?


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## erikmannie (Feb 15, 2021)

DavidR8 said:


> What about a restaurant size slotted metal spoon and a metal colander?



I am going to raid the kitchen now; the price is right. We’ll see if the girls notice them missing.


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## erikmannie (Feb 15, 2021)

These look good enough to try, but apparently these are not available to me.




A spatula would be good, too.


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## Ken226 (Feb 15, 2021)

erikmannie said:


> OK, enough of slicing up my hands. I have a medium/large chip tray underneath my lathe that has chips of all sizes, DRO cables & coolant.
> 
> I don’t want to throw away my coolant. I could use a square plastic scoop, but then how do I save my coolant?
> 
> ...



I'm not sure what kind of chip pan you have, but perhaps modify to a slide out type chip drawer.  With a grate/filter and coolant drain.

I recently modified mine by cutting out the bottom, and riveting in some c channel around the perimeter of the hole.

The underside of the c channel take a slide out chip drawer, which I purchased from grizzly.

The chip drawer was 200$ from the grizzly G0709 14x40 parts manual.  My lathe is a Birmingham 13x40.









You can just see the grates drain in the right rear corner of the drawer.









The whole stand assembly is out being powder coated in smoke gray right now.  I should have it back sometime this week.

The coolant drains from the drawer into a sump in the right lathe pedestal.  I clean the chips out with a shop vac.


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## markba633csi (Feb 15, 2021)

How about one of those cat litter scoops? Kinda shovel-shaped with a bunch of slots 
-Mark


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## benmychree (Feb 15, 2021)

markba633csi said:


> How about one of those cat litter scoops? Kinda shovel-shaped with a bunch of slots
> -Mark


That is just what I was going to suggest!  Om my lathe, I just let it drain into the sump, then use a sort of wide shallow hoe to drag the chips and crud out; to me, a chip pan does not need to be surgically clean, just free from mounds of chips, this can be way overdone.


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## slodat (Feb 15, 2021)

My chips birds nest so bad I just grab the huge pile all at once. 

I've seen some 3d printed chip scoops that look like they work well.


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## matthewsx (Feb 15, 2021)

You've got all those tools there for something, go ahead and build what you need

John


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## Aukai (Feb 15, 2021)

This is what I dump chips with, boss has not noticed it gone, we had more than 1.


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## Shootymacshootface (Feb 16, 2021)

I use a cookie sheet under the chuck area. It catches 90% of whatever is being cut off. If you empty it often enough, it pretty much takes care of any problems. The best part is the small powdery stuff that collects on the crossslide and tool post just gets brushed off into the tray. Thats the messy stuff


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## Superburban (Feb 16, 2021)

I use a couple of brownie pans, that I drilled some tiny holes to let the coolant drian through to the chip pan, and then down to the coolant reservoir.


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## Suzuki4evr (Feb 16, 2021)

erikmannie said:


> I am going to raid the kitchen now; the price is right. We’ll see if the girls notice them missing.


And we we'll see if we notice you missing later.


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## Z2V (Feb 16, 2021)

If I’ve been cutting steel, I have a large horseshoe magnet that I put inside a plastic grocery bag. Hold over bucket and remove the magnet


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## Aukai (Feb 16, 2021)

For me I do a lot of aluminum, so I'd like to buy one of your aluminum magnets


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## Z2V (Feb 16, 2021)

_the aluminum magnets are really, really expensive, I mean really expensive _


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## erikmannie (Feb 16, 2021)

I have a slide-out drawer.

Thanks to everybody for all the great ideas so far!


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## Aukai (Feb 16, 2021)

Jeff, I have co signers


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## Z2V (Feb 16, 2021)

These magnets are so strong they will affect a pace maker. Could be harmful to ones health, just sayin


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## Downunder Bob (Feb 16, 2021)

When I bought my lathe it came with a a chip tray that had a hole at one end and a threaded socket with a plug in it. I hooked up a drain hose to a 20L container with a mesh strainer fitted. It all worked very well until I discovered the water soluble oil I was using went off and became rancid.

So I gave that idea away and now use a hand sprayer filled with MX3 Inox. this is an excellent cutting fluid for all metals, including Al and SS. Plus it protects the lathe and tools from corrosion.


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## Braeden P (Feb 16, 2021)

over cleaning a chip tray? mine is rusty and i use mostly "steel" or unknown ferrous metals so the chips are little buggers because if i let them get long they go straight to your hand no mater what so the magnet sounds good and get an east-west magnet they can pick up alum and other metals without hurting your pacemaker but they are hard to find...


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## projectnut (Feb 16, 2021)

Downunder Bob said:


> When I bought my lathe it came with a a chip tray that had a hole at one end and a threaded socket with a plug in it. I hooked up a drain hose to a 20L container with a mesh strainer fitted.* It all worked very well until I discovered the water soluble oil I was using went off and became rancid.*
> 
> So I gave that idea away and now use a hand sprayer filled with MX3 Inox. this is an excellent cutting fluid for all metals, including Al and SS. Plus it protects the lathe and tools from corrosion.



Another vote for misting or brush on cutting oil/lubricant.  One of the worst jobs at work was getting tapped to clean out the machine coolant tanks.  They were always nasty smelling and full of swarf that was small enough to slip through the drain systems into the sump.  Since I don't use a coolant system there is very little  in the chip pan other than the swarf itself.

For large piles of swarf I use a homemade chip hook something like this:



			https://www.mscdirect.com/browse/tnpla/51410462?cid=ppc-google-New+-+Machinery+-+PLA_siwZNPF4A___164124448256_c_S&mkwid=siwZNPF4A%7cdc&pcrid=164124448256&rd=k&product_id=51410462&pgrid=35979530126&ptaid=pla-271356057749&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIq4Kgh7zu7gIV5PbjBx3uxgrDEAQYAiABEgLDRPD_BwE
		


For the smaller stuff I use a small piece of 16 gauge 316 stainless and scrape it over the edge of the chip tray into a 5 gallon bucket.  The larger lathe has plenty of room under the bed to reach to the back of the pan.  The smaller one has a pan that will slide out for cleaning.  I use the same methods for both machines.

Here's a picture of each of the machines with the scrapers in the chip pan.  Note the stainless scrapers are near the tailstock end of the machines.  The 5 gallon bucket is on the floor under the larger machine.  I usually wait until I have at least a couple buckets full before I take them over to the recycle center.  Originally I filled a 30 gallon barrel then hauled it over.  That was fine until they started went to a larger steel dumpster.  It was a real PITA to attempt to lift the barrel 6' up to tip it over the edge.


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## Barncat (Feb 16, 2021)

Wonder is these would work? The people in the northern climates will recognize this as a snow brush that the plastics scraper has broken off of. When they break like that, I drill a hole in the end and hang them next to the workbench as a bench brush. Is your chip pan shallow enough that you can just sweep chips out right into a trash can?


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## Suzuki4evr (Feb 16, 2021)

Z2V said:


> These magnets are so strong they will affect a pace maker. Could be harmful to ones health, just sayin


Then please be careful to not throw the lathe out with it. That would be expensive scrap.


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## Reddinr (Feb 16, 2021)

Clean out chip tray?  What is that?  I don't understand.


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## Suzuki4evr (Feb 16, 2021)

projectnut said:


> Another vote for misting or brush on cutting oil/lubricant.  One of the worst jobs at work was getting tapped to clean out the machine coolant tanks.  They were always nasty smelling and full of swarf that was small enough to slip through the drain systems into the sump.  Since I don't use a coolant system there is very little  in the chip pan other than the swarf itself.
> 
> For large piles of swarf I use a homemade chip hook something like this:
> 
> ...


Why are your shop so clean and tidy?? I clean........a bit and the a few minutes later the gremlins under the table have put everything back on the table which I have just put away.


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## Braeden P (Feb 16, 2021)

on my dv 59 to move the carriage you have to loosen to move it so clean chip tray is needed


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## Superburban (Feb 16, 2021)

Real lathes stand on the floor & trays are for restraunts.


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## Braeden P (Feb 16, 2021)

lathes with a run out of less than a tenth have chip trays


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## Superburban (Feb 16, 2021)

Ohhh, Cha Ching!


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## Braeden P (Feb 16, 2021)




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## Braeden P (Feb 16, 2021)

ohh yea dont forget that lathes with dials on the tailstock have chip trays


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## erikmannie (Feb 16, 2021)

Barncat said:


> Wonder is these would work? The people in the northern climates will recognize this as a snow brush that the plastics scraper has broken off of. When they break like that, I drill a hole in the end and hang them next to the workbench as a bench brush. Is your chip pan shallow enough that you can just sweep chips out right into a trash can?
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I like that snow brush. The chip drawer that motivated me to start this thread is a pull out drawer that is about a foot deep. The operator has to reach in there and scoop out the chips.

My other (benchtop) lathe has a tray under it that is easily managed.


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## FOMOGO (Feb 16, 2021)

My maid Clarice, empties my chip tray. No muss, no fuss, fun to watch.  Mike


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## Buffalo21 (Feb 16, 2021)

FOMOGO said:


> My maid Clarice, empties my chip tray. No muss, no fuss, fun to watch.  Mike
> 
> 
> 
> ...





Damn!! If I hire a maid, I’d end up with one that looks like a stevedore............


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## mikey (Feb 16, 2021)

I am embarrassed to say that I line the area under my lathe with a sheet of 4mil plastic sheeting. When I'm done, I pull the whole thing out and dump it. A new one goes in and I'm ready for the next job. 

Yes, hot chips dimple/melt some of the plastic but it catches 99.9% without leaving any in the tray and my paint is totally intact. Call me stupid but it works for me ... and it works with aluminum, too!


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## ARC-170 (Feb 16, 2021)

I have Clarice use tongs and a spatula to clean up the chips into a dustpan with a brush, then use a scraper to push the coolant to the drain holes, then put a new plastic sheet on the removable tray on my lathe with dials that read to 0.001" to keep the paint intact.

"Hot Chips" is the name of my band.


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## davidpbest (Feb 17, 2021)

My house cleaner does it.  Oils the ways when finished.  Not kidding either.


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## Shootymacshootface (Feb 17, 2021)

davidpbest said:


> My house cleaner does it.  Oils the ways when finished.  Not kidding either.


Thats awesome, but I have trust issues when it comes to my machines!


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## aliva (Feb 17, 2021)

I made a drip tray from SS sheet to catch the coolant and drain back to the tank. I use a magnetic pickup rod. Then my gloved hands for the non magnetic material. Finally a shopvac.


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## Scruffy (Feb 19, 2021)

I clean the chip tray out when it's around three quarters full. Slide chip tray out, drive loader tractor in shop and use a scoop shovel. This is about every three weeks.
Usually three or four loader buckets full. Oh it's a American pacemaker.
Scruffy Ron in ohio


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## hman (Feb 20, 2021)

I use the following method to handle lathe swarf - there's a 4" diameter hole in the chip pan at the back.  A "toilet flange" is bolted underneath the chip pan and a 5 gllon bucket hangs below that.



Note the two diagonal lines on the chip pan.  These "guide lines" continue to the front.  I use a custom-made brush, modified from something like the one @erikmannie cited, to push swarf toward the hole from the front of the lathe.  The hook on the end of the handle lets me hang the brush from the front lip of the chip tray.



PS - these photos don't represent the normal state of things.  I'd taken the back board/splash guard (previously mounted to the 2x4 visible in the first photo) off the lathe to install a new DRO.  While I was at it I cleaned up the chip pan.  It normally sports a nice coating of oil(s), and even after "cleaning." has a light dusting of chips and other debris, especially in the corners. 

As for the original intent of erikmannie's posting, I suppose a system like mine is not ideal for flood coolant, but might be adapted.  The 5 gallon bucket could be used as a "crap trap" by adding an overflow that leads to the coolant reservoir.


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## francist (Feb 20, 2021)

I like the brush...


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## Tim9 (Feb 20, 2021)

Gloves and grab the big stuff. Shop vac for the rest.


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## erikmannie (Feb 20, 2021)

The other day, I grabbed my worst pair of welding gloves and used those to grab the bulk of the chips.

When I got down to the small, oily chips (my CF is oil), I used a whisk to whisk everything over to where the drain is. As the CF slowly drained, my still gloved hands removed maximum chips with minimum CF. 

This was messy and took a long time, but the results were great. This is what I will continue to do until I can afford to implement one of the ideas in this thread.

Interesting sidenote: our garbage can that goes out on the curb has a crack in it & there are oily CF puddles where we store the garbage can & on the street. My wife was not too pleased with this development as I was also blamed for causing the crack in the garbage can “when I threw some big piece of metal in there”.


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## matthewsx (Feb 20, 2021)

erikmannie said:


> The other day, I grabbed my worst pair of welding gloves and used those to grab the bulk of the chips.
> 
> When I got down to the small, oily chips (my CF is oil), I used a whisk to whisk everything over to where the drain is. As the CF slowly drained, my still gloved hands removed maximum chips with minimum CF.
> 
> ...


You need to make something nice for her....

JOhn


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## Barncat (Feb 20, 2021)

Did you kindly point out the flaw in her argument and explain to her that you don't throw away big pieces of metal, that they get saved for future projects?


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## tmenyc (Feb 20, 2021)

Two overlapping cookie sheets...pull them out together and tip into a plastic bag inside a cardboard box. Then I brush up what's left, wipe off the trays, back to work. At some point I'll have to replace the bag in the box, which is an unanswered question. 

Tim


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## slodat (Feb 20, 2021)

Scruffy said:


> I clean the chip tray out when it's around three quarters full. Slide chip tray out, drive loader tractor in shop and use a scoop shovel. This is about every three weeks.
> Usually three or four loader buckets full. Oh it's a American pacemaker.
> Scruffy Ron in ohio



Link to photos of your Pacemaker?


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## middle.road (Feb 20, 2021)

(I'm going to get beat up out back after class for sure...)
I use the preferred @FOMOGO method most of the time. 
Honey likes to save the long strings of aluminum and the brass chips for crafts.
For the bottom muck, I've got an old shop vac that we use. I usually drop a couple of inches of oil dry in the bottom.
Even with that, the area around the exhaust port is all oily.
She then grabs some rags and attempts to clean off the painted areas, and I say 'Babe you don't need to do that...', she replies 'But it's so messy...'
She also, for some unknown & wonderful reason likes to go after all the chips on the floor and in the mats with the shop vac.
After she's done you're hesitant to mess it up again.


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## hman (Feb 20, 2021)

middle.road said:


> After she's done you're hesitant to mess it up again.


I've noticed that after my own cleanup efforts


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## middle.road (Feb 20, 2021)

hman said:


> I've noticed that after my own cleanup efforts


One of the top ten 'fine feelings' in a shop -  a clear floor.
When I broke down in July '19 and ended up with the car at the BILs place in Independence, MO I had the weekend with nothing to do.
He has a 50'x100' pole barn that he *GASP* really doesn't use much.
I spent the weekend straightening it out sweeping down one of the best laid floors I've ever seen, and getting the FILs '50s fire engine running.
Then on Monday, the d*mn shop tried to tell me that the Buick needed a new engine. BS.   
Hauled it to the barn and effected repairs there. (it was just the intake manifold coolant tube) 
It was sweet working with all that smooth wide open free space.


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## Aukai (Feb 20, 2021)

Could you just be quiet with all this nice nice floors, and plenty of space to work crap....


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## GunsOfNavarone (Feb 20, 2021)

I have one of those mangets in a metal tube which is great, then I realized I MOSTLY work in stainless with some occasional aluminum jobs... ugh.


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## Aukai (Feb 21, 2021)

YEP....


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## middle.road (Feb 21, 2021)

Aukai said:


> Could you just be quiet with all this nice nice floors, and plenty of space to work crap....


That was at the Brother-in-Laws place in MO. I wish I could have that building here, in the back yard. 
It isn't reaching it's full potential out there.


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