# Homemade chip shields



## Rick Leslie (Oct 21, 2012)

These are nothing fancy, but work great. I scavenged two magnetic bases from the trash and cut a couple of pieces of scrap lexan, screwed it all together and no more sweeping 4 feet from the mill after a cut.


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## 12bolts (Oct 21, 2012)

Rick,
Good design and clever thinking with the mag bases. Now you can position the shields exactly where you need them.

Cheers Phil


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## Jeffers (Oct 26, 2012)

Great idea!


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## Rick Leslie (Oct 28, 2012)

Thanks for the kind words. One thing my Granddad taught me was there's no such thing as junk. (Much to my wife's dismay.) :lmao:


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## 8ntsane (Oct 28, 2012)

Good thinking Rick
I made shields for my mill quite some time back, and I may not use them on every job, they sure are handy for the really messy jobs. They are nice when you have chips a flyin, and want to keep them Off of you, and contain the mess a bit better.

Mine are just a piece of 3/4 inch thick aluminum. I milled a 1/8 slot for the lexan to slip into. I milled 4 spots for those hi power magnets that are so popular these days, just hammered them in with a plastic hammer, works pretty good.


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## kp751 (Nov 15, 2012)

Thanks for sharing. Mine are in work....


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## johnny99 (Dec 7, 2012)

A very simple and ingenuis idea. I will make one for myself

John


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## Rick Leslie (Dec 8, 2012)

Thank you for the compliments. Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best. I happy to see others are able to benefit from my 'frugalness'. )


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## churchjw (Jan 26, 2013)

I made some of these out of .125" Lexan.  Riveted a piece of stainless angle on the bottom with a couple of rare earth magnets along the bottom to hold it in place. They really do the job. Had a piece of carbide about the size of my little finger nail pop off at 1500 rpms and hit one.  It stopped it before it hit me.  The safety glasses would have kept it out of my eyes but would have probably gotten a cut on my face from it without the shield.  Also use them to keep hot chip off me.   I made about 12 of these and have them all over the shop.  Easy to grab on and stick it where ever I need one.







Jeff


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## Ray C (Jan 26, 2013)

Sometimes I clip one on the carriage just above my hands to keep the blue chips off.  Oh those are hot little devils...

Good idea and thanks for passing that on to folks...


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## 8ntsane (Jan 26, 2013)

I made some shields from lexan a few yrs ago, and I must admit, they work very well at keeping hot chips, and oil off of me. Surprizingly, the lexan still is fairly clear to see through, even after everthing that has been thrown at them. The mag base idea appears to be a good solution. I made mine with a piece of aluminum out of the scrap bin. Milled a 1/8 slot for the lexan to sit in, then flipped it over, and milled for the magnets, and pressed them in. They worked fine, but unlike the mag base, I cant just flip the lever and have the swarf release like the mag base can.


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## mark spencer (Feb 3, 2013)

looks like this is going to be my next project. thanks to all who posted.


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## Philco (Feb 3, 2013)

Another chip shield out of lexan. Same principle but a different way of mounting. I took a Dremel type tool & cut out the profile of the mill vice all the way down to the table & cut two slots in the shield. I installed two bolts loosely in the front & rear of the vice & just slip the shield in & out. I'll attach some pictures that will explain it better than I can describe it. Thanks to everyone that posted pictures of their shields as this gave me the motivation to make my own. It's made clean up a lot easier & it also keeps the hot chips out of my shirt & off my skin.


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## 8ntsane (Jun 2, 2013)

Here is a few pics of the ones I made out of pieces of scrap aluminum.
The bottom has 4 magnets pressed into them, and the top is just a 1/8 wide slot milled across it.


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## hman (Jun 3, 2013)

I'll add two ideas to the mix.

First off, for my X2 mill (Harbor Freight 44991), I found that the stiff factory shield was constantly getting in the way of either fixtures or parts.  I had some thick flexible clear vinyl hanging around (was once a part of a boat top, approx. .040-.060" thick).  I cut a suitable rectangle out, screwed it to an aluminum bar, and mounted it on the mill in place of the original.  It's thick enough to stop swarf and lubricants, and will very probably slow down any shards of exploded tooling before they can get to me.  I suppose I could sandwich two sheets for double the protection.:thinking:




The second kinda violates the "homemade" aspect of the thread, but hey, safety is safety!  It's a Lexan shield connected to a magnet with Loc-Line.  The attached photo is from a manual I wrote for some rose engines I was manufacturing in '09.  Current sources include Enco and MSC:
http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INPDFF?PMPAGE=1059&PARTPG=INLMK32
http://www.mscdirect.com/product/09777905?fromRR=Y
http://www.mscdirect.com/product/09777921?fromRR=Y


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## Cheeseking (Jun 3, 2013)

Philco said:


> Another chip shield out of lexan. Same principle but a different way of mounting. I took a Dremel type tool & cut out the profile of the mill vice all the way down to the table & cut two slots in the shield. I installed two bolts loosely in the front & rear of the vice & just slip the shield in & out. I'll attach some pictures that will explain it better than I can describe it. Thanks to everyone that posted pictures of their shields as this gave me the motivation to make my own. It's made clean up a lot easier & it also keeps the hot chips out of my shirt & off my skin.



OMG Creepy...... I just finished making a shield yesterday.  Then today check in on the forum and see yours.    Geniuses must think alike!!  Hehe


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## BKtoys (Jun 3, 2013)

hi guys  here is my chip shield on my taig cnc machine. i like all the others also they give me ideas for my other machines. thanks a lot for sharing ideas!!!!!!!!!!!1


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## Rick Leslie (Jun 3, 2013)

I hate to admit it took me about 25 years of dodging chips to come up with mine. These are all great ideas. I hope everyone finds the info useful. I also like the enclosure on the little CNC mill. I've got a Sherline that needs a coolant system and some way to contain it.


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## Rockytime (Jun 3, 2013)

Hi Rick,
Thanks for the reminder. My drill press has had the belt guard removed and I can't remember what I did with it. I need to make a shield. I have LONG hair and want to avoid getting scalped!
Les


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## BKtoys (Jun 3, 2013)

Rick Leslie said:


> I hate to admit it took me about 25 years of dodging chips to come up with mine. These are all great ideas. I hope everyone finds the info useful. I also like the enclosure on the little CNC mill. I've got a Sherline that needs a coolant system and some way to contain it.



hi rick  i built that encloser at first to keep the chips in i finally got smart and resin coated the floor of my box the back is white waterproof peg board the sides are acrylic as well as the front, it's 2 pieces. the one upright has a saw cut 1/2" deep ,the front also has a saw cut a 1/2" deep also.i resin coated everything below all of the acrylic. i do use fluid mist.))


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## 8ntsane (Jun 3, 2013)

BKtoys

Nice looking job on the chip shield / enclosure :thumbzup:


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