# Cheap solution for homemade way cover wiper



## Shawn_Laughlin (Sep 10, 2019)

I’ve started building telescopic way covers for my machine and when I was doing all of my researching there was always one question that never answered completely.....

What to use for wipers? And the replies were suggestions of names of companies that will sell them to you but there are no prices on there web pages,only email for a quote. Well for a person like me doing this as a hobby and from experience, most items that you have to get a quote for, are usually way to expensive. 


Well in that time Ive seen many great, EXPENSIVE solution but nothing with the hobbies in mind, until maybe today.
While digging on a shelf at work, in the tool room , I seen something that looked damn near identical to what was suggested except for half pennies on the dollar,but so much more convenient. They can be gotten at any hardware store, Lowe’s, home dept and so on.

I have been over thinking this part of the build 
so much that when I seen them I started to kick myself in the a$$,bc it was so obvious.

Door weather strip for the bottom part of a regular door that you would use on your house. This was like 5 or 6 dollars. I think for 5 or 6 dollars all you could buy was a hello and maybe a laugh as the suggested places hung up on you. I’m just joking a bit but really I think someone looking for wipers could really utilize these in there design. At least I know I will.

If someone has already mentioned this or read this anywhere I would like to know?  The only other suggestion was just a piece of rubber acres down with a metal strap. This is much better.


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## Shawn_Laughlin (Sep 10, 2019)

Here’s a better illustration


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## Richard King 2 (Sep 12, 2019)

GREAT IDEA!!  You may want to open it up occasionally and check to make sure the crud isn't getting in.  But that looks like a super Idea.  Thanks for sharing.


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## Shawn_Laughlin (Sep 12, 2019)

Thank you Richard. When a master tool builder and instructor says great idea, that makes my day. When I get my covers built i am going to post them bc I would Like to get everyone’s opinion bc I’m going in a little different direction than others or at least from the designs I’ve seen. I’m using dovetail slides and no scissor bc the stacking of the flat bar when the scissor is closed takes up too much valuable travel towards the headstock and I see no way around it. But,I’m taking my time to try to get it right on the first try “rarely goes that way”, so if you know what I’m talking about and know a way around it I’m all ears or eyes in this case.


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## AndySomogyi (Oct 4, 2019)

That’s a great idea, love it. The ways are screwed up on my mill because prev owner installed a DRO, but forgot to put the ways wipers back on, and chips tore the crap out of the ways.

I stated making some new ones out of aluminum and use it to sandwich rubber sheet in there, but this rubber has a better geometry to wipe chips away very well, just like a windshield wipers. 

I’ll definitely look into these after I finish fixing my ways.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro


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## Shawn_Laughlin (Oct 5, 2019)

I was starting to wonder if anyone besides 1 member found this thread helpful. Well I’m glad you found it Randy and thanks. I looked at the door seal right next to a way wiped and one I compared it to was almost identical,the only difference was the door seal was wider and I just ripped the length of it with a razor knife,then it was identical. It’s amazing how much the so called real ones will cost so I’m extremely happy it’s helping others out and that was the purpose on starting it. So I hope it works well for you. Good luck


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## GrayTech (Oct 5, 2019)

Great idea. Looking at the profile i thought a piece of that either side of the carriage on hinges and spring loaded to press down against the ways.


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## AndySomogyi (Oct 6, 2019)

Shawn_Laughlin said:


> I was starting to wonder if anyone besides 1 member found this thread helpful. Well I’m glad you found it Randy and thanks. I looked at the door seal right next to a way wiped and one I compared it to was almost identical,the only difference was the door seal was wider and I just ripped the length of it with a razor knife,then it was identical. It’s amazing how much the so called real ones will cost so I’m extremely happy it’s helping others out and that was the purpose on starting it. So I hope it works well for you. Good luck



The geometry of these rubber seals are perfect for wiping chips. My only concern is what kind of rubber are these weather sealing door strips, and how well will they hold up under different kinds of cutting lube and way oil. I think (but not 100% sure) that neoprene holds up well with oils, and I've got a feeling these weather strips are in fact neoprene.


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## Shawn_Laughlin (Oct 17, 2019)

Good point and I now have piece sitting in some Schaeffer iso 68 way lube and was going to give it a couple weeks submerged to see if it compromises the rubber and just keep it in there and continue to keep an eye on it. I will report back this afternoon when I get off work. It’s been in the oil for about a week now.


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## Shawn_Laughlin (Oct 25, 2019)

Sorry guys,if anyone is following this, I totally forgot to update y’all when I got off work, but hey at least the wipers have been in the oil for that much longer. I am happy to say that they have not been effected in the least. No swelling,no color change,not brittle and it feels the same as the control piece I had sitting on top of container. So now it’s been over two weeks and still going strong. I will check back after another inspection in a couple weeks and then if they last that long with no Ill effects I’m confident in saying the material is good to go for wipers.


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## Shawn_Laughlin (Oct 25, 2019)

And I built some covers with dovetail slides but the way I have the dro installed and not much room on the backside I removed them,plus in order to install wipers I would have to have a good gap between slide plates and that would my clearance beneath chuck. Luckily I build foam bladder tanks for digger fighting and can get as much neoprene coated Kevlar as I want basically and made some temp covers while i think on how to make bellows style covers with this stuff or a roll up cover. I’ll probably go with homemade roll up design.


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## Shawn_Laughlin (Oct 25, 2019)

Here’s the telescopic I could still complete in the future


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## Shawn_Laughlin (Oct 25, 2019)

Here they are working.


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## cjtoombs (Oct 25, 2019)

I like way covers more than way wipers.  Felt wipers aren't too hard to make, I made three replacements for a G&E shaper.  I've been doing some experimentation on 3D printing leadscrew covers and way wipers.  Not there yet, my printer is not ideal for flexible (Bowden extruder) so the print quality hasn't been great and the print times are slow.  I think an extruder at the print head would help the speed, but I need to to more trial and error on design, print temps, material and such to get there.


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## Shawn_Laughlin (Nov 1, 2019)

3D printing would be my preferred method if I had the choice for dang sure. printing another if you happen to break one vs having to machine “unless cnc vmc” out of aluminum on my small machine,yeah printing is the way to go.


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## vocatexas (Apr 30, 2020)

Shawn, thanks for posting this. I'm about to start refurbing three lathes and I may steal your idea and use it on them.


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