# G4003G Chronicles #2 - Way cover and Lexan chip guard



## coolidge (Mar 9, 2014)

When I cleaned the lathe in prep for the DRO install all the chips and muck down in that area where the bed gap is bolted down was a pain in my ass to clean out, I picked up some stainless sheet at my local hardware store to cover this area. I have attached for now with industrial double sided tape, we'll see how this works. The carriage slides right over this no problemo.




Next...chips hitting me in the face, embedding in my shirt, and flinging out into the shop got on my last nerve so I decided to order a lathe guard...(googles lathe guards) seriously $200 to $500 for a plastic lathe guard? :think1:I hit the hardware store for supplies, first up part off the top of this ground 3/8 shoulder bolt.




That's better, I need some more room left of the threads...done!




Stainless fender washers check, rubber washers check, 8x10 Lexan check




And there she is a chip guard for $9 I rewarded myself with a tall cold one.




Since I do a fair bit of wood working I also picked up a lathe cover to keep the saw dust off, green lathe it had to be a cammo cover!




Finally all this lathe stuff my tool boxes were jammed full so I picked up this nice unit at Costo the other day, perfect. No more jamming all manner of oil cans and crap in the chip tray. That's all for this one.


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## epanzella (Mar 11, 2014)

Great post. I have the same lathe and, yes, it sux cleaning out oil soaked swarf from right under the chuck. I will steal your idea. I also like the mag base for the chip guard.


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## darkzero (Mar 12, 2014)

Nice, I have a similar chip shield & machine covers too (not camo though but with magnets).

How do you like that tool box? I have been eyeing that box at Costco for a while now.


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## coolidge (Mar 12, 2014)

At $399 I feel that toolbox is a great value compared to other boxes I looked at. None of the others were stainless, none had the wood bench top and I like that for the lathe so I can keep the chip tray free of clutter and avoid putting stuff up on the headstock tray. I like how wide the upper drawers are 27" internal so my 24" rule fits in there without jamming it in half sideways. Its heavier than it looks and larger than it looks. At first glance I thought the wheels looked cheesy, they still "look" cheesy but they are actually quite heavy casters and all four swivel with 2 locking. If you have looked at them you know you are not getting heavy ball bearing guides or anything but they hold quite a bit of weight. I loaded one up with all my 12" long aluminum/brass rounds of various sizes and its fine. Also you get drawer liners for all the drawers and 8 plastic parts bins that fit in side troughs of the lower drawers.

WARNING: The bolts are not bagged they are just laying loose in one of the blue bins in a lower drawer so before you go tipping it upside down to put the wheels on remove them so you don't have to remove the drawers to fish them out of the bottom.


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## coolidge (Mar 12, 2014)

*EDIT:* On the stainless cover you need to leave a gap along the front way, its tempting to cut the sheet to fit the entire flat area but the way wiper needs to travel along that front way, there's about 3/16 of an inch left to fix the tape to. If you look at the picture carefully you will see what I mean.


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## darkzero (Mar 13, 2014)

Thanks for info! The drawers/slides is what I was wonder about the most since at my Costco the box was on the second shelf I could not reach to open them. Was also curious about how thick the stainless was. Funny you mentioned the wheels, when I first saw it with my little brother, I told him, "look, I never seen a tool box with custom wheels before, haha". Still seems like a great deal though.


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## coolidge (Mar 13, 2014)

Have Costo pull one down and open it up so you can inspect it, they have one unboxed and assembled on display at my Costco.


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