# Chip Clean Up



## AGCB97 (Jul 18, 2016)

Looking for an easier, faster way to clean chips from machines. I use a shop vac on the metal parts which works OK but my ways are protected w/ fabric and the vac try's  to suck it up too.

I saw a guy on YouTube that had a magnetic stick that looked like it worked good. An electromagnetic one seems like it would be very good.

Any 1st hand experience or suggestions?

Thanks
Aaron


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## Paul in OKC (Jul 18, 2016)

As you know, clean up ain't near as fun as makin' the mess! Magnet works ok for some clean up. I tend to just brush them off on the floor and sweep or vac.


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## WesPete66 (Jul 19, 2016)

Yeah I'm tired of fishing important items back out of the shopvac too.. 
Was picking up toys after the kidses lately and saw they have these little wisp brooms ~ 4" wide with matching little dust pans just the same size, even snap together. They came from the dollar store. I'm getting myself one or two to keep around the workbench & lathe.


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## kd4gij (Jul 19, 2016)

One of these should work great.
http://www.harborfreight.com/long-reach-magnetic-pickup-tool-with-quick-release-93950.html


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## intjonmiller (Jul 25, 2016)

The magnetic stick was probably on ueee84's videos. He says they're only available in Australia. Very cool, and could easily be made with some pvc, magnet, and so forth. He even briefly described how he would make one in a comment on one of his videos. It's more compact than the HF unit for sure. 

I have some very fine enameled wire I kept from, what else, a small shop vac motor, specifically for making an electromagnet for cleaning up metal bits. One of these days...


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## epanzella (Jul 25, 2016)

I use a 4 inch paintbrush to push chips into the pan and then a 1/16th inch thick x 1.5" leg piece of angle iron to scoop them forward into a garbage can. Aluminum & brass magnets are too expensive for me.


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## 4GSR (Jul 25, 2016)

To go along with using paint brushes to brush off chips into the chip pan.  I have a heavy pair of leather gloves I use to help shovel out chips along with a square blade shovel.  The small needle like chips will not stick to leather all the years of doing so.  The square blade shovel, or I think some people call them "coal shovels" are a must when handling large amounts of chips.


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## AGCB97 (Jul 28, 2016)

I bought a cheap hand held thing off ebay that works OK for cleaning the fabric on my mill but a stick with on/off switch would be better. Next time I go to HF I'll get one of the floor units on wheels for quick pick up during jobs. I hate walking on chips


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## Micke S (Jul 28, 2016)

I pick long chips by hand and wipe most of the rest to the tray. Then it is time for the shop-vac.  The last step is to clean the machine with a micro fiber cloth and lube the ways. The whole operation doesn't take more than 5 minutes. Looking at old machines it seems as too many feels it a waist of time.


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## kd4gij (Jul 28, 2016)

Someone on this forum. Made a magnetic pickup tool using a piece copper tubing with a end cap. It had round magnets on a rod to pull up and release the chips.

 Here is a video.


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## AGCB97 (Aug 30, 2016)

I got 2 things that work great. One from EBAY is like the one in post #10, about 15" long, good magnet and cleans itself well. Great for cleaning my fabric way shields.  The other is the 30" Harbor Freight floor sweep that is way better at cleaning the floor of chips than I expected and cleans itself well and easy (save the shipping box to empty chips into). I'm all set now!
Aaron


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## uncle harry (Aug 30, 2016)

kd4gij said:


> Someone on this forum. Made a magnetic pickup tool using a piece copper tubing with a end cap. It had round magnets on a rod to pull up and release the chips.
> 
> Here is a video.



That was Tubalcain or mrpete222, his alternate web ego.


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## TOOLMASTER (Aug 30, 2016)

big piles are easy by hand


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## pstemari (Sep 5, 2016)

I made one with a neodymium magnet in a steel holder and an outer aluminum housing.  Still need to make a handle for it, but it works pretty good.  I need to shave more off the front plate and increase the pullback distance for dumping chips.


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## higgite (Sep 5, 2016)

Hi Aaron,

I ran into a similar problem when I first tried vacuuming chips off of the accordion style rubber way covers on my mill. The vacuum’s suction is so strong it seals itself off with the way cover. But, I discovered that the hose has a plastic collar that you can turn to expose an opening in the side of the hose and regulate suction pressure. Now I can get it to suck up chips without sucking up the way cover. Mine vac is Ridgid brand. I don’t know if other brands have the same feature or not. Maybe yours does? A vac works a lot better than a magnet on aluminum chips. 

Tom


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## Tozguy (Sep 5, 2016)

Mostly I use an old paintbrush to sweep chips into the chip pan. Then sweep them into piles and scoop up the piles with a thin ss fried egg spatula (or by hand when the chips are long and ball up).
The ways get wiped down with a paper towel.
A shop vac is used to get in tight spots and when chips are too fine to handle otherwise.
A magnet placed in the bottom of a bread bag is used to pick chips off of the floor mat and cement floor. 
When turning cast iron without lube, the shop vac is used to pick up chips right from the cutting tool while turning.


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## Tozguy (Sep 5, 2016)

higgite said:


> Hi Aaron,
> 
> I ran into a similar problem when I first tried vacuuming chips off of the accordion style rubber way covers on my mill. The vacuum’s suction is so strong it seals itself off with the way cover. But, I discovered that the hose has a plastic collar that you can turn to expose an opening in the side of the hose and regulate suction pressure. Now I can get it to suck up chips without sucking up the way cover. Mine vac is Ridgid brand. I don’t know if other brands have the same feature or not. Maybe yours does? A vac works a lot better than a magnet on aluminum chips.
> 
> Tom



For those without a suction bleeder on the shop vac like Tom mentions, try notching the mouth of the nozzle to allow air in and prevent it sealing to the way cover.


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## Rick Leslie (Sep 5, 2016)

I use a combination of all of the above. Just depends on the situation. Long, curlies are retrieved by gloved hands. Heavy chips in big piles get the magnet treatment and nonmagnetic pieces get a quick brushing. The shop vac gets the remains and I notched the nozzle as Tozguy mentioned. (Although it was accidental, it still works great.)

Before I picked up one of the magnets with the on-off switch, I used a heavy magnet with a sock over it. Chips readily stuck to the sock but were easily removed by pulling the sock off the magnet. I never through anything away so I have a large supply of old, worn out socks.


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## Wreck™Wreck (Sep 10, 2016)

Todays job left 15 pounds of 954 bronze chips in the lathe, naturally a magnet does not work and bronze chips are about the size of grains of sand and fly everywhere.

I put a piece of small flexible hose on the coolant nozzle and hose it down like a senior citizen hosing off his sidewalk then shoveled the mess out of the pan. This machine has a chip pan that slides out like a drawer so it is quite easy.


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## Subwayrocket (Sep 10, 2016)

I've had good luck putting up things that will catch the chips before they fly everywhere . I use cardboard as seen in the pics below. In addition to the rubber mat I have over the ways, I lay painters paper over the rubber way covers. It comes in a 12" roll for a few bucks at Lowes . When i'm done, there's little brushing...just roll up the mess and it sops some of the cutting oil too .

This is the time saver, not having to shop vac nearly as much, and about 90% less cutting fluid everywhere. Roll up the oil sopped, chip covered painters paper and toss it. 2 minutes to set this up cuts my cleanup time in half or better .  YMMV

I use neodymium magnets to hold the painter paper and cardboard in place (also shown in the pics). They hold it very well.  Here is a link to those magnets  https://amzn.com/B01F866W7U 

Then I shop vac whatever little bit has gotten by. I also use a floor sweep magnet for steel and tiny shards i cant see...they love to become a splinter !  That magnet is a Hillman 542014 with telescoping handle. It's about 13" wide, small, light, it's decent but I think there's probably better ones available.
I have seen others that have cheap shower curtains strung up...seems to work well.


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## Wreck™Wreck (Sep 10, 2016)

We have a 2 axis mill, I think it is called called a Prototrak, similar in size to a Bridgeport knee mill without the knee, the spindle moves on the column. It has the folding way covers which are a chore to clean after 8 hours of chip creation per day. This is annoying at best.

We also have 3 Bridgeport 2 axis knee mills with no way covers, some are 25 or more years old. This morning one of these mills interpolated four 8" OD X 5 1/2" ID X 1/2" thick bronze parts from flat stock, I put them in a lathe because they had a tapered bore, 6" to 5.875" 1/4" long.
The 20 year old mill without way covers ran the circle within .010 TIR. I had the guy that milled it look at the indicator when the part was in the lathe, he was amazed that it was that close to round, it had the typical errors at 12, 3, 6, and 9 on the clock when the ball screws change direction.

My point being that going through a good deal of trouble and installing the terribly annoying bellows way covers is not worth it if you do not run the machine 30 or more hours per week.


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## Subwayrocket (Sep 10, 2016)

Didnt mean installing bellows or way covers. These are just harbor freight rubber roll that you lay on the table...and painter paper you lay over that. A few pieces of cardboard to stop the flying chips. 
Not much trouble to go thru, takes about 2 minutes. Saves alot of time in cleanup.  

Yes the bellows are a Pita ...but they were already installed and painter paper gets laid over that too. 
Be careful with fabric. If it catches something unexpectedly , it can pull you in ...lol


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## JimDawson (Sep 11, 2016)

You guy are much too neat.  This is an afternoon run of UHMW parts, about 55 gal of chips.

They just get vacuumed up when the run is complete, aluminum and steel the same.


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## brino (Sep 11, 2016)

JimDawson said:


> This is an afternoon run of UHMW parts, about 55 gal of chips.



Jim, It looks like you somehow shaved a bear using your mill! 

-brino


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## Smithdoor (Sep 11, 2016)

I use a shop vac if set shop vac outside it take the smoke out too. 

Dave

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AGCB97 said:


> Looking for an easier, faster way to clean chips from machines. I use a shop vac on the metal parts which works OK but my ways are protected w/ fabric and the vac try's  to suck it up too.
> 
> I saw a guy on YouTube that had a magnetic stick that looked like it worked good. An electromagnetic one seems like it would be very good.
> 
> ...


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## xaidin (Sep 13, 2016)

I know it makes me a bad person, but I use air.


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## Subwayrocket (Sep 13, 2016)

xaidin said:


> I know it makes me a bad person, but I use air.


  sometimes it's a necessary evil ...haha


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## pstemari (Sep 13, 2016)

Finally got around to finishing the handle for my chip magnet. I'm pretty happy with it.




Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk


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## RJSakowski (Sep 13, 2016)

I use a dustpan and brush for the bulk of the chips.  On the lathe, I pull out the chips from under the bed with piece of flat stock and follow with dustpan brush.  This will get almost all of the bigger chips and most of the rest.  The ShopVac will do the remainder.  When I use flood coolant on the mill, I clean up the bulk of the chips with the brush and wash the mill down with a length of pvc hose slipped over my coolant nozzle for the remainder.  If the mill will not be used for a few days, I will then use air to push remaining coolant from the table, using care not to direct the blast towards moving machined surfaces and wipe down with a rag.  Brushing in the direction of the bellows folds removes almost all the chips.  Long term inactivity warrants a protective oil coat.


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## Smithdoor (Sep 13, 2016)

xaidin said:


> I know it makes me a bad person, but I use air.


I use air when someone else lathe or mill
In my shop I use vacuum only after having to replace bearings

Dave


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## TakeDeadAim (Sep 13, 2016)

Guess I am just old school,  I buy chip brushes, by the case, from the hardware store and use them to get most chips to the pan and floor then use a broom and vac to pick them up.  I also have a few "hooks" made from round stock and one with a 2x4" piece of flat stock welded to a 1/4' rod, (sized determined by available stainless scrap, and use them to pull and poke chips that get impacted in the lathe.  I do have a couple pieces of lexan screwed to some home made magnetic bases, ( aluminum stock with cut outs for e-bay purchased neo magnets about 5/8" dia x .130" thick, milled into them; magnets are held in place with epoxy.)  They work great to defect chips away from areas I don't what them and make piles that are easier to pick up.  After having worked on many machines from shops that used compressed air to remove chips I wont do it on my machines.


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## Cheeseking (Sep 13, 2016)

xaidin said:


> I know it makes me a bad person, but I use air.


Hey If its your machine your not bad!
But stay out of my shop


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