# Chip Guard



## papermaker (Apr 7, 2013)

I was using my flycutter today and now my shop floor is covered with crunchy curls of steel. Has anyone made anything to corral these chips to a smaller area?


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## pineyfolks (Apr 7, 2013)

I took and old clothing rack and hung a small canvas over it . It keeps chips in one spot and you can move it from one machine to another and it's easy to store. It's nice when using an angle grinder too.


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## papermaker (Apr 7, 2013)

pineyfolks said:


> I took and old clothing rack and hung a small canvas over it . It keeps chips in one spot and you can move it from one machine to another and it's easy to store. It's nice when using an angle grinder too.



That's a good idea! I was wondering if you could heat 1/8" plexi-glass and bend it to a shallow "L" shape and attach it to some 1 1/2" aluminum angle


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## DMS (Apr 7, 2013)

Someone on here (can't remember who) made some small adjustable ones. They were small squares of acrylic or lexan on a metal rod, with a magnet base. Great Idea I thought. For a while I was using a large plastic storage bin with the bottom cut out. Place it over the vice. It worked pretty well. I have since retired that, and have purchased some 80/20 to build a nicer enclosure. 

Personally I don't mind sweeping that much, but I hate getting those smoking blue chips down my shirt, or on the inside of my elbow :yikes:


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## 8ntsane (Apr 8, 2013)

You could make some shields to contain most of the mess. I have a few I made up from scrap aluminum pieces, and milled a slot 1/8 wide for the Lexan to fit into. On the bottom side, I milled 4 spots where I used those mini magnets, and just pressed them in. The Lexan sheet can be bent in a brake without any heat, but plexi just breaks, even with heat. One other thing to remember, it all depends on the direction your attacking the work piece. If Im fly cutting, I will feed the table from right to left. That way it throws most of the chips at the mill, and not at you and surrounding area.

Sometimes I just grab the nearest card board box, they work pretty darn good for containing flying chips, and easy to modify to the job at hand. Even scrap sheetmetal can be made to shields in a pinch. As long as you don't allow it to be thrown all over the shop will help reduce the clean up time. I also have one of those magnetic broom. It has wheels on it with a handle, and a handle to lift up to release the swarf, they make clean up very quick when cutting steel.


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## coffeebean (Apr 8, 2013)

i bought 4 loc line shields to contain the chips and any cutters that may break and become projectiles. they have a magnetic base with loc line that holds a lexan square. they can be positioned in almost any orientation that you can think of. i got mine on ebay, fairly cheap.
dave


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## papermaker (Apr 10, 2013)

DMS said:


> Someone on here (can't remember who) made some small adjustable ones. They were small squares of acrylic or lexan on a metal rod, with a magnet base. Great Idea I thought. For a while I was using a large plastic storage bin with the bottom cut out. Place it over the vice. It worked pretty well. I have since retired that, and have purchased some 80/20 to build a nicer enclosure.
> 
> Personally I don't mind sweeping that much, but I hate getting those smoking blue chips down my shirt, or on the inside of my elbow :yikes:


I don't mind sweeping as much as the hot bullets too! Ouch!!


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## Splat (Apr 10, 2013)

Not really for chip control but for safety shields I used a few old motorcycle face shields I forgot I had in the garage. Don't know what they're made of...they're about 20years old but they've been working fine so far.


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## BobinWa (Apr 13, 2013)

With my mill (a jet bp clone) I use a acrylic sheet bolt mounted on the end of my Kurt 6" vise, it keeps the swarf away.


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## KMoffett (Apr 13, 2013)

papermaker said:


> That's a good idea! I was wondering if you could heat 1/8" plexi-glass and bend it to a shallow "L" shape and attach it to some 1 1/2" aluminum angle


I would recommend Lexan/polycarbonate over Plexiglas/acrylic. Acrylic can shatter into sharp fragments if struck. Polycarbonate is what they use for face shields, safety glasses...and bullet proof windows.

Ken


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## itsme_Bernie (Apr 13, 2013)

I have been using lexan/polycarbonate poxy'd to angle iron, bolted at the ends.  I'll pic later when I'm home.


Bernie


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