Chip Clean Up

AGCB97

AGCB97

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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
 
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.
 
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. :encourage:
 
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...
 
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.
 
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.
 
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
 
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.
 
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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