I was thinking yesterday about how often the lathes get lubricated and then it dawned on me that having abrasives in the close proximity to sliding way surfaces is perhaps not a good idea. I suppose that the lack of regular lubrication that the machinery gets may contribute more to their wear than whatever dust the grinding/sanding or whatever the stonework produces may produce, but it still seems a bad idea. Is there a plan to mitigate that? I doubt that anybody would want to deal with covers over the machines, but how else do we keep the grit from them?
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Covers, I like to make covers,but I have a long list of work to do first.
It’s a good idea to consider the dust issue. I am pretty sure though, that most of the grinding and cutting the jewelry folks do uses water or oil. I think our new space is a big improvement.
BillI don’t think covers are the answer… However I do think maybe putting up a partition like in the other metal shop would work, I’d be more worried with abrasives in the same room as the CNC machine. That’s just the machinist in me though…
I also agree that since the saws and the cab machine use oil and water when in operation there shouldn’t be issue with abrasives in the air to cause issues with the other machines on the room…
That being said… I have been heavily contemplating about looking into what it would take to do regular maintenance on the lathes, I need to find manuals. There is more to be desired out of those machines, and I’d like to put together some posters on how to calculate speeds and feeds for various materials when using the lathes.
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You are truly an asset we are all happy to have you.
Thanks all for enlightening me on the use of oil and water. That should sufficiently eliminate the risk of having that near the machines.
This isn’t knocking leadership at all but I’d say any routine cleaning and lubrication of the lathes would be good. I would say that most people are pretty decent about cleaning up after themselves but rarely does anybody wipe them down and apply new way lube. That’s probably the biggest need, imo.
It’s all our space, so if you see a need and have the experience to do so, contact the lead, make it happen, and log it as volunteer time
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@Souvuelle I think a lot of us do just that. I know I’ve swept the entire woodshop after cutting a little trinket on the bandsaw because it looked like nobody had cleaned up after themselves for a week. I know others do the same. Many if us only come in infrequently but do stuff like that when we do. It’s just that it doesn’t happen regularly and who knows how many people use a machine between oiling, for example.
Much ado about nothing. Many machinists grind ON THEIR LATHE. When turning a hardened material you often are left to use a tool post grinder. The side note would be they also take care to clean all the abrasives up before further use of the machine. The amount of dust from grinding in the same room as a machine is insignificant unless you are throwing all the dust directly on the ways, that would be a vice 2ft from the ways and all of the debris directed on the ways… It is good to keep them clean and oiled, but they are not so sensitive that they must be hospital clean. I run a welding and fab shop and our lathe is in good condition in the same room we grind and weld in… It’s been set up like this for over 30 years so I have relative confidence in my position.
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@jeff I wasn’t sure how much gets in the air. It looked like the grinding stuff is right next to the lathes and unlike using a tool post grinder, I don’t expect a person using one, if they did produce much dust would give a second thought to the machinery that they aren’t familiar with and don’t use. I grind on my lathe and use Emory cloth and but I cover the ways when grinding and wipe things down and re-lube after, as I would hope anyone would. But if there was a lot of abrasive that settled on the lathes, seeing how little care is given to even lube them I would expect some users to just go at it without wiping that dust off before use. I didn’t know that the grinding that’s done in the rock stuff is all wet, so I don’t think it’ll be an issue.
I honestly would be more worried about, hand held grinders throwing iron oxide on everything. Do we have a barrel that could have a hood fabricated to act as a grinding catch. I know it will take up space so there is that. If there is any interest I can make it.
The cabbing machine, and saws use a wet process that produces a slurry, and no dust.
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