Discussion on all milling machines vertical & horizontal, including but not limited to Bridgeports, Hardinge, South Bend, Clausing, Van Norman, including imports.
SteveHGraham wrote:Beats the aluminum foil I use. My mill looks like a baked potato.
But it works. I only cover my table when not in use. I use bath towel cast-offs from the house. The neoprene sheet is cool, but I haven't seen any for sale anywhere around here. Might be looking in the wrong places too.
Look at Walmart. I bought a mat made for putting under a treadmill. A bit thicker, and not as flexible, but I was after some liners for tool box drawers. Oil doesn't bother it.
They had some exercise mats there too....thinner neoprene, and may work better for you.
That plastic crap warmstrong linked to is the devil. It eats other types of plastic. Also, you can get it at Bed Bath & Beyond a whole lot easier than buying it online. Which you shouldn't.
SteveHGraham wrote:That plastic crap warmstrong linked to is the devil. It eats other types of plastic. Also, you can get it at Bed Bath & Beyond a whole lot easier than buying it online. Which you shouldn't.
Not sure what you are talking about, but the treadmill mats I bought are neoprene. They have no appetite.....for anything..... They were on sale a few years ago, and when I was looking, I was concerned that oil would eat them, but it was clearly written on the package, that they were neoprene.
The other exercise mats I saw, were also neoprene.
I don't think we are speaking of the same critters. Next time I wander Wally World....I'll take a look and if still there, I'll get some more detailed info.
If you put something plastic down on that, it may eat into it. They don't tell you that when you buy them to line your toolbox drawers.
Sorry....I misunderstood. I thought you were talking about the Walmart stuff I got, not that Waterloo junk. (I got it a Walmart too)
Never had it eat any anything.... I pitched it too soon to give it a chance. The stuff worked more like a tool wrap.....
I realized as I was about to start milling the jaws for my horizontal mill vice using the little 3" facemill it was going to make an epic mess. Right after I had just cleaned up. I didn't have time to buy anything, I had some pressboard there that I just cut up to fit and clamped down. It ended up working out so well that I have some 3/16" 6061 I am going to do it in now. Also made a deflector shield out of a 5 gallon paint bucked and another piece of pressboard that would fit around the vice. As you can see it worked well. I was very, very happy I had it. Amazing what you can do with a few dollars of material laying around the garage when you need something fast.
How it looked before I started. Dig that advanced polymer side shielding...err paint bucket..heh.
Why I was very, very happy I took the time to put it up.
My vacuum cleaner thanked me...also my back. The facemill chips actually melt into plastic and leave burn marks in things. Myself included.
Frank Ford mentioned the neoprene sheet idea long ago. That's when I adopted it for both my table and the vertical knee ways. I have quit using it on the table but keep the knee ways partially protected such that chips do not get between the ways and the knee dovetail. (I don't trust the wipers.)
SteveHGraham, do you really throw the tin foil away or do you reuse it to protect your head? Reuse seems more sensible. However, the cutting fluid dripping on my ears always bothered me a bit.