Curious what everyone else does after a swarf filled day

[shild]

Made good progress on my engine and had a very swarf filled day, now it's time to clean up. Curious what everyone else is doing cause I just had to push a piece of roundstock through my vacuum cleaners hose to unclog it for the 3rd time today. I'm wondering if there are people who drill with a lot more pecking than necessary just so that the springy pieces of swarf will be smaller and less likely to clog the vacuum cleaner hose? Or maybe some do the opposite and try to have the longest springs they can to pick up and put in trash by hand? Maybe some of you guys wait til there is a big swarf mess and scoop it all out at once? Trying to keep my vacuum cleaner hose as straight as I can in the hopes it doesn't clog at a curve. Is that the way to go?

[rudd]

Blow chips out of my hair with some air. Rake out the chip tray with a scrap of wood. Start with a broom and dustpan, or flat shovel if need be.
Try to not track chips in the house, those normal people tend to get upset when they have to pull steel splinters out of their feet. DAMHIKT

[JBodenmann]

Hello My Friends
I usually clean as I go. If I have to change or re position a part to be machined I will clean up between operations. Broom and dust pan for the large swarf on the floor and mill, and then the vac. Probably not the floor everytime, but usually several times a day. Perhaps I'm overdoing it but I like a tidy shop. I never use compressed air on metal chips. I know in a some of shops where you are always looking at the clock they clear chips with air. I have heard that using air to clear chips can be bad for digital read out scales. What are your thoughts on that?
Jack

[Greg_Lewis]

I'm with Jack. When I finish a particular phase of a project I put away all the tools that won't be used again that day and do a quick cleanup. Sometimes a cleanup will be motivated by too much stuff on the workbench. At the end of each work session all the tools get put away and the counters cleaned off. With this incremental method the end-of-day cleanup is rarely longer than 10 or 15 minutes. And it's much nicer to come out to a clean shop that is ready to go and where all the tools can be found. At the end of the day all the security gets set, thus I don't have to think about or try to remember whether it's secure should I leave the premises the next day.

[Bill Shields]

Cleanup? Sweep? Wassat?

No problem with chips in hair. Wear a cap...or go bald

[NP317]

I am also with Jack and Greg, cleaning as I go.
I sometimes get harassed for having a clean shop, but nobody ever complains about my product results.
Like many other things machining oriented, the process takes time.
Cleaning is part of that.
RussN

[Mike Walsh]

Don't use the vac to suck up the long stringy bits.

When cleaning, and the machinery OFF, use a pair of gloves to pull your stringy bits out.

My vacuum is a Ridgid vacuum with a 2" hose. I've never clogged it up, but I also know that if I try to vacuum long strands of stringy aluminum, it's gonna clog up my mill. If you bury your vacuum in a pile of chips to try and evacuate all the chips at once, you may clog it up.

The pile of chips stays on the chip tray under the lathe until it's time to clean up. It's a convenient pile that helps hold the oil Then when I feel like it's time for a little shop cleaning, the vacuum makes quick work of it.



I did some aluminum rocket motor components for a group project a few years ago. Lots and lots of stringy swarf, took up lots of space. When the work space got uncomfortable for me, stop the lathe, pull the swarf out, stuff it in a tough, "non-rippable" (yeah right) construction garbage bag, and get back to work. Filled two garbage bags machining 6" diameter chunks of aluminum. Was a good time. Motor performed well, btw

[milwiron]

I clean as I go. I chip-break to avoid long stringy chips.

Air?
I often use air to clean in my shop, never near abrasives or fine dust of any sort. I've never seen it hurt a DRO but it's certainly possible.

In the shop where I served my toolmaking apprenticeship (pre DRO's) we had Trav-A-Dials on everything. Definitely no air guns, chips blown in to a Trav-A-Dial was certain death to the gauge and Otto my very old school German Engineer boss would kill you. Side note, Otto was an Axis fighter pilot in WWII, lots of amazing stories.

Running SIP's (Swiss jig borers) with optical glass scales, definitely no air guns allowed, at all, in the same room with them. Not many people were trusted or trained to run the SIP's, the few of us who were were informed using air was instant termination.
Denny

[Pontiacguy1]

I clean stuff when it gets to the point it annoys me, which is usually when the floor starts getting pretty full of chips. I don't get that much shop time usually, so I sometimes have to quit after only getting about 1/3rd of the way done with a series of steps or a set of something. In those cases, I just walk off and leave it. I might sweep stuff into a small pile off to the side, but that's about it at that time.

I also use compressed air to blow chips off of the table, vise, or ways. I've never had a problem with it, although it does tend to scatter them farther and wider than they otherwise would. Worked in a plant with a fairly large Tool Room for nearly 20 years... Those guys, who were journeymen, used compressed air for most cleaning. I found that I usually ended up doing things in a lot of the same ways that they did. They would blow the chips off the machine and into the floor, then sweep the floor. That's what I do. I sometimes pick up or rake up the largest and longest chips first (USE GLOVES), and then sweep up the small stuff. We had 6 Bridgeport mills in that tool room, and 4 of them had DROs on them, of varying makes and ages. None of them ever gave problems.

[Mike Walsh]

Regarding compressed air, I generally only use canned air or the vacuum in my shop as I hate firing up my air compressor (it is so damned loud and takes forever to pump up), and quite frankly, I usually only need to blow a minute amount of chips away. I don't go super crazy with it. I probably go through more brake cleaner than air because cutting fluid doesn't get cleaned off the part entirely by air. I'll buy a 6 pack at Micro Center on discount then it'll last me the better part of a year, if not longer. Not to mention you can take the little can anywhere you want to go.

[gwrdriver]

I come in, change to my "house" shoes, and plop down in the big chair with a cuppa' tea and a cookie.

[kcameron]

If the day involved welding or machining with lube of any sort, mandatory shower to rid the smells. Otherwise I'm directed to find a different bed.