Thread: lathe cleaning

First question I have to ask is how often do you clean it down.
My self I normally use a paint brush or similar to clean the swarf off.I only clean mine well once or twice a year.
Then I will go over it with usually Turps and wipe off the excess with a rag,then oil the ways.
I also move the Cross Slide as far as it will go and clean around the Screw with a small magnet,I then oil the Screw.
In regards to the Gears I leave them, I dont remove any lube from them and every couple of months give them a squirt with chain lube.
Generally I dont clean the machine very often at all (shock/horror).
I find that I mainly clean it up after I have finished machining the parts that I am making or if there is to much swarf build up.
I do give the lathe a brush over and remove swarf when I change the materials that I am using,namely Brass,Bronze, Ali.
When I machine Cast Iron I give the ways and associated parts a better clean.
In general my machine could be covered in swarf ,oil and coolant for weeks at a time.
This is my case and I dont see the point in cleaning it spotless after every use,but then again I am not particular about the appearence of this or any of my machines as long as they work as they should and work well.

I use a paint brush to clean the chips away then a vacuum cleaner to clean the chips out of the cap head screws and other places like that..

I do not keep the lathe spotless but I keep it clean...

unfortunately i dont have a shed so the lathe lives under a large back verandah. Even with it covered it still seems to collect dust etc and a venture into turning cast prompted the brake cleaner exercise. Im using compressor oil for the ways but it seems to get crud stuck there easily hence the more frequent cleaning

I use my hercus for making bagpipes so there is a combination of metal turning (for making tools - reamers, d-drills etc) and wood turning. Generally, I clean the lathe of dwarfs...er...swarf at the end of each day of turning (my boss when I was a watch-maker's right-hand man instilled the 'A good craftsman always keeps his workshop clean' philosophy)...for wood turning, the hoover comes out...for metal turning, I got this magnet thing off e-bay with a lever handle that operates like a really mini version of those big magnets used for picking up and dropping scrap metal, to clean the big stuff, then the dust and pan, then the hoover. about once a month I take off the carriage and wipe down the bed, clean under the carriage. As for the tailstock, I often take it off when I have to do long-boring of bagpipe bores so it gets a wipe-down off its runners quite frequently.

The other factor that requires frequent cleaning of lathe and surrounds is that I live in a very small rental property with a single garage which serves as the workshop (car stays outside) but also the laundry drying facility. So bits of sharp curly steel mixed in with itchy wood shavings on the floor under where the laundry hangs don't go down too well with my wife

After it's clean, I give it a wipe down with engine oil. It's a 50 year old lathe so I don'tworry too much about special cleaners. When I first bought it 8 months ago, kerosene did a great job of removing the crud that had built up.