DIY lathe bed protector

**th62** · 4th September 2014, 07:38 PM

Today I’ve been working on a lathe bed protector, this is what I came up with: Mounted on the headstock, behind the chuck, is a piece of angle to which I welded a couple of brackets either end. I then shrunk a couple of slow speed self centering bearings into a couple of short pieces of 25mm PVC which I then shrunk onto the ends of a 240mm long piece of 19mm PVC pipe, I then mounted the assembly between the two brackets using ¼ “ bolts to locate inside the bearings.

To the 19mm PVC tube I riveted a piece of sarlon, then bolted a piece of aluminum angle to the front of the carriage and pop riveted the sarlon to the top of that. Roll up is controlled by a length of bricky’s string wound around the PVC pipe , the other end being attached to a weight, which slides inside a another piece of PVC pipe to keep it neat.

As the carriage is moved in, the weight rolls the sarlon around the 19mm PVC pipe keeping it taught. To remove any swarf, simply tap on the sarlon and the swarf bounces and slides off.

Obviously any hot swarf will melt the plastic, so, I’ll have to hunt around for something that won’t melt – I have a piece of oil impregnated canvas I might try.

There is about a 25mm gap between the sarlon and the bed, easily fixed by placing a roller guide on top of the sarlon to hold it down closer to the bed. I’m not too worried about chuck clearance though as I only intend on using it for milling and grinding operations.

To disconnect, simply wind the carriage in a little, lift the sarlon, undo the bolt (s) and allow the sarlon to wind up under the angle.

Video of the unit...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H64c...ature=youtu.be

**BobL** · 4th September 2014, 09:39 PM

I like it!

Some other ideas for heat resistant material might be fine SS mesh or maybe some graphite cloth?
The other thing that would be quite good and very flexible would be a piece of silicone impregnated fibreglass such as the stuff used by bakers as a non-stick rolling mat.

Porous could be handy so that coolant could penetrate thru it but it's probably not essential.

**th62** · 4th September 2014, 10:38 PM

I very rarely turn without coolant, I have a coolant system so might as well use it I suppose. But, accidents do happen so I will have to explore other mediums sooner or later. The silicon you mentioned, I'd imagine would be reasonably thick? The graphite cloth I'm not familar with, where do you get it?

**BobL** · 4th September 2014, 10:57 PM

Originally Posted by th62

I very rarely turn without coolant, I have a coolant system so might as well use it I suppose. But, accidents do happen so I will have to explore other mediums sooner or later. The silicon you mentioned, I'd imagine would be reasonably thick? The graphite cloth I'm not familar with, where do you get it?

Graphite slip cloth is available from some sanding suppliers but I think you will want something much thinner.
I'd start with ebay and aliexpress.

There is also some interesting fibreglass impreganated with teflon materials that can stand 200ºC.

**azzrock** · 5th September 2014, 10:12 AM

i was just thinking that if a lathe was mounted and operated up side down a lot of the swarf would fall away from the guides..

**Uncle Al** · 5th September 2014, 11:30 AM

Another couple of materials you might consider are vinyl upholstery from the likes of Clark Rubber or maybe Spotlight, and rubber backed curtain material, again from Spotlight etc. A nice floral design would look nice

Both are reasonably flexible, but heat would be a problem as per your shadecloth.

Alan...

**th62** · 5th September 2014, 12:25 PM

I'd be wary of using the protector when turning, not a lot different from leaving a chuck key in situ - nothing worse than using a chuck key as a tooth pick or a bunch of swarf as a face washer, I'd imagine!

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