Chip containment

[Cold Fusion]

Hey everyone,

The bridgeport mill has been working great, although that leaves me with an ever-growing problem of chips. They are EVERYWHERE. Right now there are two possible solutions. Either build up plastic gaurds around the entire 55x15 table, or hook up a powerful shop vac near the spindle. What route do you think I should go with?

[Ken_Shea]

Andrew,
My Haas is similar to your Bridgeport in that it is an open machine, however I did purchase with it a shield that is open in the back, top and simply goes around the sides and front, there are double sliding door is in front, this does a real nice job of containing both chips and coolant splash.

I can take a picture if that would help so you can see what it exactly is.

Ken

[Cold Fusion]

That would be great. Can you also tell me where you bought it?

[Ken_Shea]

Andrew,
It was purchased with the machine, it is well built, however way over priced for what it is, in retrospect I have it and did not have to fool around making one which may or may not have gotten done any time soon.

I would think you could make one similar with out a great deal of trouble.

The entire unit attaches directly to the table using two SHCS at each end of the table so you might have to drill and tap for that.

[arsenix]

My R2E4 series II CNC came with a plexiglass shield that bolts to the T slots in the table. It is about a foot high, and encloses the front and sides. It opens in the front, and can also easily be removed. I supplemented it with a small 6" high shield in the back. This setup works pretty well.

Look for pics of R2E4's on the net. You might be able to fashion something yourself, or you might be able to find a used one on ebay.

james