Swarf Magnet for the milling table slots and other small areas.

[jjr2001]

This swarf magnet is made of telescoping brass tubing. The business end of the large
outer brass tube is sealed by soldering a copper plug in place.
The magnets were left over from my model airplane stuff and were used
to retain canopies and hatches. Quite strong. I put 5 of them in the inner tube.
A short piece of UHMW was turned to insert in the end for a handle.
The grommet is to "trap" the swarf as the magnet is pulled up into the main tube.
Then it is a simple matter to shake or brush off the chips into the chip can.

Picks up the steel filings from the T-slots in the mill table and other tight areas.

Don't know why I waited so long to make these. They are quite helpful in the shop.

Cheers, JR

[thehomeengineer]

Hi JR
They are great. Saves having to touch the swarf with your hands and definetly speeds up cleaning of machine/floor/swarf try etc, I haven't done this yet but when I next use my clarkson tool and cutter grinder I am going to try and position it to prevent the very fine steel grinding dust getting all over the machine. I have also finished the lantern chuck and will try and post this week.
The Home Engineer

[jjr2001]

Looking forward to seeing your lantern chuck.
I think the swarf magnet should collect some of the grinding swarf.
Might need to seal the sliding shaft with some tape to keep the fine dust out of there.

Cheers, JR

[tonyfoale]

when I next use my clarkson tool and cutter grinder I am going to try and position it to prevent the very fine steel grinding dust getting all over the machine.

On my T&C grinder I built a cover around the wheel leaving just enough cutaway to allow access, I connect a shop vac to the cover and it sucks air in through the access hole and collects ALL the dust.

Click thumbnails for full size pix.

Wheel cover showing access hole. The outer cover is held on with tape because it was easy and works fine. Not shown in these pix is a tube at the rear to which the shop vac is connected.

[jjr2001]

Nice one Tony, that setup is better than you see on most commercial dust collection setups.

Thanks for posting.

Cheers, JR

[olderdan]

I agree a vacuum is the way to go, each to his own of course but I am not a fan of magnets around machinery so I use a shop vac to clean my machines, never use an air gun either. The vac will pick up all types of swarf and dust and cleans out cap screws a treat. I use it on my cutter grinder while in use as carbide dust is not something you want to ingest. The only downside is that it will pick up some things you did not want it to but at least you know where it went.

[tonyfoale]

I use a shop vac to clean my machines, never use an air gun either.

Alan, that could be me talking.

The vac will pick up all types of swarf and dust and cleans out cap screws a treat. I use it on my cutter grinder while in use as carbide dust is not something you want to ingest. The only downside is that it will pick up some things you did not want it to but at least you know where it went.

I made a cyclone which dumps all but fine dust in a bucket before it gets to the vac. So anything inadvertently picked up is easy to find.

[thehomeengineer]

Thank you Tony
Certainly something to consider.
The Home Engineer

[thehomeengineer]

On the topic of a vacuum, I must agree they do a great job, but used in conjunction with the magnet certainly clears the big stringing staff away first which prevents the vacuum hose tube from blocking. Very fustrating.

The Home Engineer

[tonyfoale]

I made a cyclone which dumps all but fine dust in a bucket before it gets to the vac. So anything inadvertently picked up is easy to find.

Here are a couple of pix of the shop vac with the cyclone. It is not optimised I am sure, but it was easy to make from a metal bucket and it keeps almost everything from getting into the vac, and I hardly ever have to clean the filter.

Click thumbnails for full size.

I have a smaller vac which I use on a bead blaster, the one pictured is just too powerful for the blaster. Some fine dust (broken beads) would get through to the vac filter. Last week I needed to use the blaster and I started playing with bubbling the evacuated air through water to trap the dust but the system needed more development so I tried a very simple method instead. I just put about 50 mm of water in the bottom of the cyclone tub. It exceeded my expectations and hardly any dust got through to the vac filter.