Drill press; how to collect steel shavings

Dec 06, 2004 11 Replies

I own a drill press and a shop vac.



I would like to somehow make a nice way to vacuum off the metal shavings right away as I drill stuff, They fly away everywhere and that is disgusting.



Does anyone know of some nice way to do that?Can I buy some flexible arm that could be attached to ceiling joists and be adjustable and hold stuff like vacuum cleaner hose?



Any thoughts?



i

Use a "Mag-Lift" It's a magnet in an AL can with a release handle.

Got a C-clamp and a radiator hose and a L shaped piece of metal?

Clamp the Lshape upside down to the side fo the table, lay the hose on it and secure with the hose clamp.

Or get an swing armed desk lamp from the Salvation Army store and make a hose holder by removing the lamp assembly.

Personally...I sorta like the crunchy noises under my feet when I walk. And it helps clear my shoes of cat s*it.

Gunner

Gunner

"To be civilized is to restrain the ability to commit mayhem. To be incapable of committing mayhem is not the mark of the civilized, merely the domesticated." - Trefor Thomas

One idea I saw was to use a large magnet, like off an old speaker, inside a plastic bag. Place on table near bit while drilling. When finished, invert bag and throw away. I guess this might also magnetize your table though!?

Peck drill.

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Put up some fabric around the press (outside of the reach of flapping chips or the possible flying workpiece getting cought). They seem to stick to my shirt well enough anyway. :o)

Tim (made some nice corkscrews in 1/4 and 1/8" HRS and CRS earlier, before welding together with some nice beads...happyism!)

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Thoughts on others' ideas:

Peck drill - Excellent idea to keep the chips small rather than long and too alrge to suck up or sweep up easily.

Magnet - Decent idea if the magnet is large enough and the material is magnetically affected (terminology?) Ferrous? Not Plastic, aluminum, titanium, most stainless steels, brass, bronze, copper, etc... All those don't work well with magnets.

Fabric - Not a bad idea as long as you can throw the fabric away after each use. I'd imagine that trying to pick out all the small chips would drive just about anyone bonkers.

Wet Vac - A good wet vac would probably work well as long as the chips were small enough. You could route the hose from behind the press to near the chuck and adjust as appropriate as you drill. Clamp your work, hold the hose with your left hand and extend the drill quill with the right.

or... Just use the wet vac after you finish drillign to clean up the area. Probably the least labor intensive and hassle free way. Just don't wet vac up anything flamable like gasoline, oils, etc. if you can avoid it.

Joe - V#8013 - '86 VN750 - joe @ yunx .com Northern, NJ

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||Thoughts on others' ideas: || ||Wet Vac - A good wet vac would probably work well as long as the chips were ||small enough. You could route the hose from behind the press to near the ||chuck and adjust as appropriate as you drill. Clamp your work, hold the ||hose with your left hand and extend the drill quill with the right.

Why couldn't you mount a nipple under the DP table center hole? It would be sized to accept the vac hose or nozzle, and deep enough not to interfere with the bit. It would only have to be a slip fit for the hose as the vacuum would keep it in place, but a taper would be better. this would keep it out of the way of the work. Texas Parts Guy

It's not disgusting - it isn't a shop unless there are shavings everywhere. Well, you can clean them up every now and then, but leave some in the corners. Bob

Up in the frozen north, it provides traction when I puddle the puppy. Gerry :-)} London, Canada

Hang them in close proximity Gerry :-)} London, Canada

On 07 Dec 2004 01:49:14 GMT, snipped-for-privacy@aol.com ( Doug Goncz ) vaguely proposed a theory ......and in reply I say!:

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HMP! Same to you!

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