Chip guard on X3 milling machine

[lugnut]

Now that I have my Shooting Star DRO mounted and running on my little Grizzly X3 mill, I can see that some sort of chip guard is needed on the back side of the table. The little Griz X2 mill I had was equipped with a rubber accordion type shield. It was hung high up on the column and reached to the back of the table's "Y" slide. I think it would be a great help to keep any chips away from the DRO sensors.
Have any of you X3 owners add such a shield.
Thanks
Mel

 

[ksouers]

Mel,
The accordion guard on my X2 has split and torn apart from age and use, it doesn't cover the scales I used for the DRO anyway.

What I did was recycle a piece of hard plastic (HDPE?), the packaging that it seems everything is sold in now days. Anyway, found a piece long enough to cover the scales and heated it up with a hairdryer and folded it over so it protects the scales and encoder and partially covers the dovetail. The plastic is flexible enough that it folds out of the way if it gets pushed against the column.

Still need to do something similar on the front side.

 

[Andy_B]

Mel:

This is what I did on my SX3. May give you some ideas. The white shield is a belt from a copy machine that I took apart. The white helps to reflect light in the work area. This stuff does't seen to be bothered by the hot chips. You can brush them off.

Andy

 

[zeeprogrammer]

Andy,

I'm glad to have that tip. I've only had my X2 for about 3 months but I wondered what I would do when the guards went bad...I know they will.

On another topic...I happened to be reading about forum issues that occurred some time ago and they talked about pics being attached or loaded from another server like photobucket. I noticed that your pics are attached. How did you do that? I'd like to avoid photobucket...not because of the site...but I agree it's chancy should the site go down and people can't see the pics.

Thanks.

 

[Andy_B]

Zee:

I'm not that well informed on the various ways that you can post pictures. I just click the Additional Options button and select attachments, browse, click the picture and it's loaded. There are probably neater ways to do it but I plead ignorance. ;D

Mel:

Sorry, didn't mean to sidetrack your post. :hDe:

Andy

 

[lugnut]

No problem Andy, we are all here to learn something.
ksouers, you can buy the accordion shield for the X2 from Little Machine shop for about $8.
I like the idea of the hanging plastic or rubber shield, I think I have some sheet rubber stashed away upstairs somewhere's I'll look for tomorrow.
Thanks for the Idea.
Mel

 

[lugnut]

Here is what I ended up with for a chip guard. Used a piece of old pond liner rubber from a long gone project. I works.
Mel

 

[Andy_B]

Looks good to me, Mel. Thm:

Andy

 

[bmuss51]

a scrap piece of rubber roof works well also. it comes in black and also white.