Slide out chip drawer project.

[ken226]

Thought I'd share this project, in case anyone gets a similar idea.

I have a Birmingham 13x40 lathe, made in 2002. Though it works well, I got the bug to do some upgrades recently.

The spindle had about .0003" of runout, so I ordered a set of P5 precision Timken tapered rollers to put in, and while I was waiting for the bearings to arrive in the mail from Europe, I got started on the slide out drawer project.

I went down to Grizzlys showroom and measured the chip drawers on their display models. The G0709 was 3/4" narrower than the space between my pedestals, so I ordered one.
So, I took measurements, then went home and cut a hole in my chip pan and riveted in some aluminum c channel to serve as drawer slides.

Once I got it all fitted up, I took all of the stand parts down to Advanced Power Coating and had them work it over.

The hole:


the grizzly pan fitted to the c channel slides:







And, after powdercoat:





I'm pretty happy with the results.

[ken226]

Oh, and after I put in the Timken P5 bearings. With a .0005" indicator:

https://youtube.com/shorts/nTGzye6SmfI

[mattthemuppet]

that is pretty dang swanky! Looks factory, especially after the powder coating. I like the chip deflector on the carriage too, I've been thinking about doing something similar on my new lathe.

[ken226]

that is pretty dang swanky! Looks factory, especially after the powder coating. I like the chip deflector on the carriage too, I've been thinking about doing something similar on my new lathe.

It had a factory chip deflector there. Untill i got the bright idea to cerakote it.

I bead blasted the factory chinese epoxy paint off, prepping it for some cobalt cerakote, and realized that under the epoxy it looked like a block of swiss cheese. It was the most porous piece of cast metal I'd ever seen, with hundreds of bb size voids. Somehow, they had managed to paint it in a way that completely hid all the voids.

I used a press brake to form the replacement from 1/8" aluminum plate, then cerakoted it. Along with my gear knobs, toolpost, spindle bearing cap, headstock top cover, and a few other small parts.

[J Tiers]

That's pretty slick!

And, yes, it looks totally factory.

[Dan Dubeau]

Nice job Ken, looks very useful and well done. Building a new lathe stand for my Myford is on my list and the major reason for that is to make it easier to clean. It's such a pain (not much room under bed), and often gets put off too long because of that. I may incorporate a removable pan in to the design now.

[Bented]

A few years ago I set up a CNC lathe for a simple several thousand part job that would be run by someone with zero experience. At the end of the first day went over to see how he was making out with it and he was on his knees scraping and clawing at the chips under the bed.

Told him that it was a drawer and that it is simply pulled out and emptied with a shovel.
He was grateful and it was priceless to watch.

Same guy and same job, after the first 2 hours or so he came to me and said that the insert "broke", surely enough a DCMT insert was destroyed with no obvious cause. Had him show me exactly what he did, after fifty some good parts he turned the spindle on in reverse rotation (-:

[BCRider]

Just another compliment on the new look. And the removable chip tray is a stellar idea.

[Hal]

Very nice work.
super idea.

Hal

[Arcane]

It just doesn't get nicer than that. Kudos!

[Paul Alciatore]

That is a very nice addition. I did not know that Grizzly sold them. I have a slide-out chip tray, but it just sits on the lathe table, under the lathe. And it is just a large, SS tray.

For others who are curious about the cerakote as I was, here is a good link.

https://gunbelts.com/blog/cerakote/

I wonder how it compares to powder coat?