What did you do today?

[Ironbearmarine]

Putting the crown back on the solarium. Having to replace the whole rotted out wall of the solarium and half the sundeck/roof above, i have been working like the Dickens to build and install a replacement railing as the old one was also rotted and unsafe. Today “it shall be installed” even if i have to set up work lights this evening. Nothing fancy, mind. But neat, tidy and a little rustic.

[Ironbearmarine]

Ah now, thats more like it! The railing is in and i just installed the cap rail. Time for a short nap followed by a bowl of lamb soup in front of a warm wife, er woodstove. Tomorrow i will take a handful of stanky cigars and disappear behind the workshop doors and play with my machines and make things that will tip no balance of fate, but will please me to no end.

[140mower]

Ah now, thats more like it! The railing is in and i just installed the cap rail. Time for a short nap followed by a bowl of lamb soup in front of a warm wife, er woodstove. Tomorrow i will take a handful of stanky cigars and disappear behind the workshop doors and play with my machines and make things that will tip no balance of fate, but will please me to no end.

Nice job on the repair, and that's some kind of view you've got there. Enjoy your cigar and metal munching shop day, you earned it.
Don

[Tungsten dipper]

Quality work there. It looks like a LOT of work!

[flathead4]

Finished making a way cover for my Bridgeport mill. Sheet of Buna-N rubber from eBay plus scrap metal and fasteners I had on hand. I have heard it said these don't necessarily make cleanup easier since you have to vacuum/wipe in the folds, but should keep the mess off the ways.

[Cenedd]

Nice job. Would it not need to be a little wider than the ways though? So the chips fall past. Perhaps it's just the angle of the pic.

[flathead4]

Nice job. Would it not need to be a little wider than the ways though? So the chips fall past. Perhaps it's just the angle of the pic.

There's about 1/8" overhang on each side. We'll see how it works.

[Dave C]

Ah now, thats more like it! The railing is in and i just installed the cap rail. Time for a short nap followed by a bowl of lamb soup in front of a warm wife, er woodstove. Tomorrow i will take a handful of stanky cigars and disappear behind the workshop doors and play with my machines and make things that will tip no balance of fate, but will please me to no end.

Great work. I wish I had your carpentry skills. I quit smoking in the eighties, but oh how I miss those Antonio and Cleopatra Grenadiers.

[mattthemuppet]

that way wiper will make clean up alot easier - brushing or vacuuming the chips of of that is much simpler than getting them out of all the nooks and crannies of the ways. Should also stop chips from getting under the concertina cover into the knee. Next up some table covers? Couple of baking trays and clean up is just a case of picking them up and tipping the contents into a bin

[flathead4]

Next up some table covers? Couple of baking trays and clean up is just a case of picking them up and tipping the contents into a bin

I've been thinking about a table cover since I had to fish an end mill out of a t-slot.

[mattthemuppet]

I think they're a good idea. Mine are just dollar store cookie trays cut to fit the vise, with a wooden block screwed on the bottom to fit the center T slot. They're mostly held in place by the magnetic chip shields I have attached to the back of the vise and the table. Keeps my little corner of the garage cleaner and makes clean up (and separating ferrous and alu scrap) alot easier.

[RB211]

I've been thinking about a table cover since I had to fish an end mill out of a t-slot.

Better inside the T slot than chipped on the floor. Plus the T slots catch chips stopping them from going on the floor. I don't mind vacuuming the T slots. I wonder if the people with T slot covers are the same ones wearing designer leather shop vests and tons of Aluminum anodized mill accessories?

[flathead4]

Better inside the T slot than chipped on the floor. Plus the T slots catch chips stopping them from going on the floor. I don't mind vacuuming the T slots. I wonder if the people with T slot covers are the same ones wearing designer leather shop vests and tons of Aluminum anodized mill accessories?

I can see your point that a table cover could result in more chips on the floor if it was just a flat piece of whatever. However, if it was designed with a lip it could work just as well at catching chips as your t-slots. I use coolant from time to time which makes it bit more difficult to vacuum the chips out of the slots. So maybe I would need covers with drain or risk making a real mess when dumping them with chips and coolant present. Then there is my practice of laying a tool or two, and maybe a caliper on the bed. I wonder how that would work with covers.
No leather apron here. Form follows function in this home shop.

[Cenedd]

Leather apron owner here....but not for reasons of fashion - quite the opposite! ....as my wife has taken great delight in pointing out. It's useful, on occasion, to have something that the velcro-like chips thrown off by a fly cutter either don't stick to or it doesn't matter if they do. Also, if you're throwing hotter chips, the fact that it's neither going to catch fire on you - literally - nor melt, is quite handy.....but yeah, I look like an ass. It was cheap though, and actually very good material if not (fashion) design.

[mattthemuppet]

no leather apron here (I use my hairy chest and stomach to catch stray chips) and the only anodised mill accessories I have are the ones I've made myself, so there! Cookie trays have a nice lip, none of my tooling has managed to climb over it yet.

flathead4 - you can get t-slot inserts that have holes in them to drain coolant. Never used them myself but by all accounts they work well.