Protecting knee mill table top

[Viperspit]

What are some of ways you protect the table of your knee mill? This short video shows how I have been doing it for decades. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJSwRMEhH1o  
This is one of the things my father taught me when I first started the trade and I have used it ever since. It is simple an cheap. Are there other ways you guys use? This old dog is always ready to learn new things.

Steve

[Vinny]

I didn't check out this video but in your hard turning video I noticed the covers and liked the idea.

[Viperspit]

(04-29-2017, 04:34 PM)Vinny Wrote: I didn't check out this video but in your hard turning video I noticed the covers and liked the idea.

Hi Vinny,

We did another video on surface grinding thin parts flat using paper towels. We hope to have that one posted tomorrow.

Steve

[EdK]

I use neoprene I got from this place.

http://www.equalseal.com/product-p/neoprene.htm

I got a foot of it and it cost about $20.

Ed

[Mike E.]

Interesting thought regarding vice offset, I like it.

[Viperspit]

(04-29-2017, 04:52 PM)EdK Wrote: I use neoprene I got from this place.

http://www.equalseal.com/product-p/neoprene.htm

I got a foot of it and it cost about $20.

Ed

Hi Ed,

How well does the neoprene handle hot chips? Do the chips melt into it? At my full time job they used Plexiglas and the chips would melt into it making it hard to scrape them off.

Steve

[Hawkeye]

I have three treadmill belts lying around doing nothing. They should do a pretty good job and may be hard enough to resist chips melting very far into the surface.

[EdK]

(04-29-2017, 06:44 PM)Viperspit Wrote:

(04-29-2017, 04:52 PM)EdK Wrote: I use neoprene I got from this place.

http://www.equalseal.com/product-p/neoprene.htm

I got a foot of it and it cost about $20.

Ed

Hi Ed,

How well does the neoprene handle hot chips? Do the chips melt into it? At my full time job they used Plexiglas and the chips would melt into it making it hard to scrape them off.

Steve

Hi Steve,

The neoprene handles the hot chips pretty well. Occasionally I have to scrub a bit to get them off but the neoprene handles oils without a problem so it's a small price to pay.

Ed

[Roadracer_Al]

I made a set of plywood covers with a single piece of solid wood in the middle to index it to a table slot. The ends are cut to fit snugly around the vise. In a fit of optimism, I sprayed them with 2~3 coats of shellac. They got filthy instantly, anyway.

IIRC, I got the idea from Tom Lipton.

They handle hot chips just fine.

[Mike E.]

I liked your video Steve. I have an old Tom Senior mill which came from a University lab. The table seems fine, but I'm not sure how much wear is on the lead screw, so I'm going to follow your suggestion and offset the vise.

Thanks, I think it's a good idea; just hope I live long enough to wear out the machine.