Lathe chip shield

I’ve decided it’s time to make some kind of chip shield, so I don’t get burned by flying chips anymore. My self imposed design requirements are as follows:

1. cheap
2. easy to install/remove
3. simple to build

The following renderings show what I came up with.

The design is pretty simple, it’s essentially a bent piece of Lexan, some scrap aluminum, and a few magnets.  The Lexan will offer an un-obstructed view of the work, and the magnets will ensure the shield doesn’t move around.  The magnets are in the mail,  so I can’t start work on the aluminum block until later this week.

Since Lexan is available at most big box stores, I was able to knock out the shield Monday night.  I found bending the Lexan to be pretty simple, all you need to do is make a mold to form it against. I used a scrap piece of maple with a 1/2″ radius on the edge as my mold.  All you need to do is heat up the Lexan enough to make it malleable, then push it against the mold, and let it cool. The following pictures and video show how I did it. Once I get the magnets, I will post some shots of the finished product.

Ready to be bent

Heating the Lexan

Cooling down

Ready to be mounted