Keeping hywin rails clean?

[charlieuk]

I'm try to find a way to keep my hywin rails free from collecting dust as I have noticed that after a while can accumulate and get stuck to the rails and coarse problems. I am in the process of sorting the dust extraction that will help a certain amount but I would still like to have something in place to try and minimise it further. The dust is mainly from milling foam so quite light but has a lot of static and likes to get every were. I have experimented with putting brushes on the ball screws that seams to work however it is a little harder with linnear rails. Hywin do a scraper seal kit with I have been looking at bit have been trying to figure a way to get closer to the problem to minimise it before relying on the scrapers. Are there any good solutions out there ? I have been wondering about some sort of compressor linked up to a Number of small tubes blowing the dust of the rails but not sure if that would be a expensive solution ?

[magicniner]

If you add dust extraction why not have some additional extraction points fore & aft of the runners on the problem rails to keep them clean?

[charlieuk]

To give enuff suction I think you would need quite large tube and more noisy vacuums and I'm struggling with getting that to work with my 6meter x axis as it is I would happily be proved wrong though

[magicniner]

You could reverse the idea and have very close fitting shrouds around the rails on each end of each runner and keep them at positive pressure with compressed air, that should move anything up to and including "leaves on the line" or "the wrong kind of snow" ;-)

[mekanik]

Not a big fan (excuse the pun) of blowing this stuff around the workshop, think it's best to remove @ source, it's a difficult one due to the static clingy thing, top priority is sort the extraction and wear respirator until sorted,does anyone know if the cyclones work with this stuff or does it cling to the funnel and block it ?
Regards
Mike

[mike os]

cyclones tend to be used to stop large particles clogging /filling the extractor unit, fine material tends to pass through the cyclone and into the filter bay/vac unit,, with coarse material dropping out into a hopper.. as you don't have coarse material I don't think it would work, but could be totally wrong with the right cyclone design.

Hope your extraction system has sufficient earthing to prevent static build up....if it is plastic I would be looking to run a bare metal strip in the ducting and earthing that

[gavztheouch]

If your cyclone is efficient enough it should have no problem filtering the foam dust. You can always add a filter to the exhaust to catch what the filter misses.

[Boyan Silyavski]

You could reverse the idea and have very close fitting shrouds around the rails on each end of each runner and keep them at positive pressure with compressed air, that should move anything up to and including "leaves on the line" or "the wrong kind of snow" ;-)

I have seen that on expensive plasma machines. small dc motor with brush, brushing just before the bearing block.

[magicniner]

Could you rebuild the machine with the rails & slides under the bed so that material will tend not to contaminate them and debris will "fall off" rather than "fall onto" the rails?

[charlieuk]

due to the nature of the foam chips created (they are bits rather than fine dust mainly) the shapes I am cutting and the static nature of foam is much as I would love to be able to remove it all at the source I think it is wishful thinking and that there will all ways be a small amount wanting to escape. It is only really the bottom rail that is getting badly effected and that is a real concern but it would be good to have some protection on the others. I like the idea of a positive pressure shroud although could be tricky to make and would it be that different to just blowing it off?I have tried putting brush stips on however due to the complex shape of the rails it is very hard to get complete coverage around the rail.

Has anyone used the hiwin dust proof kits? maybe it would do the job on its own?

http://www.wmh-trans.co.uk/Products/SIZE_20

[JAZZCNC]

Doesn't need to be complicated just use some foam block which you fasten via bracket or what ever means in front of bearings.
Cut lump out of foam something like the shape of rail just smaller so it conforms to rail shape when forced over rail. The brackets hold it in place.

This just wipes the rail clean of most crap and the bearings own seals deal with the rest.

[Ger21]

I was going to say that double seals and scrapers should take care of any issues, along with greasing at regular intervals. I used an industrial Masterwood for about 10 years where the rails were always covered in dust (sometimes buried), and never had any issues.