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WHAT HAPPENED to My New Machine??

Joined
Dec 21, 2016
I gave a customer the walk through today to show him our new lathe. We had only run a couple jobs on it and it was still sparkling new. I opened the door to show the customer and saw this!!! What the???!!! We ran a few hundred parts out of 4140 CRA. I did notice when the stock came in it had a very uniform color about that of red lead. If I rubbed it with a finger it came off similar to red lead, it was a deep red/maroon not rust-orange. I had a dozen other crisises to deal with and it was my partners project, material already sawn and so i did not enquire further. My bad. Now the machine looks like a 30 yo POS ad this red stuff is clinging to everything. It does not wipe off, especially out of the textured paint. and exposed ways / chuck. The stock was not turned on the OD and after running through the machine is the color of normal cold finished bar.

Has anyone experienced this? Is there a way to clean it off without damaging the machine?

TIA,
Geek
 

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You did say the material came in coated with something. Unless you clean that before machining, where do you think it'd end up besides in the coolant and then all over the inside of the machine? Try some Simple Green or a citrus cleaner. If the coolant washed it off the bar it should come off pretty well. It is a machine though.....
 
I hate it when material comes in covered with nasty, dirty grease. It's a pain to clean it off but we do it anyway. Else it ends up everywhere, absolutely everwhere. Some vendors are worse than others.

I was in a screw machine shop where the guy had a 12'+ trough by material receiving and they washed all the stock. Get rid of that dirt ay the first touch. If you don't it's just like cancer. It spreads everywhere.
 
It sucks, but after a while the coolant itself will eventually cause your paint to peel. Let alone chips and raw material gunk.
The quality machine tool builders use stainless for the sliding way covers. I think they should use stainless for the "firewall" and any other interior surfaces, no paint!
 
It was my fault for sure for not stopping the train. I did not see it till 300+ pieces were already sawn. Just swamped. Should have wiped them down anyway. Although the labor cost of wiping down 300-400 pieces might be about the same as pulling the tank, cleaning the machine & replacing the coolant.
 
It sucks, but after a while the coolant itself will eventually cause your paint to peel. Let alone chips and raw material gunk.
The quality machine tool builders use stainless for the sliding way covers. I think they should use stainless for the "firewall" and any other interior surfaces, no paint!
The interior "paint" of my 2016 Integrex i-400S still looks awesome because Mazak switched from paint to powder coat. The arm of the parts catcher was painted and the paint has been worn away in one area due to the barrage of chips that hit that thing.
 
It sucks, but after a while the coolant itself will eventually cause your paint to peel. Let alone chips and raw material gunk.
The quality machine tool builders use stainless for the sliding way covers. I think they should use stainless for the "firewall" and any other interior surfaces, no paint!
...and parts that shoot like a rocket when they're parted.
 








 
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