The first of Ted Hansen’s articles (Home Shop Machinist 31.5 – Sept 2012) showed a very nice cap to keep swarf out of the compound’s leadscrew: neatly shaped brass shimstock, held in place with a pair of screws tapped into the compound base.
Being a big fan of adhesives and low-effort solutions, I applied stainless steel tape:
Perhaps a 3D printed button might be nicer…
The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning 
Comments
2 responses to “Mini-Lathe: Protecting the Compound Leadscrew”
That’s some good-looking tape. I gotta get me some of that. I won’t even bother asking which surplus hut yours came from a decade ago. :)
It might actually be relatively new-production stuff left over from installing the never-sufficiently-to-be-damned radon venting system. The label says it’s Genuine 3M Tape and I may be mis-remembering it’s stainless steel instead of aluminum:
https://www.amazon.com/3M-Foil-Tape-3381-Silver/dp/B01GQQ6FOG
This stuff claims to be stainless steel:
https://www.amazon.com/TapeCase-Converted-Temperature-Stainless-Adhesive/dp/B00L48YL0W
The “converted from 3M 3361” looks a lot like keyword stuffing to me…
Stuff’s wicked sharp on all sides, fer shure!