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Swarf is leftover metal chips from grinding, drilling, turning or milling. It can be dangerous and requires rigorous removal. Cutting fluids are used to control heat and remove chips, which can create sludge. Filings are collected using magnets and magnetic rods, and are made finer by chip breakers. The uniform chips are compressed into bricks for recycling.
Swarf refers to leftover metal chips that have been subjected to a metalworking process such as grinding, drilling, turning or milling. It is analogous to sawdust and wood chips that result from woodworking. Chips, however, are more dangerous and require a more rigorous removal process to ensure the safety of workers and the environment. Because it doesn’t degrade easily and often contains sharp edges, it can create cuts and splinters if not handled properly.
During grinding, milling and some drilling processes, chips are often generated within the machine tool itself. These processes will generally apply additional coolants and fluids, known as cutting fluids, both to control the heat generated by the machines and to remove the chips that are created. Drilling processes, which create holes within a metal, are often designed so that newly created chips are forced up through the hole being drilled. This strategy proves efficient in most cases, but occasionally with deeper holes the turnings will clump together and become too dense, requiring cutting fluids to break up the particles.
Cutting fluids, coolants, and other liquids used during these metalworking processes can create a sludge from the metal filings that can make safe disposal difficult. To aid in this process, there are many chip squeezers and centrifuges designed to remove the liquid from metal shavings. Depending on the process, the filings may be dried to contain only about 2% of the original liquid volume.
In turning processes, filings are often generated in a dry environment, forming fine dust and chips that need to be disposed of. Liquids are not always favorable here, and instead magnets and magnetic rods are often used to safely collect the by-products. Most of these magnetic products are designed for optimum operator safety and protect against any inadvertent contact between the filings and skin.
Once the chips have dried and collected, they are sometimes made finer by a chip breaker, which breaks the larger, sharper bits into smaller, easier to handle chips. Chipbreakers, shredders and crushers will also minimize the total volume of metal by-products, facilitating their efficient disposal. The uniform chips are then compressed into bricks or blocks with tablet press machines known as briquettes. These dense bricks can be more easily disposed of and will often be recycled for use in other metalworking processes.
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