mill bed protector plate

[Frank S]

It doesn't matter if we own new or very old equipment. Protecting its machined surfaces should be near the top of the list of things which should be done in any machining operation.
For instance, I recently needed to cut parallel slots in a couple lengths of tubing using slitter saws on my bench top mill, this required the end of the arbor to be very close to the mill table. This type of operation is better suited on a horizontal mill to be sure. I don't have mine under power at this time. To prevent any possibility of the arbor dropping down and marring or wrecking the table by gouging into it should the arbor slip out of the collet holder, or the quill lock allow creepage. Placed a piece of 12ga strip on top of the mill table the strip was cut to just slide between the parallel riser blocks. That 4inch wide 20" long strip of 12ga steel is now kept on a shelf above and behind the mill for future use