How Donnie Hinske cleans brass chips off his manual lathe with BLOWZER
Machinist Donnie Hinske turns a brass bar from 2.5 to 2 inches on a manual lathe in his shop, then picks up a BLOWZER X6 to blow the brass chips off the floor, the lathe bed and the space under the machine. His verdict: "it actually works pretty good."
Donnie Hinske received a BLOWZER X6 from us.
A machinist with a camera and a sense of humour
Donnie Hinske makes short videos from a working machine shop: big CNC machines, a lot of bar stock, and a running commentary that never takes itself too seriously. He films most of it on his phone, held at arm's length, in a black shop polo and safety glasses.
"Manual VS CNC Part 1", posted on October 13, 2026 to YouTube Shorts and Instagram, starts with a problem. He wants to show a process on one of his CNC machines, but the only steel he has in the right size is getting too hot, and he does not want to break the tools or ruin a setup that took a lot of work. He has brass instead. The trouble is that the brass is two and a half inches across, and the job needs two.
Doing it the old way
So the bar goes through a Kalamazoo band saw and onto what he calls "our little manual lathe". Then he stops the intro himself: "Oh my gosh, this intro is terrible."
The turning shots are the heart of the clip. Bright brass curls come off the tool as the carriage runs along the bar, and the chips pile up on the bed and the floor. He jokes that he only uses the manual machine to be "hip and cool": "I could have just thrown this in a CNC and been done like eight years ago." A digital caliper closes the job: two inches, four thou over.
The cleanup
Any machinist knows what comes next. A lathe that has just turned half an inch off a brass bar is covered in swarf, and leaving it for the next person is bad manners. Donnie says it plainly: "I need to clean that up because I'm not a jerk."
Out comes the BLOWZER X6, held in one hand, its blue LEDs lit on the grip. He sweeps a fan of brass chips across the concrete floor, then works along the lathe bed and down under the machine, where the chips visibly move off the ways. Then he holds the X6 up to the camera.
"Someone literally sent me this in the mail," he says, thanking the sender and adding that he does not know who it was. He thought he would test it out. His verdict, said straight to camera: "it actually works pretty good."
Why it matters in a shop
The whole moment takes about ten seconds of a clip under two minutes, and that is the point. Chips are part of every turning job, and clearing them is a chore that happens many times a day. A cordless duster that lives on the bench, charges over USB-C and needs no air line turns that chore into a few seconds between cuts.
The clip ends at a CNC lathe, with Donnie promising to show how the crazy process works in the next part. If you run a home shop, a school shop or a production floor, the lesson from this one is simpler: finish the cut, measure, and leave the machine clean for the next person.
Related
Questions readers ask
Can a cordless air duster move metal chips in a shop?
Light chips and fine swarf, yes. The BLOWZER X6 pushes air at up to 45 m/s from a 130,000 RPM motor, enough to move brass chips across a floor and along a lathe bed, as Donnie shows.
Do I need a compressor to blow off a lathe?
No. The X6 runs on its own 4000 mAh battery and charges over USB-C, so it works anywhere in the shop with no hose or air line.
Which mode should I start with?
The X6 has three modes, 40K, 80K and 130K RPM. Start low for fine dust and step up to 130K for heavier chips.