G0704 Mill Enclosure Build

[lcvette]

Hello All,

I have recently done some mods to the G0704 including the C7 ballscrew conversion, Z axis flip, rear mount Y stepper and extended X and Z axis which has yielded a significantly larger work cube for some new projects i plan on taking on in the future. I am also adding the 5th axis rotary table on the head as Hoss has laid out.

While doing all of this I decided to go ahead and do a nice enclosure because my flood coolant setup was making a pretty big mess. I constructed everything for the enclosure out of aluminum and plexiglass (Optix from Lowes 1/8" thick.) I have the benefit of being able to weld aluminum also which was why i decided to go this route rather then the 80/20 setup.

Below are some pictures from the progress over the past weekend. hopefully i will get some time to wrap this thing up and get back to making some chips this weekend!

Chris

[LUCKY13]

That a nice loooking enclosure.



Is the Y axis extended on your mill?



Jess

[lcvette]

yes, the Y is extended, I now have 10" of travel on the Y axis with the C7 ballscrew and some modification and clearancing to the base and addition of the rear spacer I added.

Chris

[gd.marsh]

Like the enclosure ..

I especially like the way you've made the back wall of the enclosure flush with the Z slide .. If I had it to do over again I would do the same ..

I've been considering leaving my pan the depth it is, but simply moving the back wall forward to make for easier clean up .. don't really need all that space behind the head as long as you can get to it from behind.

Nice job!

gd.marsh

[hoss2006]

Very nice indeed. Kudos.
Hoss

[lcvette]

Like the enclosure ..

I especially like the way you've made the back wall of the enclosure flush with the Z slide .. If I had it to do over again I would do the same ..

I've been considering leaving my pan the depth it is, but simply moving the back wall forward to make for easier clean up .. don't really need all that space behind the head as long as you can get to it from behind.

Nice job!

gd.marsh

Yeah I wrestled with the idea of not having it under the column because of the open bottom hole and coolant getting back there but then came up with a solution which was to make a small catch tray welded to the back of the base that catches anything out of the bottom of the column and slants back into the base pan. I hope it works as well as I imagine it working..lol It should.

My main reason for doing it this way was to be able to add some bracing to the column. I plan on fabricating a larger base stand for the mill, with this large enclosure it just looks funny having the tiny little stock grizzly pedestal under it. when i build the new base it will have some heavy steel beams that protrude past the back of the mill and i will triangulate bracing from the outer back corners to the top corners of the column as well as the middle of the column. this should help a lot with the twisting issues i have ran across with bigger fly cutters and high speed milling. especially now that the mill head is 3" further forward with the rotary table on there, i imagine that will amplify the effects.

Waiting on FedEx right now, they are bringing my gas spring struts for the vertical slide door, it takes about 18 pounds of force to move it up (based on a fish scale..lol hope its accurate) so I ordered 25lb gas springs. the door travel is 30", I used ball bearing cabinet drawer sliders so it is smooth as silk going up and down. The hope is it will open on its own and require being pulled down to latch, if these don't work or are too weak, McMaster has the next ones up in a 50lb force so will be exchanging. we'll see should be here in the next hour or so, says "on truck for delivery" whoohoo!

Chris

[lcvette]

Very nice indeed. Kudos.
Hoss

Thanks Hoss! Putting together the rotary table on the head now... as soon as fedex arrives with my gas springs for the door on the enclosure i need to run to grab some hardware and get that thing mounted back up so I can get some milling projects rolling.

Chris

[lcvette]

Very nice indeed. Kudos.
Hoss

Thanks Hoss! Working on the 5th Axis right now. hopefully have the mill back up and running today!


unfortunately the gas springs arrived and 25lbs is way too much force, too hard to close and unfortunately mcmaster doesn't offer the stroke i need in the lower force units, i was already doubling up in length with the 25 pound units.

thinking maybe a pulley system with some light weights to help raise and lower the front vertical slide door.

Thoughts Ideas?


Chris

[Mad Welder]

......Thoughts Ideas?....

Very nice and from reading well thought out too....I plan on altering my enclosure too from it's current one and I posted a drawing last February here Optimum BF20L CNC conversion using the Smooth Stepper and this enclosure's front sliding door may reduce some of your lifting momentum....

I like your idea of the rear of the cabinet encompassing the column and I hadn't thought of that idea and what I did was to allow for an access door at the rear of my future cabinet....


keep posting pics and I love your workshop space....

[lcvette]

Mad Welder,

Thanks for the compliments, the shop space is nice but expensive, $1k/mo but I run my business out of it so it is great being able to have my equipment all in one open space. (NEED some more equipment...lol).

I considered doing the slanted door and making it a lift/flip type but then i decided against it because I wanted to be able to still use my vice. currently with the door open the table is 1/32" taller then the front base enclosure wall so the vice skims right above it and sticks out of the enclosure. I am going to make a sweet little plexiglass chip guard that magents onto the vice so i can just lift the door to the "vice milling height" which will have a notch on the sides to lock the door in place and the vice chipgaurd will cover the vertical opening so no issues just bolt vice on, mount part, snap the magnetic chip gaurd to the vice and hit go.

I plan on an ATC in the near future so some mods to the back left wall of the enclosure will need to be made but its aluminum so basically cut and weld in a rearward offset to encompass the tool changer. I would like to have the ATC swing from behind the plane of the column with an air cylinder and maybe have a sprung door that opens and closes as it enters for tool changes, be nice not having that thing luming right there next to the mill head.

I will post some pictures as soon as i finish getting the rotary table 5th axis bolted up, likely be tomorrow, I need another mill, I am doing all the drilling and tapping by hand and in this cast iron it SUCKS............... well speaking of which.... break is over back to it!

Chris