Quick and Dirty X3 Coolant enclosure..cheap too!

[KOS]

So I got a bit of bad news in the family today so I went out to the shop to mess around. My plan was to build an enclosure for my X3 that would enclose the whole mill. I planned on using a shower pan with a shower curtain enclosure to set it up.

But I wasnt very motivated to get real dirty so I got thinking I may want something a little smaller than the original idea. So I was going to build a metal box frame to mount to the table, but instead I found a cheap rubbermaid or whatever it was 6" deep box to use instead. All I plan to do is cut out the bottom of it to fit the mill table, plumb in a couple drain plugs, one from the mill table and one in the rubbermaid box for the return coolant.

Then I had some spare conduit that I just attached to the back of the head stock, I plan on using a cheap shower curtain to hang down from this into the rubbermaid bin, to keep the chips and any splashing coolant in the bin.

You will notice the front is open still as I havent bent the other piece to slip into the ends so I can remove it etc etc..Not finished it all yet but figured i would share this $15, 1 hour enclosure unit for those who dont want to spend a full day or two building one...

It will work just fine and was cheap and easy to do, and it wont leave much of a bigger footprint than the mill compared to my original idea.

Not the prettiest enclosure out there but the rubbermaid bin was $6.99 at target, the conduit was free and the shower curtain will be $4.99 i beleive. The plumbing for the return line will just be from fittings i have in the shop..

Dan

[project5k]

hey buddy, that should work.. i worked on mine as well today, got my pump, suction line and pressure line ran.. and ran some water through it just to see what the return flow was like.. the little fish breeder net thing that i got at walmart worked wonderfully as a filter screen.. and putting the noisy pump in the next room really helped on my ears..

I'm planning to use shower curtains for mine as well, cept i'm gonna hang mine from the ceeling.. (same kinda conduit runners)

looks like you got your locline, did you get a chance to play with it at all??

[KOS]

not really played with it at all. Just started that enclosure today. Have to go out and get the shower curtain and cut it to size, and then bend the other conduit to be added. Oh yeah also need some velcro to keep the curtains in place. Should work no problem, wont be anything special but you know me, I am less into making things for play than for money I guess I could have put some nicer rounded bends in the tubing, but I threw it in my brake and just did it quick.

Like I said nothing pretty should be more than effective and cheap and took no time to build...

[project5k]

yea roger that, i was reading on this one site, where a guy used his mill as a tubing benter, he use some angle iron, made some rollers, mounted 2 rolers on the angle, and one in the collet holder on his mill, then put the angle in the vice on the table, then just cranked the y in and out to adjust the amount of bend. then turn on the spindle real slow and feed the conduit in and let it power roll it all the way through.. i cant remember the link, but if i find it i'll post it, i thought it was pretty ingenous...

[KOS]

hmm that is interesting...must have been thin stuff...I would be affraid to do something like that on my mill..but it may be the stuff I was bending was much thicker cause it took a lot to bend..

[project5k]

nah, standard emt i think... the outter rollers were i'm guessing maby 2 feet apart or so.. really wouldnt take that much, and i think he was using maby 1/2" maby it was something different, i really cant remember, i just know it was way cool... i gotta go find that link...

[project5k]

ok, i found it and i was a bit off.. its a cool read, his whole site is full of cool stuff and ideas and things...

http://www.frets.com/FRETSPages/Mach...bigbender.html

[project5k]

hey, got my coolant and locline today.. gotta go and try it out..

one thing i was wondering, will coolant freeze, and if so, would it hurt it?

[KOS]

well it is almost done. Just have to cut out the bottom of the tub and plumb in the return lines.

should have probably waited to do this when my head was a little clearer, as I had to move the bar to the top instead of the bottom ..oh well I know my head was else where then..

well here it is anyways..

[SpeedsCustom]

I would just be afraid of for some reason the shower curtains getting caught in the mill. Wouldn't be pretty!

-Jason

[project5k]

i think its a fine setup, yea i could see the posibility for the curtans to get cought, but i really dont think its gonna be an issue..

so looking at the pics, is it safe to say that you drilled and tapped the table all the way around where you mounted the tub?

[KOS]

yeah i have thought about it getting caught and have velcro to use if it does become a problem, but so far moving it around it hasnt been an issue at all. It would really take a gust of wind to blow it into the cutter.

Yeah I did drill and tap into the table, That is why I have the drill chuck in there when I took the pics. I then added an end mill to spin around in there to check and make sure I wouldnt have a problem with the curtains...

For me the ideal thing is that it doesnt take up very much room in my shop at all. I thought about using a shower pan and whole enclosure but my shop realestate is a big commodity for me and this way I am able to still have acces to space around the mill.

I havent cut the bottom out of it yet as I am still toying with the idea of making a fixture plate to mount in there, I plan on sacrificing one of my 7x10 lathes to use as a 4th axis in there as well. Right now it will fit in there no problem. If i use a fixture plate I wont have to worry about trying to plumb in a return line from the table...just the tub. Right now it is sealed with neoprene washer and seems to hold water just fine.

Lastly I have an injection mold clamp in my shop already, it was part of a complete plastic injection molding machine I was building. But I have been following Hoss's ATC thread and am interested to see how it all works out. If it is very successful I may use my cylinder and everthing else for an ATC as well. I already have it wired to a solenoid/power supply and air so it would just be a matter of hooking that up to a board to run it from mach and making the arm etc...Then making that work within the confined space of the tub may prove to become an issue but we will see.

Here is a couple pics of my cylinder set up.