I have a rather large benchtop mill that really needs an enclosure but right now I'm stuck trying to figure out how to design the bottom part of the enclosure, and I think that my lack of experience with milling in general, and specifically with flood coolant (I also will be using a mister at times) is preventing me from seeing what my best available option is.
Currently the mill sits on a stand which houses the reservoir and pump and the stand has a catch tray that is supposed to catch overflow from the table but is laughably inadequate. What I plan to do is build a full enclosure for the mill, mostly out of aluminum and steel, measuring 70" (1.778m) wide 50" (1.27m) deep, and from the floor, about 69" (1.753m) tall. It will also have a roof (50"x70"). The entire thing will fit in the space once I've cleaned it up a bit, but that's no biggie.
To construct it I've already purchased twelve 96" (2.438m) long, 1" (2.5) wide, 1/8" (3mm) thick right-angle bar, four of which will form uncut vertical posts in the corners while the rest finishes out the frame for the walls and such. The walls, and the bottom will be made out of sheet metal, the front will have a large window, the sides and front above where the catch tray is now (about 27" from the floor) will open on horizontal hinges like a split tailgate (any other way of opening it without being very complicated won't work in the space).
I should also mention that I've come up with a way to filter all the swarf out of the coolant and using that to easily collect and clean up the swarf—so I want a big drain(s) leading to a reservoir—this way I think I will be able to hose down the mill and enclosure when I'm done and have all the swarf nice and neat.
I think I pretty much know how I want the enclosure to look except for one thing: I can't decide how I should design the bottom of the enclosure: I've come up with 3 possibilities that I can't seem to choose from (I'm open to more).
1. Making a bigger version of
what Rodm1954 made. 
2. Making the entire bottom slant at an angle toward one corner.
Mastercam X File: http://tinyurl.com/yqovgl Note: The grey box is meant to represent the stand the mill sits on—the dimensions are correct plus or minus a few mm, and I have removed 2 of the side walls, but left lines indicating their edges and vertices, to make it easier to see what's going on.
Picture:
http://tinyurl.com/27grob 3. Making the bottom such that everything flows towards where the reservoir is now.
Mastercam X File: http://tinyurl.com/2arf3u Note: The grey box is meant to represent the stand the mill sits on—the dimensions are correct plus or minus a few mm, and I have removed 2 of the side walls, but left lines indicating their edges and vertices, to make it easier to see what's going on.
Above Picture:
http://tinyurl.com/yqqj3c
Underneath Picture:
http://tinyurl.com/3972p9
The difficulty of construction and cost are both obviously an issue, however I wish to make a rather nice enclosure that will both function very well and require as little modification down the road as possible.
Pics of the mill if you're interested:
http://tinyurl.com/26crsc http://tinyurl.com/2cxs76
Any feedback would be great, thanks in advance!
03-07-2008, 04:56 PM
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