CNCzone.com-The Largest Machinist Community on the net!



Home Page Mark Forums Read Today's Posts My Replies Classifieds Reviews Photo Gallery Web Links Share Files Advertise With Us Ad List
Go Back   CNCzone.com-The Largest Machinist Community on the net! > MetalWorking Machines > Benchtop Machines


Benchtop Machines Discuss all mini mills sherline, taig, square column, round column and CNC mill conversions here!


This forum is sponsored by:

Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
  #1   Ban this user!
Old 03-19-2008, 12:53 PM
 
Join Date: May 2005
Location: USA
Posts: 99
tooManyHobbies is on a distinguished road
X2 workbench & location questions

In anticipation of the delivery of an HF X2, I thought I'd plan ahead and get the work area set up.

What size workbench works well with the X2? 48" x 24"? I may mod it for increased X or Y, so I need to take that into consideration.

Second, how many have their X2's in a room that wouldn't normally be considered a spot for a mill? I'm considering putting it in my office (a converted bedroom), just because the basement is cold and I'd have to set up another PC for it. I'll do the belt drive conversion, and I understand that reduces the noise factor quite a bit, but I'm mainly worried about the mess, especially if I add some sort of coolant spray to it.

Thanks!

tom
Reply With Quote

  #2   Ban this user!
Old 03-19-2008, 05:00 PM
The Blight's Avatar  
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Denmark
Age: 27
Posts: 563
The Blight is on a distinguished road

Well my X2 is placed right next to our couch in our livingroom. I don't have an enclosure around it yet, so I try to make as little a mess as possible.
Reply With Quote

  #3   Ban this user!
Old 03-20-2008, 06:53 AM
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: USA
Posts: 606
blades is on a distinguished road

I was thinking about moving mine from the garage into my wife's craft room, at least until I get done working on the CNC conversion and belt drive. I've been machining the parts at work, because my HFX2 is in various states of disassembly at the moment.

I would be concerned about the smell from coolant and/or cutting fluids when using it inside, as well as chip containment. It can get very messy.
Reply With Quote

  #4   Ban this user!
Old 03-20-2008, 07:29 AM
LeeWay's Avatar  
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: USA
Posts: 2,398
LeeWay is on a distinguished road

I would only do this if you are going to build a FULL enclosure. Completely sealed when the doors are closed. Otherwise, you will likely spend more time cleaning up than machining.
I run Koolmist 77 and it has no smell. It smells like water I mean. It also keeps everything from rusting. It would be a great choice for what you are considering.

A full enclosure will also take up a bigger footprint. I have my home made mill on a steel stand that is about 2' x 3'. My collection tray is 4' x 42" though. You will need a smaller one I think. I have my motors mounted direct drive on the ends of the X and Y. I could have made it smaller if I would have tucked them under or to the side with a belt drive.

My enclosure is half open and when I used compressed air to clean the fixture or vise for the next part, some chips goes outside, but not a lot. That whole wall in y shop is cnc machines though, so a little errant swarf or chips is expected. You wouldn't want that in an office though.
__________________
Lee
Reply With Quote

  #5   Ban this user!
Old 03-20-2008, 11:41 PM
 
Join Date: May 2005
Location: USA
Posts: 99
tooManyHobbies is on a distinguished road

Originally Posted by LeeWay View Post
I would only do this if you are going to build a FULL enclosure. Completely sealed when the doors are closed. Otherwise, you will likely spend more time cleaning up than machining.
I run Koolmist 77 and it has no smell. It smells like water I mean. It also keeps everything from rusting. It would be a great choice for what you are considering.

A full enclosure will also take up a bigger footprint. I have my home made mill on a steel stand that is about 2' x 3'. My collection tray is 4' x 42" though. You will need a smaller one I think. I have my motors mounted direct drive on the ends of the X and Y. I could have made it smaller if I would have tucked them under or to the side with a belt drive.

My enclosure is half open and when I used compressed air to clean the fixture or vise for the next part, some chips goes outside, but not a lot. That whole wall in y shop is cnc machines though, so a little errant swarf or chips is expected. You wouldn't want that in an office though.
That's the conclusion I came to also. Thanks for the Koolmist tip.
I like what this guy has done, in an apartment in NYC no less!
http://www.nyccnc.com/Herbie/HERBIES..._is_done!.html

He used 80/20 components, which appear to be pricey, but I've always wanted to work with them, so maybe I'll see how bad it would be, if I can figure out what I need!

tom
Reply With Quote

Sponsored Links
  #6   Ban this user!
Old 03-21-2008, 06:56 PM
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: USA
Posts: 606
blades is on a distinguished road

Hey Tom, 80/20 can be pricey, but not too bad for a simple elclosure. It can really get expensive when you start buying the fancy and larger connectors and such. You should be able to go to their website and download a catalog. Where I previously worked, I used it all the time. Even built a simple go-cart frame out of it.

I really like the setup of the mill in the apartment. Very nice looking. But even with full chip containment, you still have to remove the machined parts and deburr them by hand, so you still need a good work area to contain the chips also. If I had mine inside like that, I think I'd limit machining to plastics only, which would vacuum up easily and not require the added mess from coolant or cutting fluid.

- Bill
Reply With Quote

  #7   Ban this user!
Old 03-22-2008, 07:20 PM
 
Join Date: May 2005
Location: USA
Posts: 99
tooManyHobbies is on a distinguished road

Originally Posted by blades View Post
Hey Tom, 80/20 can be pricey, but not too bad for a simple elclosure. It can really get expensive when you start buying the fancy and larger connectors and such. You should be able to go to their website and download a catalog. Where I previously worked, I used it all the time. Even built a simple go-cart frame out of it.

I really like the setup of the mill in the apartment. Very nice looking. But even with full chip containment, you still have to remove the machined parts and deburr them by hand, so you still need a good work area to contain the chips also. If I had mine inside like that, I think I'd limit machining to plastics only, which would vacuum up easily and not require the added mess from coolant or cutting fluid.

- Bill
Bill,

That's encouraging info about 80/20. I'll go check their website again for info.

I completely overlooked the after-machining tasks! Thanks for the heads-up.

tom
Reply With Quote

  #8   Ban this user!
Old 03-22-2008, 10:03 PM
Hunter12's Avatar  
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: USA
Posts: 31
Hunter12 is on a distinguished road

Im building my new Taig enclosure out of 80/20. I'll post pics when I get it done.
Reply With Quote

  #9   Ban this user!
Old 03-23-2008, 06:58 PM
 
Join Date: May 2005
Location: USA
Posts: 99
tooManyHobbies is on a distinguished road

Originally Posted by Hunter12 View Post
Im building my new Taig enclosure out of 80/20. I'll post pics when I get it done.
That'd be great! Could you include a parts list too?

And I just found 80/20's eBay site: http://stores.ebay.com/8020-Inc-Garage-Sale
They call it the 80/20 Garage Sale and they sell new, overstock, used, blemished, etc, parts, but fully functional, so that's the way I'll go!

Now I need to figure out how big to make this bench.

tom

Last edited by tooManyHobbies; 03-23-2008 at 07:02 PM. Reason: Clarification!
Reply With Quote

Reply




Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Anyone have a Clarke engineers workbench? daedalus Benchtop Machines 5 10-27-2007 05:11 PM
CNC using Triton Workbench andy_ck87028 Australia, New Zealand Club house 2 06-16-2006 06:10 AM
Electronics Workbench Freeware JRoque General Electronics Discussion 0 09-24-2005 04:28 PM
Super deal on steel workbench w/casters for $99 CNCPlastic General Metal Working Machines 1 10-26-2004 03:21 PM
searching sites for classic/european workbench jimbo CNCzone Club House 9 07-28-2004 06:05 AM




All times are GMT -5. The time now is 09:38 PM.





Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2012, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Content Relevant URLs by vBSEO
Template-Modifications by TMS

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361