Couple of questions/opinions.

[David Da Costa]

I will be receiving my new Novakon NM-135 in a few weeks and have been thinking about enclosure design and the big question is should I make it flood coolant proof.

I currently have a LMS 3501 (Seig KX1) and use a Trico MD-1200 drip coolant system. I mill mainly aluminum and I guess the question is are there any benefits to going to a flood coolant systems.

The only one I can think of is the fact that I wont have to listen to my 4 gallon compressor running which would be nice, but on the negative side there will be a lot more mess to deal with and the enclosure will be more complicated. (picture attached of my KX1 and the enclosure that I built for that.

The second question unrelated to the above, but something I not sure on is what are the standard practices for the size of end mill to use.

I use mostly 1/4" end mills for most of my work unless I have to go smaller t cut a particular feature. However, I could often go bigger than 1/4".

I tend not to because of the fact that I will be removing more material than I have to, but there is the factor of the extra rigidity of the larger diameter mill.

What is the best practice when it comes to selecting the diameter of the end mill, taking into account the capability/ power of the KX1 and soon to be Novakon NM-135.

Thanks for all advice and opinions.

David

[hoss2006]

The NM-135 is already setup for flood and you can't beat the quiet.
Sealing the enclosure would be more work and if you are already used to the compressor noise,
stick with what you have.
No doubt you have to vacuum out the chips on occasion, they get flung everywhere whether they are misted or flooded.
I personally prefer flood mainly for the QUIET.
You should notice a pretty big change in cutting capacity, run some sample parts with 3/8 and 1/2 endmills.
Take it for a good test drive and see what it'll give you.
You may find this machine runs happy with the 1/2, so it could get the part done in half the time.
Hoss