My first home made Way cover (bellows)

[pimpbike]

I had an issue with the crappy way cover that came with my Hurco T-m5 CNC bedmill. It would always bind and the design was just poor from the start. The original cover was a design that would tilt up as it came towards the table and any chip could easily get under it and mess up the ways or the ball screw. I threw it away as it was all bent up and was not what I wanted on the mill. I called Gortite a while back and almost had a heart attack at the price they wanted to make a bellows cover for me. So I searched around the net trying to see how these were made. I came across this website http://www.ixen-cnc.com/2007/10/lead...line-mill.html

They have a video and a template that you can download to make a cover for your sherline.

I basically scaled it up and added an extra section so my cover would cover under my box ways.

I went to the local Fabricland and bought Denim 10oz 100% cotton
I laid out my pattern with a ball point pen then gave 2 coats of Polyurethane spar marine varnish, as it's suppose to be very resistant to petroleum. Coating the denim with the varnish first makes it easier to fold on the lines and it keeps its memory without having to iron it. After all the folds were made I used CA glue (crazy glue) with the kicker accelerant on all the folds so it would hold it's memory better and be a little more rigid. It turned out well. I'm going to paint it either black or silver high temp. I just need to make a metal bracket to hold the bellows in place. I will try to post a video of it in action soon

[pimpbike]

more photos

[yantra3d]

That cover looks excellent! I'm definitely going to try to build my own after seeing how well your's came out. Thanks for sharing... this is very inspiring.

[digits]

Wow, that looks amazing! I had a go at making my own out of PVC flooring roll at the weekend - it worked but it was ugly as hell - how much folding practice did you need before you got that good?

[pimpbike]

I had pvc also but I was worried about a hot chip getting instantly stuck to it.
I first downloaded the pattern from http://www.ixen-cnc.com and made one out of paper first just to get the idea. Then I quickly designed my pattern in Mastercam and plotted on paper to see if it was going to work OK. Luckily it was perfect the first time around then I made one out of the denim. It was the first one I made and it wasn't hard at all. Folding was easy I just used a metal ruler to make sure my folds went straight. I also used a pair of pliers to pinch the folds down tight. It just takes a little time to layout the lines and wait for the coats of varnish to dry but it turned out well, I like it.

[pimpbike]

I posted a video on youtube of the finished way cover in action. I have no idea why the video went choppy. The original is not.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EgLMMhbRfc

[Asmordo]

Nice work with this one, pimpbike!
I'm actually trying to make one at this moment. 10oz denim, and well not actually marine polyurethane - as I could not find any - but ordinary urethane laquer for outside use, but the result - I hope - will be similar to yours. It's hardening now actually. I'll report back, if anyone is interested. I was wondering if it would work if I were to put some silicone over the whole thing when I was done with it (assuming my version works that is.) So it would work a bit better with floodcooling (or maybe pimpbike could tell me if it would work as it is with flood or not!?) I think I saw someone that did something like that.

[BobWarfield]

That came out real nice. I keep wondering if you could use room temp vulcanizing rubber to make one. It's available for molding.

Cheers,

BW

[pimpbike]

Hey Asmordo, my way cover was coated pretty well that the coolant just sits on the cover and rolls off the sides. It doesn't look like any fluid passes through. I haven't used my machine in a while because I haven't had much time to play, but it's holding up perfect so far. I had bought some spray rubber that they use to seal leaking RVs but it didn't look like it was going to hold up on my test piece. The rubber stays in a soft state and can be rubbed off. I had thought of Silicone but the type that could be brushed was quite expensive. Silicone after a while has a tendancy to peel. I used a product called Sikaflex 291 before, it's a difficult to find product. It's designed for marine applications and bonds incredibly well. That product is very tough and IMO would be better than silicone. Goodluck, Post some pics of your finished cover!

[Asmordo]

Maybe you also read about it, but someone also tried that - even if I'm not sure if it was on the zone or not. But It seems like it failed. The rubber would not bend the way it was supposed to. But maybe if you were very skilled with molding, it would work. I choosed to work with denim - a bit because I read about this, and also because I found this thread. Denim just seems much more plyable. At least to me. Would be interestning to see a working example of DIY molded rubber though. My first thought when it came to bellows, was to mold my own. To bad for me, that it seems much more trouble than it's worth (as I know little about molding.)

[Asmordo]

Hey, pimpbike. Thanks for you advice! =)
I guess I'll see how well it will hold up without silicone then. I was just a bit worried that there was a risk that the coolant leaked though or melted or similar. But from your experience, that does not seem as likely any more. Also, very good idea about the spray-on rubber. That's something that also may be worth trying. I have actually already bought silicone. But I'm not sure it's best for the job, but even if it's not I have other uses for it. It's used for construction, and it's called Cemendine 8000 or something like that, translated from Japanese. If needed I'll try to see if I can find Sikaflex 291. I'm sure I actually saw it when I was at the homecenter. Sure, If it works I'll post some pictures here. On the other hand, if the urethane I used does not work, I'll be sure to warn other not to use it in any case! ;=)
Some testing will probably be needed before that though.

[jalessi]

Has anyone tried to use any of these products to coat the way cover?

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=36821

http://www.plastidip.com/industrial_solutions/VLP

Jeff....