Semi enclosed NM 200 Setup

[g29cc]

Well here are some build pictures of what I did.

I basically used everything I had around the shop save for a few piecces of plexiglass. Which I wish I would have went to thicker pieces. But that was ALOT more money and I am glad I went with thinner because when I do go to the thicker glass ( if I do thicker ) I ll be going taller on the front and back.

So basically what I did was dismantle the wings of the coolant tray and tig weld angle iron to all four corners. I originally planned on going with 18" pcs of plexi. So the angle was 18". I was going to caulk the plexi in place, but later decided that I would drop them down a 1/4 " or so and have them over hang into the tray so no need for caulk.

Three holes in each side for the plexi and one hole on the back and front side to mount them to the sides of the machine for more rigidity.

Which those two holes ( one front , one back ) made the entire wing WAY more rigid ! They are pretty darn solid now. I don't hesitate to lean on them.....

The left and right sides were left at 30 inches tall , and that is what I ll go with in the future for the front and back plexi.

The 18" idea was based off having my originally Novakon Vise an 1 3/4 " off the table ( riser block ). But I installed another vise I had and raised it 4 " off the table and coolant was flying over the 18" on some jobs I was doing. So I lowered it to 3" off the table and that helps out. But a 30 " tall plexi all the way around would be way better. 30 " goes over my head and I am 5'8" tall. So you can stand behind it with no glasses on and watch in safety pretty much. The 18" sides you are over the top and still need safety glasses ( not that I am saying you shouldn't have them on ).

For the front for now I have two pieces of U channel and I am making sliding doors for the it. For now I just have two pieces on there and I am using quick pinch clamps to hold them in place.

The enclosure makes a world of difference in clean up. Before I was throwing chips in a 8 ft radius around the machine with coolant all over the floor.

Next is to finish the front doors, and then on to the coolant pump and coolant tank.

I am going to use a larger tank because the supplied tank doesn't have enough capacity to run at full stream for hours in a row. It will run dry because coolant can't cycle fast enough back to the pump. Plus the pump and tank being in the enclosure is nice, but I am going to mount them directly under the drain and I'll purchase a better pump with more "umph" to it so I can wash the machine down after a job using it with a garden hose setup like on most bigger machines.

But for now here are some pictures. The glass is so clean you can't see it well so I ll take pictures later of it dirty....











Also as a side note my Vista CNC MPG controller is working awesome ! I love it !

Thanks
Todd

[JoeBean]

Nice job!

Why would you have liked to go with thicker plexi? Ridgidity? If so, have you thought of acetone'ing some ribs in? That's comonly done in large acrylic/plexi aquariums to good effect.

I'm definitely going to have to copy this. I hate messes and I'm sensitive to chemicals. What coolant are you using btw? Any problems with bacterial growth? I understand from some guys on PM that a lot of coolants have problems when there's much iron/steel cut.

[JoeBean]

I forgot to ask - what thickness plexi did you use?

[g29cc]

The plexi is very thin , .093. I wanted to test it before I bought anything else because it was the cheapest. To be honest, it has worked perfectly fine so far. Coolant doesn't bother it , I am sure it will yellow eventually, but until it does, I ll probably keep it on there.

I use Blaser Swisslube. No issues with it. No bacteria growth, though I check it frequently and keep it at a maintained level mix.

I ve been using Blaser because its organic and doesn't bother me chemical wise, other stuff use to bother me.

[webgeek]

I love this design and I plan on ripping it off completely. Thanks much for posting it! Due to the high price of plastic, I'll probably use wood for the back and sides and only use plastic on the front to save money. Do you know the dimensions of pieces you used all around? I'm hoping to be cutting with my machine from literally day one as I have some orders backing up and need the huge boost in productivity it provides. To that end, I'll be snagging all the necessary bits from the metal shop in the next day or two.

Stupid question - the coolant tray is just cheap steel, right? You mentioned TIG and all I can do is MIG so I'm hoping it wont give me any grief and you didn't have to use TIG due to some exotic metal combination.

Thanks!

-Mike

[kvom]

It looks as if he used aluminum for the vertical risers, hence TIG. IMO you could machine some angle iron/aluminum to match the angle of the enclosure and just bolt them on.

[g29cc]

I used steel angle for the sides and tig welded them because I don't have a mig for this.

I was going to bolt them on , but figured welding would be easier.