X3L - Plywood Gone Wild!

[ImagineRobots]

Here's my new enclosure for my X3L mill conversion. Almost looks like a poor man's VMC. Gonna paint it black when the weather gets warm. Thinking of painting the inside with this rubber based paint:

Liquid Rubber, EPDM coatings for roofs, concrete and wood.

Next is a power drawbar for the Tormach TTS.

Cheers

[cornbinder23]

Looks good, I just painted the inside and out on mine with epoxy paint, but I have an aluminum pan that the mill sits in, so I had to caulk the whole thing.
Are you going to use a pan or liner of some sort ?
Are you planning on leaving that thing on the casters?
If so I would try to find a way to attach the enclosure to the wall or something. My buddies X3 walks his table across the floor!

JTCUSTOMS

[PriddyShiddy]

another very good option is "rust bullet". do some searches. used on naval vessels and according to one guy I talked to it stood up to sulphuric acid tests. more importantly: it is slick as pig snot and stuff will roll right off of it.

[ImagineRobots]

Looks good, I just painted the inside and out on mine with epoxy paint, but I have an aluminum pan that the mill sits in, so I had to caulk the whole thing.
Are you going to use a pan or liner of some sort ?
Are you planning on leaving that thing on the casters?
If so I would try to find a way to attach the enclosure to the wall or something. My buddies X3 walks his table across the floor!

JTCUSTOMS

Didn't think about it walking. I guess I could use a car jack to lift it up and put some wood blocks underneath.

For now I have a $10 plastic pan I bought from Home Depot that the base sits in. The pan is originally used for putting at the base of hot water heaters. I just need something to help capture any dripping way oil from the one shot oiler.

This was just a quick and dirty weekend project. I'll probably just line the inside with plastic sheets for now until I can paint it in the spring. Sick of working on the mill. Time to start making some chips!

[ImagineRobots]

another very good option is "rust bullet". do some searches. used on naval vessels and according to one guy I talked to it stood up to sulphuric acid tests. more importantly: it is slick as pig snot and stuff will roll right off of it.

Looks good for metal. Didn't see anything on the website about working on plywood. I actually went to Home Depot and some of the Rustoleum paint said it was only for metal. Not sure why.

[PriddyShiddy]

I talked to one of the engineers at rust bullet distributor in california and he said it works on anything it lands on for the most part. he said the acid test was plywood covered in 3 coats tossed into a bottle of sulfuric acid for a few weeks and it was hadn't eaten through.

the only reason I mentioned it was wondering if chips would be less likely to stick to it making better flow back to your tank. I bought a can, and all the equipment and fixtures, screens and bar drain with built in strainer, but made the mistake of buying a kool mist portable unit as a temporary solution to run a few hundred parts that couldn't wait... now I just can't justify the down time of building a "real" enclosure like yours only to have more PITA of coolant management vs spray and done. I've also run deep slots (5x dia) and deep pockets and the air completely clears them. :: shrugs:: might do it when I have time... lol... whenever that is???

and since I forgot to say it before: that thing looks AWESOME!!

great solution for the casters are these I have 6 on my table (way overkill) but they are great. level the mill in about 10 minutes (less with just 4) and have it ready to move in 4 minutes.

[ImagineRobots]

I talked to one of the engineers at rust bullet distributor in california and he said it works on anything it lands on for the most part. he said the acid test was plywood covered in 3 coats tossed into a bottle of sulfuric acid for a few weeks and it was hadn't eaten through.

the only reason I mentioned it was wondering if chips would be less likely to stick to it making better flow back to your tank. I bought a can, and all the equipment and fixtures, screens and bar drain with built in strainer, but made the mistake of buying a kool mist portable unit as a temporary solution to run a few hundred parts that couldn't wait... now I just can't justify the down time of building a "real" enclosure like yours only to have more PITA of coolant management vs spray and done. I've also run deep slots (5x dia) and deep pockets and the air completely clears them. :: shrugs:: might do it when I have time... lol... whenever that is???

and since I forgot to say it before: that thing looks AWESOME!!

great solution for the casters are these I have 6 on my table (way overkill) but they are great. level the mill in about 10 minutes (less with just 4) and have it ready to move in 4 minutes.

Thanks for the info. Truth is the cabinet looks better than it functions. It's not setup for a coolant system. I'll probably use a mist system. I wonder how airborne that stuff gets? The mill is in my unfinished dining room until the weather gets warmer. I just needed something quick and dirty to keep the chips from flying everywhere.

[PriddyShiddy]

twist the mixture nozzle left get a stream of mist. twist right far enough and you have to hold the nozzle still against the top of the vice for several seconds just to be sure anything is coming out. essentially its infinitely adjustable to your liking.

quick and dirty?! no sir, my heavy duty cardboard held to the table with wood screws and fastened at the top with angle is dirty yours is far more elegant.

http://www.imgur.com/MNyEJ.jpg
http://www.imgur.com/W0tHn.jpg
http://www.imgur.com/E9l0S.jpg

its amazing how hard it is to fix a temporary solution that is doing every thing you need when time is the biggest enemy and money is a close second

[cornbinder23]

its amazing how hard it is to fix a temporary solution that is doing every thing you need when time is the biggest enemy and money is a close second

Also known as tempermanent

JTCUSTOMS

[ImagineRobots]

twist the mixture nozzle left get a stream of mist. twist right far enough and you have to hold the nozzle still against the top of the vice for several seconds just to be sure anything is coming out. essentially its infinitely adjustable to your liking.

quick and dirty?! no sir, my heavy duty cardboard held to the table with wood screws and fastened at the top with angle is dirty yours is far more elegant.

http://www.imgur.com/MNyEJ.jpg
http://www.imgur.com/W0tHn.jpg
http://www.imgur.com/E9l0S.jpg

its amazing how hard it is to fix a temporary solution that is doing every thing you need when time is the biggest enemy and money is a close second

I think you splurged on screws ;-) This is quick and dirty - a giant piece of cardboard wedged between a table and wall for my Frankenstein Sherline + Chinese piece of crap router. This poor fellow was flexing like rubber when milling the oil channels on the X3 ways for the one shot oiler system. Time almost stood still when I was moving at the whopping 1 IPM. Can't wait to go a lot faster on the X3 when machining metal!