[freeidaho]

Howdy,
Just went down to Gem State Metals and picked up 222 pounds of steel for my custom base design. This is most of the steel needed for the base. The process begins. I'm thinking this is an addiction.



kr

[freeidaho]

Howdy,
I had a bit of time in the shop this weekend. All the drilling is done on the front and back frames, and they are tack-welded together. I'm pretty excited about the result. They are square and true, and identical. The square and true part is a function of patience, clamping, and always measuring everything three times or more times before tacking. The identical part is easy, since the second frame is built by clamping all the pieces to the first frame. Attached are some pictures if y'all are interested.

Next step is to finish weld these frames without warping them, but that is all planned out.

Attachment 236878

Attachment 236880

Attachment 236882

Attachment 236884

Attachment 236886

kr

[luv2ride]

Do you have a drawing of your plans? Are you going to in corporate a full enclosure into your design?

I have the deluxe base already and there are enough enclosure ideas out there for that. Just wondering what the final outcome would be for you.

[freeidaho]

Howdy,
I posted plans in this thread some time back.
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/tormac...ew-please.html

They are basically the same now, but with a few tweaks.

What do you ride?

kr

[luv2ride]

I do remember seeing that thread.

I ride road bikes training for triathlons and have a Softail for now.

[freeidaho]

Howdy,
After a day in agony, a trip to the ER, and a day of rest... actually yard work, I finally got to do some finish welding on one frame. Much less progress than planned, but some progress none-the-less.



I hope y'all had a good weekend.

Ken Reed

[luv2ride]

Sorry to hear all of that! Hope you got it all worked out...and keep that head covered so that doesn't lead to the ER!

[tbaker2500]

Ooh bummer man! What happened?

[twowalls]

Ken,

Build looks like it's going good. Looking forward to more pictures of your build. Hope the ER visit wasn't too serious. Keep up the great work.

Nate

[mountaindew]

Looking good! Going to be solid .
I have the upper chip pan and back splash off my mill for service.
Not real easy to get at the bolts and I have full access to back of my machine.
Glad I set the machine with full access because in my experience you need to remove all the upper trays just to get at parts of machine for maintenance and upgrades.
I would keep this in mind when designing and building your base and chip trays / enclosure. Allow access for inspection, adjustment and repair of ball screws, oil lines, electrical and pneumatics on a regular basis.
md

[nitewatchman]

I have the upper chip pan and back splash off my mill for service.
Not real easy to get at the bolts and I have full access to back of my machine.
Glad I set the machine with full access because in my experience you need to remove all the upper trays just to get at parts of machine for maintenance and upgrades.
md

Mountain,

Not trying to hijack the post but you guys might consider this to improve access.

I had the same issue with the upper Chip Pan and Back Splash. The way they cross the back of the machine makes service and upgrades difficult plus it blocks access to the ATC controls.

I attacked mine with mace and mallet and eliminated the portion behind the column and electrical cabinet. I laid out the panels and cut them apart with a saber saw. I then rejoined the cut parts, welded and ground the corners and painted to match. The new panels are then bolted to the column and electricall cabinet using the original holes in the edge of the rewelded panels.

I think it turned out well and now gives full access to the back of the macine while sealing off the Splash Guard.

nitewatchman

[luv2ride]

That is a great idea nitewatchman! I was looking into something similar when coming up with my full enclosure (still under construction).

[freeidaho]

Morning,
Back to build progress. Well a bit of progress to show. The base structure is finish welded, square and true. Pictures from the past couple months.

Attachment 257058 Attachment 257060 Attachment 257062 Attachment 257070


Just got the metal for the Tormach CNC milling machine base coolant tray home yesterday in the storm. It is ready to be bent, welded and attached. Easy to say, but a bit of work to keep it straight and not leak. I know, I know, what could be so hard to bend on the dotted line and weld?

Attachment 257064 Attachment 257068

The big hole in the coolant tray is the coolant filter area. There will be a sheet box welded to the underside of this that will hold the strainers and filter material. I'm going to have a lot of coolant flow to handle.

[BAMCNC.COM]

Great website

[luv2ride]

Great website

Agreed! Bookmarked here.

I need to look over your plans in the other thread and see what I want to do for an enclosure. I just want something NOW to contain chips. Too much deliberation and over analyzing leaves one empty handed!

[SCzEngrgGroup]

Here's the enclosure I built for my machine:

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/novako...ml#post1400930

Took about 3 hours to build, and cost about $50 in materials. Works perfectly - 100% containment, and it can be completely removed or installed in under 5 minutes.

I initially used a shower curtain for the "door", but a while back built proper sliding Lexan doors, using home-made "glides" and aluminum T-track:

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/novako...ml#post1552350

Regards,
Ray L.

[freeidaho]

A little bit of progress today. There is 9" of snow outside so no riding the Harley today.

These are pictures of the coolant collection box fabrication. It is tack-welded together and is square and true. I don't have a break so these were bent by hand over some angle iron. The coolant box has two floor drains in it that flow the coolant back into a tank underneath. That is all for today.

Attachment 257120 Attachment 257122 Attachment 257124 Attachment 257126

[SCzEngrgGroup]

Having experience with a number of milling machines, some of which had rather poor drainage, I have one suggestion: You can never go "too big" on drainage. My current machine started with a 4" diameter round drain, which filled up with chips and clogged constantly! I now have a roughly 12" wide x 18" long drain opening directly under the machine base, which never clogs. This is one of the rare cases where bigger IS better.

It's not clear where your collection box is located, but if it is under the machine, you'll have a hard time clearing a clog in those two (2"??) drains. I would suggest allowing at least 2-3" clearance UNDER the machine to facilitate easy cleaning, and put the drains where they are very easily accessible. If I were designing an enclosure, I'd slope the whole thing in one direction, so I could simply use a hose to wash all the chips from the entire enclosure to one side, and down into a BIG opening feeding into a separator, with an easy-to-remove chip bin.

Regards,
Ray L.

[freeidaho]

Ray,
Those are the drains, not the filters. The whole box, contains a 14" x 28" filter, and the coolant goes through two extra fine 10" diameter cooking strainers before it gets to the filter material.

This box is beside the mill, like Tormach's base, but 10x as big. Yes, there is a slope to the coolant tray that goes under the mill.

[waltpermenter]

Ray,
Those are the drains, not the filters. The whole box, contains a 14" x 28" filter, and the coolant goes through two extra fine 10" diameter cooking strainers before it gets to the filter material.

This box is beside the mill, like Tormach's base, but 10x as big. Yes, there is a slope to the coolant tray that goes under the mill.

i read that in your post at the top, some don't pay attention. good work.