[fusion_crank]

Hello,
First, I know it's not a desktop mill, but it is very desktop like. It's an import knee mill with a 8x30" table. Grizzly sells something similar. I'd like your input and ideas for an enclosure for my knee mill. I am looking for ideas or problems with my design that I might not have considered. I currently make product prototypes for my day job, and for fun I make gun parts. Therefor the parts are not too large. I use mist cooling now, but might go to flood if it makes for better machining.
What I am considering is a table mounted enclosure, ie splash guard, or a full enclosure like on a Haas Mini-Mill. The picture below is an idea with a frame made from 1" 80/20 framing, with thin plywood or coreplast or some cheap sheet good to fill in the areas shown in translucent panes.
So, has anyone made one like this? If so, did it suck? Did it make the mill less usable? Did it make the mill better?
I haven't worked out all the details for the door etc.
It will me mounted on casters, and it can be rolled back from the mill if I get a job that really requires a weird setup.

Thanks for your help!
Mike

[pete from TN]

I used to have a knee mill similar to that and I could see the usefulness of the enclosure. I had considered making a table mounted enclosure that would be relatively easily removable. Your design is nice in that it seems to enclose the stand and it would drain the coolant into the base surround and then into the sump. There is a lot of things you could do to make that work well and it would not be that difficult or expensive. The one I had was taiwanese made and was actually pretty tight and I had considered converting it to CNC but I already had the RF45 and it just seemed to be a better candidate since it could be put entirely into an enclosure. Are you planning on powering the knee for the Z axis? Good luck with the build man...peace

Pete

[fusion_crank]

Thanks Pete! It seems sturdy to me too Pete.
I am planning on powering the knee if I go with a full enclosure. I'm still on the fence though.

[SCzEngrgGroup]

I recently enclosed my 9x49 knee mill, using a hybrid design. I used sqaure aluminum tube to build a frame to support Plexiglas panels that enclose the front and sides of the table. The front is a pair if bi-fold doors. This whole assembly lifts off the table very easily if needed (though I've never needed). The Y/Z ways are covered by a telescoping metal cover. I had a local HVAC company fold/solder a large pan to catch all the chips and coolant. This sits on a wooden table on casters, so it can be easily rolled out from under the machine for cleaning. It'll hold about 100 gallons of chips. The back is covered by simple shower curtains, which wrap around the sides, to catch anything that get's past the Plexiglas. Coolant is caught by the pan, it then dumps through two drains onto the mill base, which is hollow, to act as a coolant reservoir. A sump pump inside the base pumps the coolant to a 15 gal. external tank and pressure pump.

It all works perfectly.

Regards,
Ray L.

[fretsman]

Ray, do you find the quickframe (aluminum tubing) vibrates apart at all from the press in connectors? (how old is it now?) Or have you possibly added hardware to secure it from doing so?

Dave

[SCzEngrgGroup]

Ray, do you find the quickframe (aluminum tubing) vibrates apart at all from the press in connectors? (how old is it now?) Or have you possibly added hardware to secure it from doing so?

Dave

Dave,

No, not at all - it's surprisingly strong. The four bottom corners are screwed to the table (just sheet metal screws into the plastic corner blocks). I aded corner gussets to the lower front corners, to keep the (large) door opening from racking. With all of that, the rest of it stays put very nicely. I've used it almost every day for the last 3-4 months.

Regards,
Ray L.

[fretsman]

Thanks so much, Ray-

Dave

[fusion_crank]

Thanks for your help guys.

Ray, do you find that the coolant or chips splash over your enclosure? How tall is it? I like the simplicity of a table mounted enclosure, but I only have 8" max travel in the Y, and I hate to give any of that up.

Mike

[SCzEngrgGroup]

Thanks for your help guys.

Ray, do you find that the coolant or chips splash over your enclosure? How tall is it? I like the simplicity of a table mounted enclosure, but I only have 8" max travel in the Y, and I hate to give any of that up.

Mike

Mike,

Occassionally, a very small amount of coolanr or chips will find their way over the enclosure, but it's pretty rare. A lot more ends up on the floor just from opening the doors to do work in there.

The enclosure did not cost me any loss of travel on any axis.

Regards,
Ray L.