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So, those if use with the cheap shower curtains "enclosure" we saved a crap load of $$$ VS those fancy people...
But watching a bunch of videos of the enclosure in action, I am now kind of jealous... Just seems so much easier / better than my shower curtains...
Could always make your own and save some money.
https://lensprojects.wordpress.com/2...diy-enclosure/
Attachment 343518
A shower curtain enclosure is better than nothing, but not by a lot. A "hard" enclosure is great, but $$$$.
An excellent compromise is Coroplast - basically corrugated cardboard made of polyethylene rather than paper. It's dirt cheap (Home Depot sells a box of 10 4ftx8ft sheets for $110), it's reasonably rigid, and totally oil, coolant and water-proof. I made a full enclosure for my machine about 3 years ago for under $50 total cost (2-1/2 sheets of Coroplast, a few strips of 1x1 lumber, and some nuts bolts, and drywall screws), and about 3 hours of my time, and it still works perfectly after many hundreds, probably thousands, of hours of use. I initially used shower curtains for the "doors", but ended up replacing that pretty soon that a two-piece sliding door made of two pieces of 24x48x1/4" Lexan that cost far more than the whole rest of the enclosure.
When I eventually re-build it, and make similar enclosures for my second, and third, mills, I'll make each panel double-layer, with the corrugations running perpendicular to each other, for increased rigidity. But, that's about all I'd change.
Regards,
Ray L.
Ray,
Coroplast "plywood"! :banana:
Have you tested it to see if it is much more rigid?
That actually sounds like a plan. I have some smoked Lexan a friend gave me and along with some Coroplast I should be able to make a nice enclosure.
I have one factory enclosed machine and it is sooooo much nicer to used compared to the open machines it is not funny.
Mike
Fancy you say? I dont even want to know what these cost in time and material, but they are fancy (and I'm jealous)
https://www.instagram.com/p/BOGtSMUj6Ra/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BOGtXffD_9c/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BN0klv2gnT8/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BOAujRBAX3Z/
SCzEngrgGroup: Thanks for the info.
If you don't want to buy the 10 sheets from home depot, find a local sign shop. They sold me a few sheets. I am with Ray, Colorplast works good for inexpensive enclosure.
Something like this would be perfect for fastening the Coroplast pieces to each other: https://www.mcmaster.com/#90243a719/=15ituq7
Regards,
Ray L.
Coroplast can be had in colors and 'clear' (you wouldn't want to use it for a window, but light passes through it) up to about 10mm thick from plastic shops. A bit more expensive but a lot more rigid.
damn, I must of been really intoxicated when I wrote that...those if use? I am guessing I meant "those of us"...Quote:
Originally Posted by SomeWhatLost
I kind of have my heart set on an 80/20 (or equivalent) style type setup at some point...(no special reason other than I like the stuff... quick and easy, and can always be re-purposed if need be)) biggest issues for me right now is Time, closely followed by $$$
using that coroplast seems like it really would help a lot on the $$$ side of things... and time too, I seem to remember it cuts fairly easy and quick with a knife... and it would be plenty strong for what it is needed to do... I never would of thought of using it for an enclosure though... not sure why I never would, seems like a great idea, but in all probability I would just never of thought of it...
I'll keep my welding curtain enclosures soft sided enclosure with 1/4" PET-G in the "strike zone where I normally stand thank you very much :-).
I will keep my shower curtain. I run too many long and heavy parts that an enclosure would never work. My curtains are several layers of fabric
I have the Tormach enclosure on my machine. If I had it to do over, I wouldn't have bought it.
Clear shower curtains work just as well, and when they get really bad and you can no longer see through them, they're cheap to replace.
I built a cheap PVC frame and screwed it to the ceiling above my mill, then hang shower curtains all the way around. I got some heavy duty 10 gauge clear curtains off eBay. Made them wrap around and cover the electrical enclosure.
I can run full blast coolant without a care in the world and everything stays dry around the mill. A stray chip sometimes comes out. Really happy with it.
I already have a PVC/shower curtain setup... that is what I was comparing all the nice full enclosure type setups too...
I do get why some of you like the ability to run larger stock with the sides off, but in my case, in a space confined shed, (a very nice shed, with concrete floors, 220V, etc, but still a shed..) that really isn't an option for me anyway...
even if I had the space, I still think a nice enclosure with like doors/windows on the side that could be opened would be nicer... at least for me...
I was milling a doohicky the other day, and it was freaky cold out, the shower curtain was not very flexible, and were it tucks in on the front it got caught on the table, which pulled open the corner and sprayed coolant all over my EBR that also shares space in the shed...
considering what the tormach coolant has done to the paint of my mill, I wasn't very happy...
a well designed full enclosure wouldn't have that issue...
as a side note, so, my tormach supplied Chinese loc line coolant spay thingy broke... I replaced it with actual real name brand loc line stuff... why didn't you forum people fully explain how much better the real stuff is?!!?!? I would of swapped out that cheap crappy bit long ago...
I blame the interwebs for not properly informing me of this...
it is just so much easier to aim... no more clicking past the point you were attempting to aim at...