[wastingtape]

I'm sure the sheet metal stand that Tormach sells is fine, but it seems quite steep at $600 + s&h. I noticed that Tormach sells the chip pan/tray for the 440 separate from the stand. That seems like it opens up the possibility of just buying the chip tray and setting it on your own stand. But of course that leads to a next question: what to use as a stand.

Aside from fabricating/welding something, what other options are there?

There is the dimensional and load bearing concern, of course. Other than that it seems like the only other concern is the drainage if planning to use flood coolant. What else have people used besides the official Tormach stand?

Would something like this cut it? Husky 46 in. 9-Drawer Mobile Workbench with Solid Wood Top, Black-7440946R - The Home Depot

Or something like this: NewAge Products Pro 3 Series 37 in. H x 28 in. W x 22 in. D 18-Gauge Welded Steel 2-Door Base Cabinet in Gray-52002 - The Home Depot

[mattz0r]

I used a Little Giant machine stand that I paid ~$330 inc shipping from Amazon - link. It is rated to 10,000lb so no problem holding the little 440. I have the chip pan sitting on top of this. Note that if you want to use Tormach's flood coolant kit, you will have trouble installing their drain unless you get a smaller machine stand (Little Giant do make smaller ones). Alternatively you can put the mill and chip pan on risers (like the Tormach stand has) to give yourself enough room to fit the drain.

Personally, I built my own flood coolant setup, and drilled large holes in the machine stand to make the drain. It worked really well but I just didn't like how messy flood coolant was, so I went the dual-fogbuster route. I can post pics of my drain setup if interested as I didn't remove it.

I also drilled 4 holes in the stand so I could bolt the mill down. Drilling holes in the stand was a huge pain so if you can borrow (or have) a magnetic drill press, definitely use that.

[wastingtape]

Ah, interesting. I hadn't seen those before. The stand you links to looks a little big but granted I'm just eyeballing that off the pictures. I haven't actually measured the underside of the chip pan where it connects to the stand. I had figured that whatever stand was chosen there would need to be some kind of bolting down.

Regarding the coolant... yeah, those were some of the things I had wondered about. I've seen a few videos of people who installed the Tormach coolant kit on their 440's on youtube, and all of them seemed to have trouble containing the leaks so I was wondering if I wanted to mess with the hassle or not.

And, yeah, a magnetic drill press would be quite a nice luxury. This isn't the first time I've thought it would be nice to have...

[mattz0r]

The stand is slightly smaller than the chip tray but I definitely could have gotten a smaller stand. The stand has holes in the legs for bolting down, and I was able to use those for leveling feet.

If you're buying a 440, I imagine you're not doing full on production, so maybe try a fogbuster setup first? I made my own so it didn't cost much, and for the work I do it is more than satisfactory.

The drainage from the chip pan is pretty poor. I actually poured epoxy with the whole thing slanted to help drain, and it helped a bit. I just didn't like having absolutely everything covered with coolant after machining. I regret going the flood route over a DIY fogbuster, but I can definitely see how others would prefer flood.

[tmarks11]

If you are going to build from scratch, than I wouldn't even buy the chip pan. Design something that will actually handle flood coolant.

Take a look at the way the 770 stand is designed, or the Novakon stands. Both have a nice wide drainage chute and a collection drawer for the swarf,

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/novako...us-pro-nm.html