[Kenny Duval]

You and I are of the same opinion. Material choice alone does not in itself make anything better or worse than the other choices. My only real concern from the 440 stand is that the weight of the mill is not transferred to the floor directly nor is it carried on the strongest vertical portion of the stand. Maybe not a huge concern with the given weight of the mill.

[extdrive]

I've decided to make my stand entirely from duct tape and plexiglass

No but seriously, I've appreciate everyone's feedback.

[adamvs]

The Tormach stand does the job as far as stability .. but the design is 1.0 and sucks in other ways: how about coolant drainage and coolant accessibility. If you have the time and inclination to solve this, plus rigidity .. well worth it.

[mountaindew]

I've decided to make my stand entirely from duct tape and plexiglass

No but seriously, I've appreciate everyone's feedback.

I was thinking my idea of 8" cmu blocks filled with quickcrete and steel embed plate mounts was decent idea. lol
This would be something to see

[Spinnetti]

The Tormach stand does the job as far as stability .. but the design is 1.0 and sucks in other ways: how about coolant drainage and coolant accessibility. If you have the time and inclination to solve this, plus rigidity .. well worth it.

Exactly... I do not think the the Tormach stand has good function or value, and you can't get a pallet jack under the damn thing, not to mention poor drainage. My last mill had a wood stand for 10+ years and worked great - and that was nothing elaborate - 2x4 on end and simple framing. I'd love a better quality metal one that's not so expensive overall.

[X35 Design]

I made a stand of 10 or 12 gauge steel sheetmetal angles, bolted together. Then I made a tray to put under the machine. It's very sturdy.

The whole stand is made of only two or three different parts, pretty simple.

You can see some pictures of it in my machine for sale thread:
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/tormac...4-tormach.html

If anyone is really interested, I could find the models, etc..

[extdrive]

Well shoot X35, if you weren't so far from Phoenix I might just buy your whole setup. Thanks for the picture. Seems like a very straight forward stand!

I made a stand of 10 or 12 gauge steel sheetmetal angles, bolted together. Then I made a tray to put under the machine. It's very sturdy.

The whole stand is made of only two or three different parts, pretty simple.

You can see some pictures of it in my machine for sale thread:
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/tormac...4-tormach.html

If anyone is really interested, I could find the models, etc..

[GLCarlson]

... you can't get a pallet jack under the damn thing...

My BT lifter pallet jack fits under the deluxe stand (for the 1100) with no problems. Stand is vintage 2010, roughly.

[extdrive]

So after all the advise from the good folks on this forum I decided not to a make a wood stand. I fabricated one from steel. I'm not a great welder/fabricator but even still this was a fun project. Turned out ok. Well ok so far, I've still got things to finish - flood coolant system and drain, elevated blocks so the mill doesn't sit directly on chip train, etc. I'm sure there are things I will wish I had designed into it but didn't. Hard to know what features to add before I get some time with the mill. Hopefully I can add it as it becomes apparent.

The base of the stand is made from 2.5" x 0.25" angle iron. After is was assembled I realized it might be overkill, but figured it was safer to error on the side of too heavy rather than too light. The chip tray was made second and I made it from 1" x .125" angle and 18 gauge sheet, metal. I wish I had gone heavier. Not only was the 18 gauge sheet metal hard to stick weld without blowing through it, but there is a tiny bit of flex in the tray that I would preferred not be there. Live and learn.

[CNC_ie]

So after all the advise from the good folks on this forum I decided not to a make a wood stand. I fabricated one from steel. I'm not a great welder/fabricator but even still this was a fun project. Turned out ok. Well ok so far, I've still got things to finish - flood coolant system and drain, elevated blocks so the mill doesn't sit directly on chip train, etc. I'm sure there are things I will wish I had designed into it but didn't. Hard to know what features to add before I get some time with the mill. Hopefully I can add it as it becomes apparent.

The base of the stand is made from 2.5" x 0.25" angle iron. After is was assembled I realized it might be overkill, but figured it was safer to error on the side of too heavy rather than too light. The chip tray was made second and I made it from 1" x .125" angle and 18 gauge sheet, metal. I wish I had gone heavier. Not only was the 18 gauge sheet metal hard to stick weld without blowing through it, but there is a tiny bit of flex in the tray that I would preferred not be there. Live and learn.

Looking good ! Im sure despite it not being as heavy gauge as youd like it still will function perfectly and im sure we all can stand back after making something and think..... I could have done that better !

Im living in Ireland and am considering purchasing the PCNC 1100. I reckon ill be making my own stand/enclosure because itll save me a ton of money. As mentioned before I dont think that the stand offers great value but as the dollar is so strong to the euro i have to think, do I want a stand for 1600 or a power draw bar.

[84scrambler]

Like several have said if you're ordering a machine and not sure what you want then there basic stand is a good starting point, that's what I got and it is doing the job. I have had it for a year now and I have definitely found improvements that it could use. The coolant collection is terrible, these guys should talk to a roofer or something. The coolant trays should have a steeper slope, be one piece and have collection points on both sides of the mill and the area directly under the mill should be sealed so crap cant get under neath it. Also the front should kick out farther so that it has the versatility of using a standard 6" vise. Those are my main issues. Now if you are running a fog buster or just simply dry then you really wont have much of a problem, just pick up there 5" vise and you should be good to go.

[extdrive]

Yeah, as is apparent I more or less copied tormach's design. My chip tray is a bit wider than theirs, hopefully that will help in fitting a standard 6" vise like you mentioned.

I've been using an old accu-lube MQL system instead of flood coolant. I really like it. However, I'm going to be milling a lot of titanium and may, in the end, decide flood coolant is the correct choice. In designing the stand and tray I've tried to make design decisions that wont give me issues adding a drain, strainer, filter, enclosure, coolant tank, etc should I choose to go the flood coolant route. I've got a plan in my head, but I've never used flood coolant so when it comes to implementing it my lack of experience in that area will probably show

Like several have said if you're ordering a machine and not sure what you want then there basic stand is a good starting point, that's what I got and it is doing the job. I have had it for a year now and I have definitely found improvements that it could use. The coolant collection is terrible, these guys should talk to a roofer or something. The coolant trays should have a steeper slope, be one piece and have collection points on both sides of the mill and the area directly under the mill should be sealed so crap cant get under neath it. Also the front should kick out farther so that it has the versatility of using a standard 6" vise. Those are my main issues. Now if you are running a fog buster or just simply dry then you really wont have much of a problem, just pick up there 5" vise and you should be good to go.

[tbev]

You can prolly whip up a pdb and save some money as well

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

[Trickle X]

Here are some screenshots of a stand I just drew up, that I will be making hopefully this week. It is all 1/4" steel and 1/2" on the plates for the adjustable legs. It is all tab and slot and will be welded together. Spaced just right for a pallet jack between the leveling feet. I could weld on a bottom plate and fill with sand or concrete, but this will already be close to 400 lbs of steel. There will be box steel frame that would be welded on top where the 1100 will bolt down to. I just didn't draw it in this version. Also not shown is the sheet metal that goes over the open sections on an angle to enclose the entire base. A catch basin made out of sheet metal will be added overtop similar to the way Tormach currently does it. The coolant collection with be added in there and routed outside the frame. I haven't got so far as adding an upper enclosure at this point, but I plan on it, and it will be much more compact than Tormach's, which in my opinion is unnecessarily over-sized. Let me know what you think and if you are interested, I will upload the design up to the cloud. I designed it to all be cut from one 4x8 sheet of .25" steel with the exception of the small sides, those are .5" and are 6" tall, so easy to just use bar. The other pieces would need slotted and cut on a plasma table or waterjet. I currently cut all my parts on a Shop Sabre Plasma table.

Attachment 326948Attachment 326950Attachment 326952Attachment 326954

[tbev]

Looks great, one thing I wish I could change about the Tormach stand is the clearance underneath the mill. I wish the mill sat higher up so I could clean under it. It collects chips under there like a MF, makes the flow of coolant back to the tank pretty lousy . Because of the increase in height of the bottom of the pan, on the sides, it's tough to clean/remove chips, can't fish out with a stick, I have to blow with air or coolant hose underneath to try to clear out chips but it doesn't really work well, if it sat a little higher it would be great, without sacrificing rigidity of course..

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

[keen]

Looks great, one thing I wish I could change about the Tormach stand is the clearance underneath the mill. I wish the mill sat higher up so I could clean under it. It collects chips under there like a MF, makes the flow of coolant back to the tank pretty lousy . Because of the increase in height of the bottom of the pan, on the sides, it's tough to clean/remove chips, can't fish out with a stick, I have to blow with air or coolant hose underneath to try to clear out chips but it doesn't really work well, if it sat a little higher it would be great, without sacrificing rigidity of course..

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

Hi tbev - When you blow out the chips under the base how do you ensure they don't get on the Y ballscrew?

Keen

[tbev]

I don't, that's why I think it's a ****ty design. There's so much crap underneath my mill the coolant pretty much doesn't flow underneath it, it pools up and flows in the front most part, in front of the mill, which sucks too. If I would have known I did have built spacers to mount the mill on, in between it and the pan.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

[GLCarlson]

Looks great, one thing I wish I could change about the Tormach stand is the clearance underneath the mill. I wish the mill sat higher up so I could clean under it. It collects chips under there like a MF, makes the flow of coolant back to the tank pretty lousy . Because of the increase in height of the bottom of the pan, on the sides, it's tough to clean/remove chips, can't fish out with a stick, I have to blow with air or coolant hose underneath to try to clear out chips but it doesn't really work well, if it sat a little higher it would be great, without sacrificing rigidity of course..

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

I made a low-profile pusher on a flexible arm, which at least helps. At the same time, I'm not making great honkin' piles of chips. Agree that it's a royal pain to get under the base of the mill.

[keen]

I don't understand why there is a gap there at all - surely you don't want chips bouncing around under there so close to an exposed precision ball screw .

I have no gaps under my 1100 bases.

Keen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCzBvsG-L5c

[tbev]

I've seen that video, *****en betty enclosures / stands for sure. I love em, especially the pan, it looks great!

I just put plexi up on the sides of the table and I have a tall one and the short on for the front , depending upon hie big of a mess I'm going to be making. I have a ton more coolant pressure than stock and I make mountains of chips and I can pretty much keep the coolant and chips contained within ghee plexi box.

I just checked out the y ball screw and it appears to have a cover underneath it. It may have openings, I can't really tell, but it's not wide open, sitting in a pile of chips. Still hate that there a big pile forever down there.


Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk