[g29cc]

** I thought you guys might want to see pictures of a relatively cheap enclosure I built for my Novakon and since the Tormach is pretty much the same thing for the most part, I figured it would be good info to pass you guys with Tormach machines as well. **

Well here are some build pictures of what I did.

I basically used everything I had around the shop save for a few piecces of plexiglass. Which I wish I would have went to thicker pieces. But that was ALOT more money and I am glad I went with thinner because when I do go to the thicker glass ( if I do thicker ) I ll be going taller on the front and back.

So basically what I did was dismantle the wings of the coolant tray and tig weld angle iron to all four corners. I originally planned on going with 18" pcs of plexi. So the angle was 18". I was going to caulk the plexi in place, but later decided that I would drop them down a 1/4 " or so and have them over hang into the tray so no need for caulk.

Three holes in each side for the plexi and one hole on the back and front side to mount them to the sides of the machine for more rigidity.

Which those two holes ( one front , one back ) made the entire wing WAY more rigid ! They are pretty darn solid now. I don't hesitate to lean on them.....

The left and right sides were left at 30 inches tall , and that is what I ll go with in the future for the front and back plexi.

The 18" idea was based off having my originally Novakon Vise an 1 3/4 " off the table ( riser block ). But I installed another vise I had and raised it 4 " off the table and coolant was flying over the 18" on some jobs I was doing. So I lowered it to 3" off the table and that helps out. But a 30 " tall plexi all the way around would be way better. 30 " goes over my head and I am 5'8" tall. So you can stand behind it with no glasses on and watch in safety pretty much. The 18" sides you are over the top and still need safety glasses ( not that I am saying you shouldn't have them on ).

For the front for now I have two pieces of U channel and I am making sliding doors for the it. For now I just have two pieces on there and I am using quick pinch clamps to hold them in place.

The enclosure makes a world of difference in clean up. Before I was throwing chips in a 8 ft radius around the machine with coolant all over the floor.

Next is to finish the front doors, and then on to the coolant pump and coolant tank.

I am going to use a larger tank because the supplied tank doesn't have enough capacity to run at full stream for hours in a row. It will run dry because coolant can't cycle fast enough back to the pump. Plus the pump and tank being in the enclosure is nice, but I am going to mount them directly under the drain and I'll purchase a better pump with more "umph" to it so I can wash the machine down after a job using it with a garden hose setup like on most bigger machines.

But for now here are some pictures. The glass is so clean you can't see it well so I ll take pictures later of it dirty....











Also as a side note my Vista CNC MPG controller is working awesome ! I love it !

Thanks
Todd

[Scott_M]

Hi Todd
Nice job. Nice shop too!

Plexi is not shatter resitant so be sure and ALWAYS wear those safety glasses.

Out of curiosity why do you have your vise up so high ?

Scott

[g29cc]

Thanks Scott!

The vise is up high because the Novakon Spindle to table is high. Hence the reason for having the vise up higher for such small parts.

I hope to not fling big parts off the machine ! But your right on the plexi.

Thanks
Todd

[Magnum164]

looks good, but the metal enclosure in front would drive me crazy. Being short I would probably bump my elbows on it all of the time.

But I do like the wrap around. I plan on doing something close as I used coolant for a complete part last night and it was soooo much better, but splashed everywhere.

[Don Clement]

I use LEXAN® Polycarbonate sheet mounted on all sides of my Tormach PCNC. LEXAN® Polycarbonate sheet is much more durable and resistant to flying chips than the more fragile plexiglass.

I ran my Tormach PCNC with stock coolant tank for many hours day yesterday with no problems.

BTW IMO Vista sucks. I am running win7, win7 64bit and XP

Also what's up with the exposed Z-axis rails on the Novakon? Tormach PCNC Z-axis ways are much more protected from chips and coolant.



Don

[g29cc]

Yeah maybe I ll redo the glass to something better down the road. For now its working and was a good base because I will make them taller in the future.

The Vista is the name of the MPG company, not the OS software.

VistaCNC.com

I am using Windows 7 also.

[David Bord]

Very nice work.. thanks for sharing!

[g29cc]

Very nice work.. thanks for sharing!

Thank you! I saw another enclosure that was more elaborate then mine and was built right off the base ( didn't have a coolant setup ). But I didn't want to spend that much money and had most of the materials laying around the shop. I would say I have a total of $50-60 invested in materials ( mostly Plexiglass , nuts and bolts ).

Its probably one of the better investments I made tooling wise and it sure has helped in clean up time.

[twocik]

Todd I think your idea looks great, but if everyone was to post non related tormach ideas here on the Tormach forum it will make it harder for us to find what we were looking for. Again no offense and I'm not wanting this to turn sour.



I'd switch the plexiglass to polycarbonate with something like lexan, but this is just a mainstream name not the product. You can find cheaper

The coolant I was using bubbled my tormach plexiglass after 2 months of use. I'm guessing it was a mixture of the coolant and the way oil, also ate the paint right off the machine which I believe is because of the two mixing. Plexiglass will shatter if a 1/4" end mill was to snap off and hit it just right, but also depending on the thickness of your plexiglass. Plexiglass will also turn yellowish in direct sun and under certain lighting conditions and can cloud visibility. I just went thru this myself. I added 2 more poly walls to my existing enclosure with 8 derlin spacers to fit flush with the wall.


BTW really nice looking shop !

[MichaelHenry]

I've snapped off a 1/4" carbide end mill and no damage was done to the acrylic shield at all - I'm not even sure the broken EM pieces made it that far. I'd be a lot more concerned about a bit coming loose from a flycutter. Better safe than sorry, though.

What coolant and way lube are you using? I've been using Hangsterfer S500 as coolant and Vactra #2 as way lube for a couple of years with no paint problems at all. The acrylic chip shields are still transparent and bubble free as well.

Mike

[300sniper]

I've been using Hangsterfer S500 as coolant and Vactra #2 as way lube for a couple of years with no paint problems at all. The acrylic chip shields are still transparent and bubble free as well.

Mike

exactly the same combo i am running and have no peeling paint, discolored front clear shield nor rust on my machine.

[ihavenofish]

Also what's up with the exposed Z-axis rails on the Novakon? Tormach PCNC Z-axis ways are much more protected from chips and coolant.

the linear ways have wipers and scrapers, so in general they are MORE protected than the typical dovetail with bellows. they are also about 8"-12" above the table top depending on revision, so really not much gets up there to cause damage. i think youll find the bulk of "open" linear rail machines have exposed rails on the Z and even some high end enclosed ones (haas, dmg, etc).

anyhow, i would probably agree about the acrylic vs poly, but it depends really what you are cutting. something with sharp hot chips might not be so good for acrylic (or the fabric bellows for that matter).

[Don Clement]

the linear ways have wipers and scrapers, so in general they are MORE protected than the typical dovetail with bellows. they are also about 8"-12" above the table top depending on revision, so really not much gets up there to cause damage. i think youll find the bulk of "open" linear rail machines have exposed rails on the Z and even some high end enclosed ones (haas, dmg, etc).

In general for the bulk...however Tormach is well engineered to protect the z-axis ways on the Tormach z-axis. IMO there is a great disadvantage wrt rigidity by having the z-axis support so far above the table.

[twocik]

"I've snapped off a 1/4" carbide end mill and no damage was done to the acrylic shield at all - I'm not even sure the broken EM pieces made it that far. I'd be a lot more concerned about a bit coming loose from a flycutter. Better safe than sorry, though.

What coolant and way lube are you using? I've been using Hangsterfer S500 as coolant and Vactra #2 as way lube for a couple of years with no paint problems at all. The acrylic chip shields are still transparent and bubble free as well.
"






Not mine, guess it hit just right or the chemicals weakened the shield. Broke a HSS EM on a dumb move and snapped right off shattering my shield. The inside of my plexiglass looked like spider webs before I had the accident though. Yes fly cutter would be pretty scary to break.

I was using liquid ice and the way oil sold at tormach. Now I'm using Hangsterfer 777 and the same way oil. H-777 is worth every penny. Guess it had something in the coolant that didn't agree with the way oil. It took me almost 4 hours to repaint the stand base and a few other parts. Just a tip, don't use oil paint in hot humid weather, took almost 2 weeks to dry.

[ihavenofish]

In general for the bulk...however Tormach is well engineered to protect the z-axis ways on the Tormach z-axis. IMO there is a great disadvantage wrt rigidity by having the z-axis support so far above the table.

mmmm... no.

ill leave it there, i have no intetrest in a pissing match, just wanted to point out on my well engineered mill the ways are just fine.

[g29cc]

I would probably like the Tormach coolant tray setup with a flat front then the door type on the Novakon setup, for adding the sides ( plexi, lexan , acrylic etc ) to it.

But I figured they are so close in idea/design that maybe the Tormach guys could see a cheap and easy solution to adding some extra protection if they wanted.

Thanks everyone for the kind comments.
:cheers: