[bebob1]

has anyone tried making those telescoping way covers like you get on high end machining centers for their benchtop machines?

Ive made flex way covers using paper and surface treated with a polymer for more liquid resistance but they dont look that nice although Ive used it for along time and it works still.

Thinking of making a more permanent solution. Anyone tried DIY stainless steel way covers out of sheet metal or something?

[gd.marsh]

Recently made one for my mill ..

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/bencht...version-2.html

Post #886 is where the Stainless cover starts with another video a few posts later.

gd.marsh

[bebob1]

nice. do you intend to change your z axis too? that one might be a bit trickier? Could your pivot point instead of being on the bottom of the Z rail be attached to the movable Z stage that attaches to the spindle? I guess you will lose some workspace in some orientations like that.

[Dingenman]

Hi,

Not a single reply..

Is really nobody also interested in these type of covers?

Or would it be out of reach for a DIY project?

[bhurts]

There are some difficult bends involved to copy the industrial solutions. You could rivet pieces of nylon on to makeup for it. Or maybe try coping them but making them out of plastic instead of ss. There are many plastics that should work and be both able to deal with long life and coolant. Just my thoughts.

Ben

[bill south]

I think Ray (HimeyKibble) made his covers using big box store drawer slides. Very simple and effective.
I purchased a complete set of way covers from Tormach for my RF45 but will have to re-engineer most of the fit to make them work. I'd love to find a simple answer to the "perfect" way covers so anyone with ideas please chime in.

Thanks for the thread Bebob!

Bill

[gd.marsh]

[QUOTE= Not a single reply.. Is really nobody also interested in these type of covers?[/QUOTE]

I'll try again & make it a little easier ..

ZX45 chip cover concept - YouTube
ZX45 Y Axis Cover - YouTube

Not all that difficult to make really .. doesn't have to be real heavy material ..
Sissors are easy to fabricate & I used 24ga stainless which can be bent using basic DIY approach.
Ray's version is very effective (more cover than mine) & made of aluminum sheet if I recall correctly.

Don't have any plans to replace the bellows on my Z axis at this time. The one that's there was costly (McMaster) but seems to be nearly bullet-proof & impervious to coolant, oil, chips, etc.

Gary

[Connor]

I made a rollup-style way cover for my Z and rear Y. I went to HomeDepot and purchased a white heavy duty vinyl rollup blackout shade. Had them cut it to length. (I think I went with 16") and then used some Alum angle and the proper mounts. I disabled the ratchet system and installed it on the bottom of my Z. Works really good. Will work better once I extended my G0704 by 2". Not sure how it handles to super hot chips.. might melt it.. I do mostly aluminum work.

Thanks, Connor

[Madda]

KX3 has got nice telescopic covers on Y-axis, anybody knows how long are they when open?
Horizontal Way Cover Assembly - LittleMachineShop.com

[Dingenman]

Thanks Gary,

Very nice work, will start with creating the scissors first.

Would be very nice to have each way cover on my DIY-build-in-progress mill like that!

BTW.., when I made my initial reply I only saw the first message of this thread, to find out later there actually were other (old) reactions.. better not make it too late - too often watching all the good stuff on this forum..

[jakemestre]

Were you able to start work on these covers? I'd be curious to know what you think of a finished cover and what could be improved. Thanks
Jake

[pete from TN]

Ya mean like this LOL... Yeah I made these covers and actually tried to sell some awhile back when I used to have my RF45 CNC retrofit machine I built. They were excellent and looked really nice. best of all they were heavy duty and rigid and kept the machine pretty clean. here is a video I made of the setup I posted on my Channel. Peace

Pete

RF45 CNC stainless guards - YouTube

[LeeWay]

I am interested in making my own telescoping type as well.
I noticed last week that my Z axis bellows on my Torus had separated from the mounting bracket. John at Novakon is checking on stock replacements for me, but I think now might be my chance to get this little side project going.

The Torus has telescoping SS ways on the Y and the X doesn't need anything really. So just concerned with Z at this point.

The Z on my 80/20 home made mill simply uses a rubber curtain that hangs with gravity.
It is fully functional and just about as simple as it gets, however, with a nice cover on Y already, Y not?

[Uguessedit]

Ya mean like this LOL... Yeah I made these covers and actually tried to sell some awhile back when I used to have my RF45 CNC retrofit machine I built. They were excellent and looked really nice. best of all they were heavy duty and rigid and kept the machine pretty clean. here is a video I made of the setup I posted on my Channel. Peace

Pete

RF45 CNC stainless guards - YouTube

Those are exactly what I am looking for. Been checking out some used CNC covers out there to see what I could retrofit.

[CL_MotoTech]

Are you digging up five year old threads on purpose? This is the second one you've commented on.

[pete from TN]

That's okay man it was nice to see someone interested in my handiwork again. Its been several years now since I sold this RF45 CNC I built here and I now have a CNC VMC in my shop and a CNC lathe as well as other machines. I put a lot of work and effort into that machine tho and it was pretty sweet. I kinda miss it

Pete