Hi everybody,
One of the things I always hated was the hinged door on the front of the machine. I was just a matter of time until is broke off. I also didn't like having to swing wide to open it leaking coolant all over the floor, the vise lead screw would push it open when moving + in Y, it leaked, and was not a great fit. Well the door fell off a few months ago so I had to fix it. Here is what I did. Much preferring a sliding type door I cut a piece of 3/8" channel aluminum extrusion and milled some of it away so that it sort of hooks over the sheet metal enclosure of the machine's doorway. This was to become the rail on which the door would slide. Converting this door to a sliding door was tricky because the Lexan piece as designed was to swing into the machine slightly to make its seal and this meant a compound motion must be incorporated into the door if it is to slide, over and in to close, out and over to open. I siliconed some 3/8" shower drip edge type material around the perimeter of the existing Lexan. I built an aluminum rail at the top of the door to allow the top side to ride on it when the door was pivoted out. Next I put an adhesive strip of D shaped flexible tubing across the extrusion to ride in the channel of the drip edge although this eventually came off. I then milled a shallow slot in the extrusion for the D shaped tubing and glued it in place. Later I siliconed the corners of the machine opening to make sure coolant would not leak out when hit with spray. I haven't really tried it extensively yet but so far what I have done it has worked great. The added benefit is now the the door is about an inch or so further out so the vise both doesn't hit it when at maximum Y travel. To open it you tilt the top of the door out about an inch and slide to the left where the top of the door will ride on the aluminum bar. To close it you slide it all the way to the right and when it clear the aluminum bar it simply falls into the machine and the stripping buts up against the gaskets making a nice seal again.
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