[mikegiraud]

Another user here on the forum recently bought a G0704 and enclosure from Procut CNC. The enclosure he got was pretty sexy, and I've been wanting a full enclosure for a while (sick of shop vac'ing the entire side of the garage every time I run the mill). I see that Pro-Cut is selling the enclosures for the G0704 on Ebay with and without the stand. You can find Pro-Cut's enclosures on Ebay by searching for "BF20 Enclosure".

Enclosure with short half door = $900 + Freight per the Ebay Auction
Enclosure with short half door and Base = $1500 + Freight per the Ebay Auction

Pro-Cut is a full sheet metal fab shop and powder coater, so I reached out to them to see if they could make me one with full doors since I don't think the short half-door will contain all the chips. They can, but the doors add $200 to the price. Renderings below from Pro-Cut for the full door version. Lead Time is about 6 weeks. Price with the full doors in $1100 + Freight. It's pricey, but alternatives like using aluminum extrusions and polycarb panels add up in cost quickly and are not as sexy.

I'd love the community's feedback on the full door design, pricing, alternatives, etc. I'm sure I'm not the only one sick of shop-vac'ing who is lusting after a full enclosure for the G0704. We discussed sliding doors, but they'd add another foot to the width to allow for the 32" opening for access. The existing 57" width isn't too bad for many of us with cramped spaces. Is the price fair for the enclosure? Please share your thoughts, especially if you're experienced with a full enclosure.

Pro-Cut's contact info if on their auctions and website. Contact Rob if you're interested.

Some key points from discussions with Rob at Pro-Cut:

1. The enclosure is not designed for flood coolant. The floor is flat, and no drain hole is pre-drilled. It's designed more for chip containment and mist coolant. The bottom is watertight, but has no slopes. This is a big negative for me, as at this price, full flood coolant would be expected.
2. It is not pre-drilled for the G0704 base. Rob felt that many of us will have our mills slightly offset due to stepper's on one side of the X, or slightly back or forward due to rear or front mounted steppers, so we need to drill our own mounting holes. I see this as a positive.
3. The fit will be close for those of us with Extended Y-axis. See the pic with the tape measure showing the 3.75" clearance in the back. It will work, but won't leave much room for items behind the column.

[fmfchop]

I'm liking the look of the full doors.

Rob and I discussed today and I'll be getting a set of them as soon as they are ready to mount onto my enclosure. I'll get some pics for you Mike.

I may have a workaround for the flood coolant issue too. It's something I've been thinking on because it'd definitely be the way to go.

[Fastest1]

Try a local sheet metal shop for some alternative pricing.
I had one built years ago for a small Dyna.
The shop enjoyed the challenge. The work turned out great and was inexpensive. Sub 250 bucks. It is much smaller and doesn't have the features of the one shown. Worth a shot.


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[joemusso]

that's a nice enclosure for sure.

[fmfchop]

I picked the mill up today finally.

Here's what I will say about this enclosure....

it's VERY nicely manufactured.

The windows are a good heavy material, the seals are a good touch, the hardware is none spared and once bolted together it's solid as a rock.

With the ability to have an inlet and drain for flooding it'd be even better.

[coherent]

It's a beautiful enclosure and looks well made. I definitely don't want to offend and it's simply my opinion, but I just find it hard to justify paying more for an "add on" than I did for the actual mill. Not that I wouldn't love to have one of these enclosures, they look awesome, but I'd prob opt to get a better mill initially than spending twice what the G0704 cost to include an enclose for it. My (frugal) option would have to be to build my own or have one made like Fastest1 mentioned and save a bit of money... likely wouldn't be near as nice, but I'd prefer all the end mills and tooling I could buy with what I saved.

[CL_MotoTech]

It's a beautiful enclosure and looks well made. I definitely don't want to offend and it's simply my opinion, but I just find it hard to justify paying more for an "add on" than I did for the actual mill. Not that I wouldn't love to have one of these enclosures, they look awesome, but I'd prob opt to get a better mill initially than spending twice what the G0704 cost to include an enclose for it. My (frugal) option would have to be to build my own or have one made like Fastest1 mentioned and save a bit of money... likely wouldn't be near as nice, but I'd prefer all the end mills and tooling I could buy with what I saved.

My thought's exactly. It's beautiful, and I'm sure it works wonderfully, but it's a lot of cash (in relation to the machine) for something that shower curtain could do.

[fmfchop]

At $85.00 an hour for my time (which is what my shop rate is) between designing an enclosure, making the parts, sourcing and cutting the plexi panels, the rubber gasket material, building the entire lower cabinet, powdercoating everything, etc. it doesn't take long to add up to the cost of this.

Do the math... if you value your time professionally that's just over 17 hours. Think you can do everything from design to finished material included in 17 hours on it? I know I have no intention of. There's a line where it makes less sense to save a few bucks. (FWIW: I didn't pay what the asking price is on ebay for mine, it was included in the sale of the mill.)

I'm just saying that sure, you could toss a shower curtain on the mill and be done with it.

But it's not going to do the same job just as well, and it certainly won't last nearly as long.

I may not be the best candidate to discuss the value of mods though... I have a bad habit of over modifying the hell out of everything I own even if it's a "waste of money" because I like doing it and have the facilites/tools at my disposal.

[109jb]

It is definitely a nice enclosure. One possible issue I see with that enclosure is access to the mill itself. If the side and back panels aren't easily removable then any maintenance requiring access to the mill itself will mean un-bolting the panels, or doing the maintenance through the front opening. Either of which could be a pain depending on the work needed. If I were to get an enclosure like that, the first thing I would do is make it so that the panels can be removed in seconds. Probably with locating pins and over-center latches or similar.

As far as cost, certainly from a business perspective you have to count your time at what you could be getting for it from customers, but for us hobbyists, we have to value our time not at shop rates, but at what we feel is appropriate. I personally count my time spent in the shop as time that takes me away from the idiot box. From that perspective, it costs me nothing, and is actually a benefit to me. For many people, the price of that particular enclosure would be a weeks pay or even more. If I told my wife I wanted to use a weeks pay to buy an enclosure for my hobby mill she would cut off...... Well, you get the idea.

[fmfchop]

It is definitely a nice enclosure. One possible issue I see with that enclosure is access to the mill itself. If the side and back panels aren't easily removable then any maintenance requiring access to the mill itself will mean un-bolting the panels, or doing the maintenance through the front opening. Either of which could be a pain depending on the work needed. If I were to get an enclosure like that, the first thing I would do is make it so that the panels can be removed in seconds. Probably with locating pins and over-center latches or similar.

As far as cost, certainly from a business perspective you have to count your time at what you could be getting for it from customers, but for us hobbyists, we have to value our time not at shop rates, but at what we feel is appropriate. I personally count my time spent in the shop as time that takes me away from the idiot box. From that perspective, it costs me nothing, and is actually a benefit to me. For many people, the price of that particular enclosure would be a weeks pay or even more. If I told my wife I wanted to use a weeks pay to buy an enclosure for my hobby mill she would cut off...... Well, you get the idea.

The sides, door and rear of the enclosure come off very easily with the removal of a few screws. If you were so inclined you could easily convert to dzus fasteners, but lets be honest... if you are using this as a hobby mill, how often will you need to tear the enclosure down?

Maybe try buying the misses some chocolates before you ask?

[CL_MotoTech]

I wasn't trying to insinuate that a shower curtain would be as good. That's obviously not the case. More so I was I was saying that it functions like a fancy shower curtain. And all things considered there's nothing wrong with that. For me to buy it is want to be able to set the column flush with the back of the enclosure and I'd need a sloped floor for coolant. It's gorgeous though and it makes my wood/FRP enclosure look amateur to say the least. But my enclosure does everything I need, so at least I got that going for me, which is nice.

[fmfchop]

I wasn't trying to insinuate that a shower curtain would be as good. That's obviously not the case. More so I was I was saying that it functions like a fancy shower curtain. And all things considered there's nothing wrong with that. For me to buy it is want to be able to set the column flush with the back of the enclosure and I'd need a sloped floor for coolant. It's gorgeous though and it makes my wood/FRP enclosure look amateur to say the least. But my enclosure does everything I need, so at least I got that going for me, which is nice.

I'm modding mine for flood coolant. One if the first projects actually. Definitely something that I want too.

[arizonavideo]

Just a note on the Pro Cut guys.

He ordered a CNC kit from me about 5 months ago. Now I see he copied it almost down to the last bolt. The bearing arrangement and plastic dust cover and floating the stepper end on the X screw.

He is now selling them.

I call that a scum bucket but I'm sure there is other words for steeling other peoples work.

My kit is still better because he could not figure out how to get sealed AC bearing and he does not re pack or straighten the ball screws or re work the double nuts and his Z ball nut mount is a skinny wimpy thing.

Still I think its a scummy way to do things.

[tmi]

Just a note on the Pro Cut guys.

He ordered a CNC kit from me about 5 months ago. Now I see he copied it almost down to the last bolt. The bearing arrangement and plastic dust cover and floating the stepper end on the X screw.

He is now selling them.

I call that a scum bucket but I'm sure there is other words for steeling other peoples work.

My kit is still better because he could not figure out how to get sealed AC bearing and he does not re pack or straighten the ball screws or re work the double nuts and his Z ball nut mount is a skinny wimpy thing.

Still I think its a scummy way to do things.

Dave- If you are going to say something. You should start with the truth. I tried to purchase your kit over a year ago. I paid you and you did not ship me a kit since I was a business. I did not hiding that i was a business when I sent you money. After 2 week I emailed you in regards to a tracking number. You emailed me back and said that you talked to your brother and decided that you guys would just return my money. So left with no option but to build one for myself. I went ahead and built my own with repacked double ball nuts that I wanted to upgrade too. So after it was done in found that it was too small for what I need and I purchased a Z12 Mill form CharterOaksAutomation. In the mean time John (Automation Technologies) asked me if I could build him the same kit for his website since you were not reliable and never have them in Stock. So I built him some sets so that he could fill orders. So if you are going to say some thing make sure it is the truth.

As for the kit and it's quality! We built it to our spec's and not as a copy. So if you are looking to one up ours by trying to down grade ours that is fine but it is everything we wanted out of our machine and we filled a void that you could not.

On a side note I wanted a belt drive for on my Z12 Mill that I ordered with the mill when I purchased it 10 months ago. Problem is they have tried to get them from you and you have still not delivered. Sounds like a pattern to me. Vendors start looking for other people to fill their orders if you can't.

So to make sure the record is straight. They asked me for my kit. I had no plans when I built my first kit to sell them. But since John was in a bind due to your inability to produce. I was willing to sell him what I made for mine not a copy of yours.