Hi Fellas
I got my X3 a few weeks ago, and thanks to help from some of you, started making some chips... there in lies the problem. My garage was a wreck afterwards. I have seen some of the enclosures you guys have been posting and started thinking an enclosure would be a good way keep the chips under control.
I have a flat 24" by 48" table the mill is sitting on now. I'm considering a few options for enclosures and want to hear your take on it.
Option 1: Just a big chip tray. It would be about 4" tall and stick out a little in the front to catch chip and keep whatever I can on the table. I was thinking about adding coolant to try to knock flying chips down. Is that a reasonable expectation?
Option 2: A half height box. It would be an enclosure that extened about 18" from the table surface. The though is that it would be able to catch chip better and having just the tray.
Option 3: Full enclosure. It would go completely up and over the top of the mill. I assume this is the be-all end-all enclosure solution but I have concerns about accessibility.
Right now I'm doing only hand milling but would like to get CNC within the next 6 months or so.
Something else to consider is that since my table is flat I would have trouble getting coolant to drain properly. For those that have flat tables, how much trouble is it to keep coolant from puddling up?
Thoughts and considerations would be great. I've been weighing the pros/cons of my options for a few days and can't seem to make up my mind.