Enclosure For Sherline 2000 Mill

[j ferguson]

I've built the box, using aluminum box corners and poly-skinned foam board. It's heavy, but should work ok. I haven't finished it yet, but the Y-Axis Servo/Wheel will project though the bottom of the front - mostly to save volume. I can get at the Z-axis and X-axis wheels with the front of the cabinet open.

So the question is mounting the bed of the mill. I plan to use a misting coolant system. The base will be plywood with coating yet to be determined. I think I read that someone else had supported his mill on stand-offs to get the bed off the bottom of his cabinet maybe so it wouldn't sit in moist coolant. Obviously making little one inch high pads at each of the mounting holes would do the job.

I'm assuming that this won't distort the bed and that there isn't any other downside of doing this that I haven't thought of.

What do you think?

 

[PaulzOx]

I've built the box, using aluminum box corners and poly-skinned foam board. It's heavy, but should work ok. I haven't finished it yet, but the Y-Axis Servo/Wheel will project though the bottom of the front - mostly to save volume. I can get at the Z-axis and X-axis wheels with the front of the cabinet open.

So the question is mounting the bed of the mill. I plan to use a misting coolant system. The base will be plywood with coating yet to be determined. I think I read that someone else had supported his mill on stand-offs to get the bed off the bottom of his cabinet maybe so it wouldn't sit in moist coolant. Obviously making little one inch high pads at each of the mounting holes would do the job.

I'm assuming that this won't distort the bed and that there isn't any other downside of doing this that I haven't thought of.

What do you think?

 

[PaulzOx]

I've built the box, using aluminum box corners and poly-skinned foam board. It's heavy, but should work ok. I haven't finished it yet, but the Y-Axis Servo/Wheel will project though the bottom of the front - mostly to save volume. I can get at the Z-axis and X-axis wheels with the front of the cabinet open.

So the question is mounting the bed of the mill. I plan to use a misting coolant system. The base will be plywood with coating yet to be determined. I think I read that someone else had supported his mill on stand-offs to get the bed off the bottom of his cabinet maybe so it wouldn't sit in moist coolant. Obviously making little one inch high pads at each of the mounting holes would do the job.

I'm assuming that this won't distort the bed and that there isn't any other downside of doing this that I haven't thought of.

What do you think?

Ferguson,

I apologize for my last post, I just realized that my post was blank.
I was going to ask if there was a picture of your enclosure? I do not see it attached.

Paul

 

[j ferguson]

Hi Paul,
It is not finished yet. I have to head north for a family errand for 3 weeks but should have it finished and photographed first of April. I ended up making the base of 3/4 inch medium weight particle board with a sheet of aluminum on top. I will have the base extend an inch on each side so I can clamp it to the workbench. Cost has exceeded what I think I could have bought a good enclosure for and I'm not sure what i did is better, but I'm sure I'll find out when I post the pictures. Thanks for your interest.

John

 

[PaulzOx]

John,

You can never put a price on lessons learned. I am sure your enclosure is going to work well. There will always be someone with a "better way" or a "should have done it way". As for an opinion on a base to mount to, I think any type of hard sturdy material that can be replaced with low cost would be fine. More of like a sacrificial mount to sit in the coolant instead of the mill base. Maybe it could even have drain reliefs cut in the bottom of it.

Paul

 

[j ferguson]

Hi Paul,
The thing I was most concerned with was whether supporting the bed of the 2000 on six one inch high posts might induce distortion. someone else has done it but I cannot find his post.

 

[PaulzOx]

I was talking about a solid piece as a raised base basically with cutouts to assist with draining. I personally would not risk warping the stock base. They are a little pricy to replace


Paul

 

[PaulzOx]

John,

Any progress? As soon as I start my garage remodel / clean up I will be setting up my mini machine shop. I will be sure to post up pics.

 

[j ferguson]

Hi Paul,
I'm still on the road. Looks like I'll be back in Delray on Monday. I like your idea for a solid base, too. Something to keep the Sherline bed from sitting in old coolant.

It appears that Lowes will cut acrylic sheet to suit which is great because I'll need two rectangles connected by a vinyl hinge for the front. I also need to see how much heat build-up I'm going to have, but if that is a problem, I've got plenty of muffin fans around. and of course there are the details I haven't realized I need yet.

best,

John

 

[j ferguson]

This is where I am right now. I need to design and make the sill (lowest front panel which Y axis stepper protrudes), locate holes in top panel for stepper cables, and exhaust muffin fans, and install locator plugs for board Sherline is attached to.

The board the Sherline is attached to using Tee-nuts is sold as a top for one of the smaller tool chests that HomeDepot sells. I want to be able to remove the mill from the enclosure easily. Best way to do this and not have it walk around inside enclosure is to cut four one inch diameter holes in panel, then make four plugs to fit, locate panel inside enclosure and screw down plugs.

I have more pictures if anyone is interested.

Enclosure without slide-in top:

.
Enclosure with top, and acrylic panels. Sill panel not done yet


Angle on front frame channel for Acrylic panels and aluminum channel on panel for lifting:


FWIW, They have a rig for scoring Acrylic at Lowes. The very skilled guy who did mine did three cuts for free on the piece I paid $57 for. I drilled and tapped the far side on all the channels 6-32, countersunk the heads. I didn't drill the foam-board, didn't need to, just drove the screws right in until they threaded into the far side holes. I'm just sitting the enclosure in the channels attached to the base. There is an aluminum sheet covering bottom interior which is caught under the base channels. I left one inch on each side and front. I run the mill on one of the $135 "oak??" workbenches from harborfreight and clamp it down using the one inch "ears" on the base. Works for the kind of cuts I do.

I still need to figure out how to get the air in and where to put the bottle and venturi for the misting system.