Enco 105-1110/RF-30 just landed in my shop...

[Figor]

Nice work on the mill. I have a Smithy BX288 round column. About the same thing but with a geared head. Very capable mills. I was warned about the round column prior to buying it and I have to admit it has given me fits at times, but it's nice to have a mill at my disposal. I'm surprised there aren't more square column conversions going on with these. I've only seen a few on the web and there wasn't much info on them. I would certainly be interested in doing one.
I just picked up a power feed for it and am anxious to fit it up. Dro is next.

Again nice work and have fun with it.

Fig

 

[TerryH]

Dude... you're making my lathe bench feel bad. That's some nice work!

Thanks! I'm pretty pleased with it.

 

[TerryH]

Could consider making one drawer deep so you could store tools mounted in collets upright. Then again 3 thinner drawers in the space of the taller drawer could store them flat.

I've been back and forth on the vertical or flat question many times on this project. I see advantages to both but have decided to go with deeper drawers and upright storage for the end mills, collets etc... I feel like it's a bit more efficient than storing those items flat. Other things like drill chucks, end mill holders and such seem to work better flat. Still a work in progress.

 

[TerryH]

Nice work on the mill. I have a Smithy BX288 round column. About the same thing but with a geared head. Very capable mills. I was warned about the round column prior to buying it and I have to admit it has given me fits at times, but it's nice to have a mill at my disposal. I'm surprised there aren't more square column conversions going on with these. I've only seen a few on the web and there wasn't much info on them. I would certainly be interested in doing one.
I just picked up a power feed for it and am anxious to fit it up. Dro is next.

Again nice work and have fun with it.

Fig

Thanks Fig! I've not seen a square column conversion. Didn't even know there was such. Sounds interesting though.

 

[Ben Nevis]

By "square column conversion", I assume this is what was meant.

 

[TerryH]

Got the top permanently glued and screwed to the base before calling it a day yesterday.



The word of the day for today is drawers. The Porter Cable 4210 jig makes pretty quick work of it.



I wanted to use 1/2" BB ply for the bottoms for stiffness. I milled a 5/16" groove and rabbited the edge of the ply to fit.







Sanded and assembled and sanded some more.

 

[Cadillac STS]

Could consider putting a thin stainless steel sheet in the bottom of the drawers now while they are still pristine. Your friend that made the top could cut those for you easily. Because you would expect oil and grease to leak to the bottom with the metal working tools compared to a drawer for wood working tools. Then you can just wipe it up and not let the wood get saturated.

You would also of course put rubber on the bottoms with tool box liner on top of the sheet metal. So the tools don't bounce and dull.

 

[TerryH]

Could consider putting a thin stainless steel sheet in the bottom of the drawers now while they are still pristine. Your friend that made the top could cut those for you easily. Because you would expect oil and grease to leak to the bottom with the metal working tools compared to a drawer for wood working tools. Then you can just wipe it up and not let the wood get saturated.

You would also of course put rubber on the bottoms with tool box liner on top of the sheet metal. So the tools don't bounce and dull.

I just may do that. I normally just leave drawers naked but I plan to put some clear on these for just the reason you stated. Some stainless or aluminum sounds like a good idea also.

 

[TerryH]

I get to cheat just a little when it comes to finishing.

 

[Silverbullet]

About 25 years ago , I built rolling drawers like what your making . They were dovetailed to only 3'x 2' x 12" , I used red oak plywood and put 3/4" in the bottom. Had wheels mounted on the 2' sides , to roll under a church nursery cribs that stacked two high. Had to be tuff with the little ones climbing riding hiding in them. Spent lots of time building things for there , all free to. Nice job on your stand and I do love the paint job. Glad you found a great machine . I hope to God to get my shop set up.