Re: Coolant control.

Fitch,

Make an enclosure that fastens to your table across the back and the
ends and partially wrapping around the front. Leave an area in the
mid-front for access to your vise and workpiece. It should be
constructed and bolted on in a way that removal of ends, back or
front sections for larger work is quick.

Most of us use Kurt 6" vises on that size mill and unfortunately the
vise hangs over the front of the table so it's not convenient to
totally enclose the front. Make an easily removeable chip/coolant
shield to contain the mess on the front side.

I like metal instead of plex. The plex gets scratched and discolored
after a while making it look tacky. The metal still looks new after
years. Plex is good for the removeable front shield for visibility.

BTW, I've heard horror stoies about cost of repair boards for
Anilam. Have you had to repair anything in the control?

Doug

--- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@y..., Fitch R. Williams <frwillia@p...> wrote:
> Hi folks,
>
> I'm new to this list, but not to some of the people who post here.
> For those I've not met yet I have (for a month or so now) a 1984
> vintage LAGUN FTV-2 mill with 2-1/2D Anilam Crusader II control.
The
> mill has a Hitachi SJ100 VFD for the motor that is not connected to
> the controller. I bought the mill from Peter Nolan - it came with
> COMEDITCNC, about 10 end mill holders, a nice lesson on making it
go.
> I bought BobCAD for drawing and tool path generation. Its
operational
> - made some parts. Its my first ever exposure to hands on CNC.
>
> OK. The Problem De jure - containing the flood coolant. I'm
working
> on containing the flood coolant on my mill. Its harder than it was
on
> the manual mill because once the thing starts cutting, it just keeps
> going and it can build up chips really fast! I need to squirt a lot
> of oil at it to keep them clear and preserve the surface finish. I
> have a back splash shield already on the table - it helps a lot.
>
> I have decided to buy some good window screen and make a swarf
screen
> to sit in the vise to keep it from filling up with chips on those
> occasions where I will be making more than one or two parts. I may
> make similar screens to sit on the table on each side of the vise
> (brass screen soldered to braising rod frame perhaps?) so cleaning
up
> the chips is a matter of picking up the screen and dumping it.
>
> First question: Has any body tried using screen this way?
>
> With regard to coolant control there are two current problems:
>
> 1) The coolant channels on the vise are laughably small compared to
> the coolant flow required for adequate chip clearing. On the manual
> mill I built up the edges of the coolant channel to give it more
> capacity, but this is really not a good long term solution.
>
> 2) Splashing off the front of the table, or slinging off the front
of
> the table if using a carbide cutter at high rpm.
>
> I have two reasonably sizable pieces of plexiglass (?? Its clear
> plastic stuff - I can cut it with the band saw if I'm careful) (12"
by
> 30" or so, some sheet metal (furnace duct gage) and sheet metal
tools
> that will work furnace duct gages of sheet metal, and a couple of
> magnetic bases from old imported indicator stands to work with. So
> I'm shopping for ideas before I cut up the metal or the plexiglass.
>
> I gather this is an ascii list - no pictures allowed? Is it allowed
> to use the RCM drop box for pictures related to this list?
>
> Fitch
> In So. Cal.
>
> The FAQ for RCM is: http://w3.uwyo.edu/~metal
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