Re: Questions about mill enclosures..

Ian:

I've used a pretty expensive "coolant" pump but it was just an hard
impeller pump. I think I paid too much to be honest. Watch out for
soft impellers intended for water. Maybe....maybe they could get
damaged by the coolant. I had that happen with a Jasco bilge pump I
used to pump diesel once. We were in a pinch. Neoprene rubber
impeller. Puffed up pretty good, stalled the pump.

I used the coolant I got out of the Grizzly catalog. I had one batch
in the tank for a year and never had it get smelly or rancid. It did
get a skin after a few days. Every once in a while I added some more
water and a splash of concentrate. I put a $3.00 gate valve in line
to reduce volume when I wanted to. This was on a table top mill
drill. I am setting up shop again, the old pump went away a while
ago. I have a submersible sump pump that I plan to use next. Oh, I
used vinyl hose for my drain lines and I never had any issues with
the coolant eating them up. BTW - I would invest in the real Loc Line
nozzles & fittings. The stuff I got from HF and Grizzly leaked and
was just a pain in general.

I did not make an enclosure. I used black rubber floor runner / mat
material and spring clamps and some rods & stuff to sheild the
splatter into my drain pan under the machine. Kinda funky but it
worked. This time I'm going to get the .75" Loc Line fittings to
handle the sheilds. Those and a couple of magnetic bases and I should
be all set.

Oh, personally I used as heavy flow as I could get away with, without
making too huge a mess. I found that it cleared chips better and
saved chips from getting pulled back into the cut. These chips coming
back in caused marks in the finish that I found undesireable. Again
personal preference.

Hope that helps. I don't know too much, but sometimes I see something
I actually know about!