Monthly Archives: November 2012

Enclosure for CNC machine

Leave a reply

I’ve been spending some time thinking about a method to enclose my CNC machine.
There are lots of ideas… (pictures). (another link) (enclosure build log 01)

One key thing is that I want easy access to the CNC table so I can easily add heavy items like vices, rotary tables, etc. And the encluse needs to be somewhat modular so that I can take parts of it off in case I want to work on/service the cnc machine.
The three sides (left, right and back) will be plywood construction. That part was easy.

The chip/coolant tray was the second hardest part to figure out, but I think I have a design for that.

Thirdly is the front door to the enclosure.  Since I have walls on the left and right side, the width is set. My initial thought was to make side-to-side sliding doors using full extension kitchen drawer slides. Depending on how large I wanted the opening to be, I could use either one sliding pane (per side) or two nested panes (per side) to allow more of an opening. For a door system that uses two nested doors per side, I would need  4 pairs of slides. Each pane needs 2 slides; one for a bottom track, and one for a top track.
But then I came across these Over The Top Slides.  I can make the door as wide as I want, and flip it up and push it over the top in one motion. Or if one door gets too heavy, split the door into two. Only drawback is that the slider only comes in 14″ lengths, which means it can only accommodate for 14″ of travel. Continue reading →

Standing workshop bench

Leave a reply

In the new house, I’d like to move to a standing workbench, and computer desk and abolish sitting except at at the dinner table to eat. So in the basement, where the workshop will be, I want to build myself a workbench, and a computer desk that is both stylish and functional. The workshop space will be shared with a small theatre space, and I’d prefer to not have 2×4 work benches if I can get away with it.
Both computer desk and workbench will be 44″-47″ tall (haven’t decided yet on a final height).

UPDATE:
– Having used the workbench, it would be useful if I could adjust the height of the table a little. The current height of about 46″ is great for detail work, but working on larger components it’s a little high. It’s hard to lift heavy objects to this height, and applying lots of force is more difficult at this height.
– For the computer bench this should be no problem as not much force is applied at this height.
– Looking for a slick method to raise and lower the table surface. Since the counter is pretty heavy, I want a method to lock the height which is also rigid (and won’t create a wonky table surface). Maybe something based on a thread and a couple of stepper motors to raise and lower the work surface??
Continue reading →