Heavy Duty Workbench for Milling Machine

[Vikash]

The finished bench:

[tryonziess]

Vikash,
You really need to burn your logo into the front of the bench. You did a spectacular job. About 200 Kilos or more. Nice and stout.
What are you going to protect the top with? It will not take kindly to the cutting oil.

Tad

[Vikash]

Originally posted by tryonziess
What are you going to protect the top with? It will not take kindly to the cutting oil.

That's the part I'm deliberating on now. I have exterior waterproof varnish and PVA (not exterior stuff) to hand. So a tin of the varnish for the time being, and then perhaps an oil catch tray underneath the mill in the future.

The first job is going to be stripping the mill and reassembling so that should keep me occupied while I figure the oil catcher out.

Suggestions welcome

[tryonziess]

Vikash,
Plastic laminate, formica, is a truly formidable material. Fairly easy to install and super durable. Looks good also.
You can lubricate and cool with a fine oil/air spray mist which makes much less mess. They are easy to fabricate using a small regulator and cheap air brush. Both from Harbor Freight for less than 20 bucks.
Fabricating a nice catch basin for full coolant usage might be more work. Plus the pan will always be getting in the way and catching shavings.
Now you have to buy tooling. There is so much you can do with a mill.

Tad

[jonl60]

Vikash,

Nice bench.

I am doing things the other way round. I have just finished my bench and it looks similar to yours, but not quite so well finished. I have added drawers for all the tools for the mill and lathe. I have used varnished MDF for the top surface. It is double layered so can be replaced if it gets too badly damaged. I don't know what to do about a drip tray yet.

I already have a lathe on a rickety bench made out of a cast off kitchen bench. And in a couple of months I will be ordering my X3 from ArcEuroTrade(www.arceurotrade.co.uk). I will be using their strip down service so I won't have to deal with all that red gunk again (as on the lathe) and they will ensure all the bearing surfaces are correctly set up with the correct pre-load etc.

If you are interested they have a pdf file showing what they do to strip it down.

I have bought some scales and a DRO from Shumatech. Eventually I may convert it to CNC.

Jon

[Vikash]

I'll be doing it myself following their instruction PDF, although I have no experience with mills at all - so it should be interesting. If the logistics were feasible I would probably just send it back and have them do it, so good call on having Arc doing the strip down for you from the off.

I guess the advantage will be in knowing the mill intimately for when I convert it to CNC...

Some lifting fun:

[cocolino]

Originally posted by Vikash
The finished bench

WOW, stunning work!
Looks incredible rigid and very pretty too, I really like it a lot !

I wish I could afford a workplace of that space You seem to have.
I have quite some fine tools but no space anymore to use them.

Certainly I would not only protect the top of the bench but the sub-construction as well and give it a coat of (for example) wood-oil, otherwise I think it will get filthy in no time, what really would be a pity considered Your effort to make it look that good.

May I ask You what software You use to make such beautifull and dimensioned 3D-drawings?

[Vikash]

Google Sketchup.

I did a garage to workshop makeover. It went from this:


to this:



The bench was finished with about 4 coats of Yacht varnish on the worktop, and 1 thick coat everywhere else:



I was quite proud of the result, and decided that dragging a milling machine onto it would just ruin it (that's before considering cutting oils). So now it's just a dedicated general workbench (which currently has a a bunch of stripped out Polo engine parts on it)

V