Milling machine coolant tray

[Dave J]

Hi,
Well I finally got around to finishing off the coolant tray with the help of my grandson (little David) as he is here for the week.

Now to use the famous words of Paul Hogan in Crocodile Dundee

Thats not a coolant tray



This is a coolant tray.








I had a sheet of 1200 x 3600 x 0.9mm thick aluminum sheet I was given from my nephew a few years back that I had always planned to make this but have only just got around to it.
After planning it out I cut it all up and found it used the lot all but a small off cut.





The main tray is 1200mm long x 760 odd wide and 150mm deep. Being 1200mm wide it just fits in my folder and the wings as I call them are 430mm either side which makes it 2 meter over all in length.



I wanted it all out of aluminum so I can use my magnetic pick up tool as I mainly mill steel, the only steel parts are these corner brackets which hold the main tray corners together, and also the bolts for the wing hinges. I could have went with aluminum but thought steel would be better and they are right on the edge so they should not bother the magnet when cleaning up.
The other single piece is for where it bolts to the column, but had already fitted the other one then remembered to take pictures.



I made the wings because I need to get to the back of the machine to change speeds and maintenance etc, so they are easily folded up out of the way and it also saves room in the shed when it's not in use.

I made the drains either side as the factory tank in the base is a total pain to clean out.




I am going to make an aluminum tank up once I find an old boat tank, but the plastic tub will do for now. The tank fits under the mill base and so will the new tank.


The drain tubes to attach the tubing where just machined out of solid round with the bent flat bar welded on after which suits the shape of the drain.



Sealing it all up with the black crap was a mission on it's own, I forget how many rags I went through. In this picture it shows some quick and simple jacking screws to push out while clamps on the other side squeezed in.


The telescopic support is made from 12 and 16mm tube with 25 x 6mm flat bar joining them together. The 6mm flat bar fits perfectly into the 12mm channel which is attached under the wings and it locks them there and saves them sliding back in unless you lift the wing up.









To get the angle to go around the corner I had to cut the aluminum every 15mm and it went around fine, this was all sealed with the black goo like the rest.



The cap behind the knee screw is just a tight push on fit and has a rubber seal around the screw tube and also at the back where it sits against the column. I was going to fit a vertical piece there as well, but think it will be fine and will see how it goes.

With the drain covers I was going to look for some material online, but just ended up drilling them myself after griding them up at 15mm spacings.
I still need to make a little knob at the front of each one to get them out easy for cleaning.



Just some other random pictures






The next project is fitting the taper attachment I just picked up on ebay for my 12 x 36 lathe. I will post photos of the install and making the new telescopic screw for it when I am done.

Dave