I don't need any buckets of water. I have a completely sealed system

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01M...QL65&keywords=pc+cooling+pump+reservoir&psc=1

This is the pump/reservoir combo I chose but there are many choices. This replaces the bucket of water with pump sitting in it. Plus it's sealed.

 

I basically used the same setup that someone would be using when cooling a custom computer case.

 

I spent the better part of a day boring and tapping the holes in my sub plate. You can see the first set of holes I had that were only intended to hold down the corners of sacrificial material but I eventually decided to mill a hole pattern with a spacing of 50mm.

 

Thank you Pat!

 

Oh guys I also want to share something with all of you. As I'm still working on my build and trying to finish things up, I haven't had a permanent solution for holding down my work. I have been using blue painter's tape and CA (super) Glue. You place a single layer of tape on your work and a piece of tape on your router table, spread some glue on one side and just hold in place until it dries. This has worked for light aluminum milling and plastic. I actually bought a bottle of accelerator for the CA glue but it's not necessary. If you do use the accelerator, you have to work fast to line things up because you literally have about 2 seconds before the glue cures. Only spray the accelerator on the piece of tape with no glue. CA glue can get expensive if you use it all the time but I bought a fairly large bottle from amazon plus the accelerator for about $15.

 

Marine HDPE, know also as Starboard, cuts like butter. Plastics like this are great for getting your feet wet in this learning stage!

 

Awesome Pat! Thanks so much. All of this is a learning experience for me so everything helps.

 

Thanks buddy

 

Here's a shot of the part I whipped out last night. It's basically scrap because I forgot a feature but I wanted to show the side finish. This is again with the cheap 1/8" end mills from Amazon because they have 17mm flute length. None of my other nice 1/8" end mills can cut past 1/4". This Starboard HDPE is incredibly rigid. I can't flex this piece at all and it has a waxy feeling to it. The stuff cost $10-$15 per square foot for the 1/2" thick material so not cheap but not as expensive as Delrin. Plus the couple times i milled Delrin there was this weird smell to it almost like a fishy smell. The HDPE mills just as good as the Delrin but you have to find the sweet spot with spindle RPM and feed otherwise you end up melting the chips to the bit. If you do end up with melted material, just soak the bit in some rubbing alcohol or acetone. I think these enhanced plastics are really cool because the material has the strength to be used for lots of finished parts.

 

I like the look of that yellow HDPE. Is that Starboard?

 

Here's a very rough test of the "wheel wells" I am making. I need to figure out some sort of wiper material for the ends that will cap them off. I'll probably go with delrin or HDPE. The next ones I make will be slightly lower also. I was having problems with chips building up on the wheels and they would stop spinning and just slide without rotating. I know some people install plastic shields along the entire axis but this solution should be a little more elegant. They have enough space on the bottom side allow for wheel tension adjustment.

 

And the spindle light. Really simple, single 5mm LED. HDPE ring bolts to a couple unused holes on the bottom. I just sort of winged it on the angle of the hole for the LED and it worked out for the most part. Lol.

 

Here's a shot of the VFD and spindle cooling setup. It was actually a real pain to mount the PC res/pump & radiator because they're designed to mount in a PC case.

 

Will do buddy thanks. The whole unit wasn't very expensive so I was wondering. At the time of purchase there also weren't many reviews. It seemed like just about every sub $100 pump/res combo had a couple negative reviews.

 

I've also been touching my spindle after every job and the thing is always cool to the touch so if I do have a failure, I don't think it would immediately smoke the spindle.

 

If I do end up having issues with this setup do you have any recommendations for a somewhat affordable pump/res? What has been the most reliable for your pc builds? EK is probably more than I want to spend.

 

Awesome thank you. When this one craps out i'll definitely go with that setup. At first I thought maybe this tiny res would be too small but from the temps I've noticed, I think its just fine.

 

Oh yeah, I forgot about the shipping. At the time I thought it was pretty ridiculous also. If I were you, I would check eBay. Look at the reviews. I bought this particular spindle because it's branded "Huanyang". After researching I gathered that this brand was somewhat reliable and had decent runout. I think you can find them on eBay. Usually the way the China spindle sale go is: 1, the seller will have a good looking price with high shipping or 2, the price will seem steep with low or free shipping. They usually just about even out after doing the math but a thing to be mindful of: some of the "high shipping price" sellers have non-refundable shipping so to prevent you from paying return shipping if you have an issue. The seller I linked actually gave me a partial refund because my shipping box was damaged. They then reassured me that further spindle sale would be inspected for future customers.

 

Actually let me clarify that, the seller opened a DHL claim for me and basically did all the leg work. He got me a pretty substantial refund that covered the entire shipping cost. This seller was contacting me almost every day until it was resolved and it clearly wasn't their fault. The spindle is packaged in multiple containers so I could take a hit without receiving damage but no the less, I was worried about it.

 

Over the course of my build I actually received lots of damaged items unfortunately. I almost got to the point where I expected it. The whole mail system is extremely careless and the spindle box had "fragile" stickers all over it.

 

Ok guys I just have to share this with you because I'm amazed with how these turned out. I remade my wheel covers and added HDPE wipers for the V-slots. The wiper isn't exactly centered in the v-slot but it will work for now. I also order some nice hall effect limit switches that will be here this weekend. No more worrying about damaging the micro switch arm!