Milling Machine Design

A possibly stupid question

I have an Axminster mill an FB2 copy which is very good but I have started using coolant and part of the design of the table at each end are rectangular depressions milled into the table about one inch from each end. I have seen similar things on other types of machine. The thing is there are no drain holes in the depressions so they fill up with coolant and stay that way. Hence my question what exactly are the depressions for and why no drain holes and should I drill drain holes. I do not see any obvious reason for not having drain holes. I like the idea of drilling even though the holes could be arranged to not affect any vital machined slides ect.

Many thanks in advance.

KWC

Remove "My Hat" to reply

The depressions are there to allow you to fit the "T" nuts into the slots. If there were no depressions the "T" slots would have to break out of the end of the table, then if you used coolant you would not be able to control where it went. My recomendation would be to drill horizontal hole from the back of the table such that the centre line of the hole is level with the bottom of the depression. Do make sure first that this will not damage the dovetail slides. Care must also be taken when the drill breaks through as it will then be cutting half a hole. On my mill I drilled and tapped M12 holes each end so that I could screw in a stud with an 8mm drain hole drilled through. Very convenient for fitting flexible drain hoses to. If your machine is small, the drain hole will need to be smaller of course.

Dick Gays