DIY CNC Dust Enclosure - Shapeoko Journey Ep. 19 

Oh man, I can't wait to see what you put together. It'll probably look like a piece of art compared to mine :P

Solid suggestion. I'll keep it in mind for the next upgrade. Thanks.

It's a very old Dremel, at least 10 years. It's probably most comparable to a Dremel 3000. Now it should be noted that the DW660 router costs about the same and has more power, but it doesn't have a speed controller which is what makes Dremels so versatile.

I actually don't have CAD drawings because I designed this on paper, but I will try to put together a sketch with dimensions and such on my website. I'll let you know when it's up. In the mean time, the design revolved around material availability. The widest piece of acrylic I could get was 30 inches, so that determined the width. And 18 inches for the height + some margin for the wood. (30x36" acrylic was cut into 2 panels, also found a 18x24" panel at Home Depot). Total height of my enclosure is about 20". Half inch hardwood ply for the base, cut some 1x3's to length and join using your preferred method. You can get some angled brackets for a couple bucks that'll let you make corners a lot easier than how I did it.

I've run hour long projects before without any issues. I'm more concerned about the motor controller board which is why I put it in a ventilated enclosure in a later video, but the motor itself is almost purely analog, so I think it tolerates high temperatures better. The vacuum hose did add a little resistance, but if you have the right amount of slack it will be able to operate just fine.

It's unsupported, you'll have to figure out how to mount it yourself. There are people who've done it before and may be able to shed some light on the process in the forums.

But honestly, I think the vast majority of the noise is from cutting, not the router. The Makita at 10k RPM is easy to be around without hearing protection. The sound of cutting can be easily 3-4x louder than the router. The Nomad, which has an extremely quiet brushless motor, has caused me to leave the room during longer operations in aluminum.

Small reduction in sound level, big reduction in high frequency noise so it's less annoying. But this is an ooooold design. If you weren't as cheap as me on wood/plywood you could make a far sturdier box.

I was thinking of using angle iron with Plex and padding in between for sound suppression. Appreciate it.

+TheRangeControl I drilled a hole into the board so I could follow it up with a hand held jig saw.

+Winston Moy a Ahhh... Got it. Thank you. I'm a while from this, but I have gotten interested in Vacuum Forming. I saw your video and checked out a few more. I am going to have to figure it out in time as well... ...oh well, back to trying my hand at Sketchup. LOL

+layangman Dremel's have around 200 watts of peak power, but at lower power/speed you don't see anywhere near as much torque which means they aren't very useful. For wood this isn't a problem. Just cut at full RPM and you will be okay. For plastics this is a slightly bigger problem because it is very sensitive to temperature/friction. This means if you want to cut at a certain RPM, you may have to take shallower cuts so you don't stress the Dremel or cause it to lock up. TLDR: Dremel will work, but you will have a sub-optimal experience. I started out with a Dremel and learned a lot, but was glad to upgrade.

I haven't ruled out adding in acoustic panels in this enclosure. Could never find a good source for specialized foam online (shipping got expensive, among other factors). Egg crate foam is OK I hear, but not the best. I may try some acoustic tiles that Home Depot sells for $5/sq. ft.

Also, my friend recommended Stone Wool (I think) from Lowes.

Awesome, thanks!

James Mitchell Haven't had any issues with heat. Between the NEMA 17 steppers and 200-300W spindles, the air inside is noticably warmer, but not even remotely close to being uncomfortably so after 30+ minutes of continuous run time. Additionally, if you have vacuum extraction, it means you must be replacing the air in the enclosure with fresh air from outside.

+James Mitchell If heat becomes an issue you could get some 120mm computer case fans (with dust filters) to blow more air into/out of the box to provide further circulation.

A couple things I'd check: 1) Is your controller calibrated correctly? Ie. If you jog your machine 10", does it actually move 10"? If not, GRBL settings will need to be adjusted. 2) Is your machine tightened up? If anything is loose, your spindle will take a bigger bite out of your part than you expect. 3) Reinstall your endmill in your router, and make sure your collet is clean. If it gets packed with sawdust, it won't mount dead straight, and you'll have runout. 4) Is is undersize in both axes? That would suggest calibration or runout issue.

I have calibrated the GBRL. I am going to check for runout. It cuts pockets and inside cuts not enough leaving a hole undersize. And cuts too much outside cuts leaving pieces too small. But cuts everything consistently , so I don't think anything is loose. Do you have any video showing how to get perfect set up?

Maybe check your cutter compensation and double check your tools in your tool library if it's not a runout issue.

David Gross For a door across a single face of the enclosure, I'd want either 180 or 270 degrees of rotation to get it completely out of my way. And assuming I found a suitable hinge and/or arm, there would be numerous instances of me either hitting or moving my camera to open the door and vacuum my workpiece. My ideal setup would be to have the door slide vertically, and then rotate to lay flat on the top, but that was a bit too advanced for me at the time...

Congrats on the build, looks awesome.

He's got a few requirements I don't though. With all the aluminum he cuts, he needs all his materials to be non-fluid permeable. That Lexan does add up in cost, and the fabrication with angle brackets and hinges requires a bit more attention to detail... @JPL_Richard's a meticulous beast though.

Haha. Yes I do. That's why I can only do CNC stuff on weekends. The enclosure was my July project.

Cool! I really want to buy one soon, but I dont have the money yet. Being a student is hard.