I’m finally building my Shapeoko cabinet and thinking of the future, I need to know how much room is needed for the enclosure when you have an HDZ with a spindle measured from where the feet are touching the tabletop to the top of the spindle at max height including any line for water or electrical that may add height. I want to confirm if my original 24in is enough to accommodate an upgrade in the future.
I would really appreciate if Shapeoko owner with an HDZ and Spindle could provide a measurement.
I’m installing a spindle on my HDZ right now (literally, I plugged the water cooling tubes yesterday evening), and realized…that the height of my enclosure will need to be increased AGAIN
I’ll measure tonight and let you know.
If I had the space, this would be ideal.
Big enough for X machine with upgrades or the next new machine
Griff
(Well crap, my hypometric precursor device is blown…)
5
HaHa, that was LAST year.
Tired of knocking my head into the “lintel” and I’m over the sliding doors. So new enclosure in the works. Same width, taller (38”), and deeper (42”) with a “back” door to enable tiled projects.
Sides and back made up of 1/8” Masonite, 1/2” foam, 1/8” masonite panels. Top and bottom 3/4” plywood.
Thinking conventional doors for frameless cabinet with soft close European style hinges for the front. Magnetically retained drop down, piano hinge door across the back.
Also, all electronics are now outside the enclosure on shelves on the left side with slide out panels to protect from dust and allow easy access.
Still very happy with the hole in the center of the top for the vacuum hose. Just pull enough through to make a “U” in the hose. Stays out of the way, no fancy (needless) support structures. Plus, when I need to clean up outside the box, just pop the hose out the top and go.
Griff
(Well crap, my hypometric precursor device is blown…)
6
The Z stepper motor on the HDZ is the highest point, spindle not an issue I don’t believe.
The distance from my primary waste board to the top of Z stepper is 22”. So your 24 will work unless you run your vac line through a hole in the top. In that case you need more clearance.
My experience in my shop is that square footage is key, cubic not so much. What I mean is, going higher is usually pretty easy and not as costly space wise as going wider/deeper. And if higher improves the ergonomics, accessibility, ease of use then it’s a no brainer.
Thanks, I agree that square footage is very important but I am in a basement so also I have to take height into consideration but I have a bit of a margin. I think that 38in would be a bit high for me but looking at @Vince.Fab video, I can see the spindle sticks out above the HDZ but with all the mods to the Shapeoko, maybe he has a bigger spindle.
My current enclosure was such that the top of the Z stepper motor was almost touching the roof, which is 21’’ above the bottom of my bed (I removed the feet):
I am using heavy double insulated Belkin VFD wire and 3/8" OD urethane cooling lines.
EDIT: Also, I use a lot of really small bits, so I moved my spindle as far down the bracket as I thought I could. And I have an aluminum block I put on top of the Z axis that triggers the end stop so I can move the spindle all the way to the bottom of the rails (without going too far and having bearings drop out - again) since I am still running grbl 0.9 and CM 3xx.
Thank you all, I made the enclosure 26in high so I should be OK. @Griff, since my door will open up, I could not make it higher and I get that I have to be careful not to hit my head on the top of the enclosure but it is the space I have.
Griff
(Well crap, my hypometric precursor device is blown…)
14
You’ll be glad you added the extra 2”, I’m a big fan of what works best in any given circumstance!
Looking forward to seeing some projects from your new setup.
