Four weeks in the making

…and still not quite finished, but here’s some photos of the build stages of the enclosure for my XXL:

This is what I started with, a workbench in my garden shed…

You can see the foam lining material and vinyl ‘planks’ I’m going to use for the flooring, but the workbench isn’t quite deep enough for the XXL, so I had to extend it…

You can see the frame has been extended from the original shelving frame, and I’ve used CLS to provide vertical support. The wall to the right is 18mm plywood that fits into grooves I cut into the vertical and horizontal CLS, and I’ve added a leg in the middle to better support the weight. The vinyl ‘planks’ and foam lining are in place. You can tell it’s still a garden shed, though :smile:

I can tell you that building the XXL in the enclosure was a pain the ****! Not only was I persistently banging my head on the ceiling and it’s bloody tight in there, for one such as me, but I got there in the end!

You can also see I eventually resolved the dust extraction issue I was having, with a lot of help form this forum, and here’s a photograph of it almost complete, with dust extraction, lighting, a bifold door and a couple of drawer frames. I’m going to put fronts on the drawers and build a frame so it looks less ‘utilitarian’.

At the moment I’ve used a stool to ‘park’ my old MacBook Air, which I intend to mount on the door above it, and you can see the LPHV dust vacuum underneath.

Most of the materials were left over from previous ‘projects’, including refitting my bathroom, but I did have to buy some CLS, 18mm ply and a couple of drawer slides.

So, critique away, friends!

12 Likes

Well done Peter. Be careful though, you’ve built a head banger, like me haha :joy:! Cant count the number of times I’ve knocked my noggin on the top of mine reaching in to do whatever.
Be sure to share what you make!

2 Likes

Hi @Griff

I had originally planned to have two doors and an openable lid towards the front, but liked the idea of a bi-fold to mount the laptop on.

Things can change, though, especially if the contours of my head do! :smile: :smile:

1 Like

Very nice enclosure. Quick question - where did you get the clear tubing for the dust collection?

2 Likes

I got that from Axminster, but if you’re UK based and not too far away from me, I’ve got some I don’t need?

(But, looking at your Avatar, you’re probably not!)

I like it, nicely done and very clean.

1 Like

Thank you, sir :smile:!