My XXL cabinet and cart

Still not totally done but if I wait till it’s 100% finished it will never get posted ha!

The frame is RHS that I welded up with a 17mm form ply top and shelf. It has a laptop slide built into one side that pushes all the way in for storage. The other side had a similar setup but I’m not using it for anything just yet. The frame is on castors that can flicked down to move the unit, then flicked up so the frame rests on solid ground. Probably would do this again, they are a pain to steer, occasionally flick up unexpectedly and I often just leave them locked down. I’d just go heavy duty lockable castors for I built it again.

The cabinet itself is 12mm CD ply - I would have preferred to use form ply, it has such a nice finish and doesnt warp but I couldn’t get 12mm where I live and 17mm was excessive. For the ceiling panels I’ve used 3mm Perspex and it is recessed into the rear of the panel. I cut the pattern on the shapeoko for something a bit different. The front and rear of the cabinet are hinged with piano hinges and it allows pretty good access. I’m 70% happy with how this part worked out - removing so much material has let it warp a little and it’s just not as neat as I’d like.


Inside I went with a blow method for chip removal - in my mind the dust boots restrict access and don’t let you see the cut so I thought this method would help with that. I’m using a shopvac on reverse mode and it is secured to the spindle with a small jig I cut. The hose is simply secured with a loop in roughly the middle of the cabinet. Luckily the makeup of the vacuum hose is sufficient to keep it coiled out of the way when cutting in the middle but flexible enough to let it reach to far corners, so a win there.

In the floor of the bench top at the rear I cut two slots and under mounted two dust collection ports hooked up to my dust extractor by 4” hose. This does a good job of keeping the cabinet negatively pressure when cutting and ive noticed no fine dust escaping. I can always feel a gentle pull at the gaps and vents when the extractor is running so a win there. The system isn’t strong enough to blow all chips to the rear so there is still a mess to clean up after but I get zero chips at the workpiece itself, they are all removed during cutting so that works well. I also put a vent in the top far side from the extraction ports to assist with cross flow.



There’s zero benefit noise wise from this setup - the vacuum and dust extractor are the loudest parts and outside the cabinet so it’s still noisy to run. It’s magic for dust and mess though and worth it for that alone.

Still to do - I have some led lighting to install, I’d like to get some electrical work done so all the power and switches are accessible from the laptop slide, run the vacuum hose more neatly and add some glands/ports where cables are coming out of the cabinet instead of just holes. I’m also thinking of moving the heat sink and electronics box to outside the cabinet just to get it out of the dust which is far more prevalent when cutting than a setup with an extraction boot I’d say.

So that’s that, let me know if you have any questions. I’ve also included random shop photos because I like seeing what other people do with theirs when they post up.

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How well is the skirtless dust collection system working? I’ve considered doing that a couple of times, but never had occasion to try it out.

That vacuum hose mounted on the spindle is blowing not sucking Will, so it’s more chip removal/dispersal than dust collection.

OIC. Please wear a dust mask / respirator, and run an air cleaner to as needed.

Did you read the post Will?

Not well enough to have caught:

the vacuum and dust extractor are the loudest parts and outside the cabinet so it’s still noisy to run. It’s magic for dust and mess though and worth it for that alone.

Glad to see that you’re being safe!

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I didn’t think so :smile:, all good. It was more this part I was referring to:

I also run it for a period of time once cutting is finished before opening the cabinet to helps with the fines.

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