Hey everybody. My wife and I accidentally bought a new house (accidentally works because we were just planning to tour it for a laugh, but…). The great thing is it no longer is a 14’ wide (at best) / 8’ wide (at worst) unfinished basement. Instead, it’s a 16’ wide finished basement. Great for life, bad for workshops. We basically have agreed that one of the basement rooms will be rededicated to workshop and storage, but I want to make sure I can keep it tidy enough in case there’s some need for it otherwise. Currently, the SO3 XL lives in a mediocre enclosure that is fine for an unfinished basement but not living space.
My question is basically this: how many of you operate in finished space (not a garage or something) and how hard has it been to keep the area relatively decent? I expect I’ll need better dust collection, but that will likely just be redoing the enclosure and keeping the existing Fein turbo / dust deputy. Bonus: pics or suggestions otherwise… I’m open to all thoughts.
I use my machines in the middle, or at one end of a finished basement (large open area w/ my daughter’s art studio at one end, and TV viewing/reading are at the other and a shared office space around the corner) — I do a lot of vacuuming, and the carpet in front of/around the machines is probably one of the cleanest areas of the house, but w/ a well-adjusted dust shoe, dust stays under control w/ few complaints (so long as I vacuum up promptly after).
on the floor: consider “gym mats” kind of things (they have these in puzzle-piece style so you can just puzzle a floor together)… easier to clean than carpet and can easily go on top of carpet
I added one of these https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07JB292JC (with a matching hose) and put the unit a box that I cut holes in and covered the holes with MERV13+ filter material. (so hole in the enclosure with a mesh in front of it, going via the hose to the motor into the box; box has holes covered with merv13+ material) That way, I create pretty series suction/under pressure of the air in my enclosure, so air with small dust particles goes through this unit and the dust particles get stopped by the merv13 filter material.
Thanks, Will. I’m glad to hear you’ve had reasonably good success using yours in that kind of space. Just got to figure out which design will be easiest to keep clean for the stuff that gets past the dust boot.
Over all, this was the biggest concern we had in getting the new place. So many crafty hobbies but not many that are meant for proper living space. At least, in how we’ve been doing them.
@Buhbuh is the CNC the only woodworking you’re doing, or do you have other tools that will be sharing the space?
My first, first shop was in a once-finished basement (once-finished works because it didn’t look “finished” for long). I was working a lot of different tools at the time, so for me, it wasn’t about the CNC. Dust gets EVERYWHERE…very fine dust that you don’t even realize is there until you wipe it off and that you can’t fully capture from most tools. I guess, if you have a VERY well built CNC enclosure, you can avoid the plume, but if you’re using saws, or sanders, or even drills - and there is furniture in the basement that has fabric, expect to have some issues.
My next step was to take over the finished 2-car garage (it had sheetrock, a ceiling, baseboard heating, and power) and lived happily and peacefully for many years…the cars stayed in the driveway. It’s a much better solution.
If you live with an hoa you might be able to get a small building put on your backyard. Lowes and home depot sell ones they assemble on site. Pre made buildings can be hard to get between existing homes.
@GJM I’ve got mostly portable tools otherwise so they can be brought outside. The laser cutter my wife uses is the only other indoor tool. I think the biggest concern is just how effective of an enclosure I can make… And how well it stores away…
@gdon_2003 oh man… That would be something… Sadly, we’re trading yard space for a significant improvement in the house. Losing more than half the row home yard for more effective indoor space.
I have a plywood enclosure, w hinged door plex see thru windows w a 2 stage rolling NILFISK dust collector in a finished space and rarely see any dust build up ob tables or ledges.
It’s supper quiet due to mass loaded vinyl on the interior. I can listen to music when the vacuum is off, but router running. See my earlier post for photos. SO3: XXL Mega-Enclosure and Dust Collection - #201 by aaronz