Hi!
I have owned my 4x2 Shapeoko 5 Pro for 3.5 years or so now and love the machine, but I need a bit more floor space in the garage workshop and I rarely use the full working area so I purchased a new 2x2 5.1 Pro a few weeks ago.
I have seen a few discussions around building an enclosure with the leg kit, but haven’t seen too many folks go down this route.
I’d like to show “V1” (aka the minimum viable product version) of my enclosure for the 2x2 to give you some ideas of what’s possible with the 5.1 Pro and the leg kit. This version has numerous areas for improvement but I needed to get up and running as quickly as possible with the new machine. My primary goal for this iteration was chip containment.
I wanted to try and build something with as little custom work required as possible for the first iteration.
The enclosure frame is made of 2020 black anodized aluminum extrusions. I used 1000mm members for the width and depth, and 800mm lengths for the height. The white panels are painted 1/8” hardboard from Home Depot, held captive inside the extrusions by some panel holders that snap into the extrusion channel and provide some light pressure on the panels to keep them from moving.
The front has a swinging door with hinges on the left, 3/32” acrylic panels inserted, and a set of extremely strong magnets on the handle side to keep the door firmly compressed to an inner EDPM foam gasket along the enclosure opening.
The enclosure only weighs around 35 pounds, and its weight is primarily supported by a series of 6 slotted 90 degree steel brackets that are bolted to the leg kit. There are also a handful of steel brackets bolted to the front extrusion member using the M6 holes, but those brackets are primarily for alignment.
I got “creative” with the bottom of the enclosure. My eventual goal is to build metal chip pans along all sides that slope rearward into a common collection area. However, for the sake of getting into making chips, I’ve fashioned a “skirt” using a rather thick HDPE pond liner attached with M5 bolts and fender washers to the underside extrusion channels of the enclosure, and magnetically to the steel legs. It isn’t super pretty but is quite functional and has done a great job of keeping the chips contained.
During assembly, prior to adding the bottom “skirt”
I spent around $325 or so on this setup, not including the leg kit itself. I’m quite satisfied with where it’s at currently, and it’s doing a great job of chip containment. I’m happy to share parts list of what I’ve used, most of the components were sourced from Amazon.
A few things I’m working on for “V2”:
- Sliding front door panels. The hinged door requires way too much clearance!
- Removable side panels
- Rear door/access for tiling jobs
- Chip pans and a removable tray in the rear
- Dust hose mounting inside (I’m primarily doing metal cutting with compressed air right now)
I hope this is helpful to anyone considering a similar type of project for their machine.
Cheers!
Rob
Next I need to fabricate a lower shelf!