I bought this one back in Jan:
But it and its little 7” brother are showing as unavailable on Amazon now. That too bad. It works really well.
This is a link to the manufacturer page
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Now wait just a minute… That’s not a bad idea. What if we’re thinking of it wrong the whole time. @CullenS you’re a genius!
The lower section is an enclosure, but rather than being a nesting workbench (with CNC beneath) it’s an expanding workbench…
I mean I guess technically they’re nesting, But they don’t have to be separable, unless you want them to be.
So the CNC table is much like @tadg 's and @TheWoodworker 's tables.
But it can roll out from under a “larger” table in either direction to make room for a 4x8 sheet. You’d have to have some removable blocks/rollers/risers to support the working material, but I’m really starting to like the idea. Tad, I think i’m going to be in the same situation… I can’t afford to not save that space. I don’t have to be working on the workbench while the router is going, but it’s really nice to have that extra space.
I did a little sketch of what this could look like. Pardon my poor attempts at rendering woodgrain with Procreate lol.
I initially drew the machine in backwards, but having it slide both directions allows for a full 4x8 to be worked on without part of it sticking out the side. I think I would also enclose the entire bottom of the table in acrylic so you can see even if the table is collapsed.
however, as my brain keeps working on this, one side of the table not on the expansion axis could be enlarged (permanently) to allow for the dust collection to also be enclosed.
Please, share your thoughts!!! I really like this idea but have no idea how to approach designing and cutting it!
Super bonus points if we can keep it cheap!
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I have this touchscreen: Amazon.com
I initially tried a 7" screen that I already had but it didn’t have enough resolution. I see that mine is 1280x800 and carbide motion 622 for the PI wants 1280x1024, I’ll need to fire it up and see if anything is cut off.
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I wanted to wind back to the discussion on clearance for the dust collection. the carbide website shows a footprint of 60 in(X) x 59 in(Y) x 21 in(Z).
*edit - this is for the Shapeoko 5 Pro 4’x4’
For the dust collection hose, how much more clearance would I need?
I’m 74 and 6’-3”, at least I was! Anyway, my CNC Table is 54” tall and on wheels. It’s 68” wide and 62” deep. I drew up plans for an enclosure that had a lift up window on each side, but this this doesn’t make much more noise than my tablesaw, so I haven’t added it yet. Just wearing ear protection for now. This is my first CNC, but I’m very good at CAD with over 30 years experience. I have the 5 Pro 4x4.
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I haven’t upgraded, still happy with my 3 - but I’ve put it under the table on 500lbs-rated sliding extensions…
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I just received my 5 Pro 4x4 and am building my workbench on the fly. I have a Oneida Turbo that when connected to the Sweepy I am not getting any dust. I need to work the noise element, so I may add an enclosure for that. What do you think?
What is the source of your noise? The machine, the dust collector or the sweepy?
I found the Deep Sweepy to be less noisy than the regular given its curved body. I use it unless the clearances don’t permit.
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The noise I am getting is from the movement of the machine, not the dust collection. Just seems like a high pitch noise when the head moves. This is my first CNC so maybe that is normal, I don’t know.
If you are using an enclosure and your machine allows for indexing, such as the 5 Pro, how do you account for the ability to do that if you close in the back of the machine?
I have seen some enclosures where people have added flip up/down doors in the back for that purpose.
I don’t have a 5 but have seen others discussing the noise level as mostly a resonance issue. I don’t know if there were any definitive solutions.
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That is a solution. The other point I would like to make was my challenge in locating my control boxes. Would be nice if they made extensions so they can be mounted more 1 or 2 feet away from the bed of the machine. ended up running my Spindle cable in the same track as the other wires so I could keep the boxes on the same side. I was hoping to build a enclosure under the bed for the boxes but the cables just would not cooperate with me.
This looks fun. esp with the second mill above it!
Love the giant tv… I thought about adding one for myself to display the webcam feed.
Thanks, let’ s me do videos and creat projects at the machine. That and it was spare and destined for marketplace anyway so why not.
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I love the conversation that’s happening here. I’d like to steer the question towards dust collection, and how that interacts with the enclosure. is it as simple as just making a hole in the wall of the enclosure and passing your hose through it?
I’ve seen that I can use a shop vac and a cyclone separator, but do hose diameters matter? what if I need to use my shop vac to actually vac my shop? I’m going to be setting up in a garage (I think the wife is lenient enough to give me both car bays!) and the only tool that needs active dust collection will be the CNC.
(Ps - this means I probably won’t be building the low-rider enclosure, but a more standard height, either desk or standing desk height.) but it was a fun thing to think about!
I was looking at mounting a rail above the center of the machine from front to back. I could then hang the hose from there and let move on a hanger that moves back and forth with the spindle. I would venture to say you could do the same on the enclosure with just a smaller clearance.
I use a Oneida Cyclone Turbo for my dust collection and it handles the chips very very well. above the table is a ceiling mounted Jet filtered Air calculator that picks up any fine dust.
When setting up your dust collection, since you will be using your shop vac you can always have an extra hose that can be used for the rest of your shop and just leave a dedicated hose going to the machine.
When running the hose to the machine try to mount it coming from the side. At first, I had mine mounted on the back and hanging over the middle of my table. But after needing to use the tiling feature that became a no go, so moved it away from the back to be able to extend the project piece out the backside.
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I just have mine vented out the side. It’s attached with small bungee cables to a piece of 8020 aluminum screwed into the ceiling of my enclosure. From there it goes to a dedicated dust collection system (Ridgid Shop Vac and Oneida Dust Deputy 2.5). The output of the shop vac is also vented to the outside. Seems to work pretty well so far.
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