Shapeoko Enclosure Build – 30 dB Noise Reduction

[_BDesign (Michael Bonakdar)]

Shapeoko Enclosure Build – 30 dB Noise Reduction

Over the past year at Bonakdar Design Labs, I’ve been refining my workflow around the Shapeoko, and one of the biggest improvements was building a full enclosure. I had shared some early design sketches a while back, and I wanted to follow up with the finished result.

• Construction: Primarily plywood panels/4x4 frame, reinforced at stress points.
• Performance: The enclosure consistently reduces operating noise by about 30 dB, bringing the machine down to near-silence in most cases. The exception is harder materials like metal, where the spindle and bit still generate some noticeable sound.
• Features:
  • Double Hinge front door for easy access
  • Dust collection port integrated at the rear side panel
  • Sealed joints to prevent air + sound leakage

This has made a huge difference in being able to run jobs without disturbing the rest of the shop (or neighbors).

Happy to share more photos, CAD files, or build notes if anyone’s interested.

— Michael A. Bonakdar II
Bonakdar Design Labs

[Randy (Randy Gordon-Gilmore)]

@_BDesign , looks good! How are you handling the windows? And you have answered a question I had about how to keep swarf from glomming onto the rockwool (or rockwool-ish material…) I like your solution there!