It’s not just DUST! It’s a broad spectrum of particles including a large number in the size range that make asbestos seem healthy for your lungs. The particles can be chemically nasty (toxica, carcinogens, and teratogens) and with some hardwoods can contain nasty viruses. Nothing one want to breath or even touch/handle.
An enclosure and proper air handling is not recommend. It’s a necessity when working in friable (“easily crumbled”) materials (e.g wood, MDF, FR4, Garolite, carbon composite)… unless one doesn’t care about ruining their health. I had a PM exchange with @Tsamb shortly after her original posting about an enclosure for air safety, hearing, and general safety.
There are many postings about these issues. Here are a few:
An enclosure is really a good idea for general safety purposes (accidental falls, children) too.
I run the CNC (The electronic part only), My computer, and my 3D printer on the UPS, and then I plug the router into a separate outlet on the other side of the garage along with my dust collection. This way any noisy electricity is not on the same power line. Brush motors are noisy on electrical lines so I run them off a different outlet,
Excellent recommendations! See:
for more discussion and details of power issues with CNC.