Do you know what kind of material you ~think~ you will be cutting most of the time?
If it is aluminum then you need to protect against those high pitched noises, and the sound from the router and/or dust collection is probably secondary (based on my experience). I have an original Nomad, and it sits in my office, nothing other than its stock box and I’ll cut aluminum on it while working on my computer just 4 feet away. I’ll have earplugs and/or headphones, but with my office door closed the high pitched noises don’t travel far (beyond my office door). Not saying you can’t hear it but the sound drops off pretty quickly. I let the chips just collect within the Nomad enclosure and use a shop vac to clean up at the end of the job.
If it is wood, the noise problem (at the source) is easier to solve, but this is where the dust collection problem gets harder to solve. It is my opinion that there is no such thing as “great” dust collection, all you can hope to accomplish is “good” dust collection. And for me, the dust collection is much louder than the actual router. I spent too much effort when I built my Shapeoko enclosure thinking about sound, and not enough thinking about dust.
If you are cutting MDF, less noise but an almost impossible dust collection problem. You will find MDF dust EVERYWHERE, you will curse it’s existence, you will swear to never use it again, and then something happens and you find yourself having to cut it again and the cycle repeats itself.
If it is cutting plastic, very little cutting “noise”. Harder dust/mess collection to dial in, but the mess will be contained to a smaller area, doesn’t drift in the air.
– Side Note –
Christmas of 2014 is when I purchased the Carbide 3D Nomad (serial number 102) for my high-school aged kid. You are going to have SOOOO much fun with this, enjoy every minute. Be sure to keep logs and photos of every project, and if possible start making things for friends and family. I learn something new every project.
Designing and building a CNC enclosure for the Shapeoko took me months… but that was intentional, it was fun. Even a year later I find myself having fun on weekends finding ways to tweak and further improve things. It’s almost as fun as the CNC projects themselves. So enjoy this entire journey.