I suppose this could be considered a kind of poll question, and I don’t know if they’re allowed.
The 30-day-no-questions-asked grace period has passed for my new Shapeoko 5 Pro machine without incident. No crashes, gouges, or runaways, and no cutting through any of my hold down clamps. I give plenty of credit to Carbide 3D for producing a pretty decent piece of equipment, but I also give a little credit to myself for paying attention.
So, my question is . . . what do I do with the extra-heavy-duty boxes the machine was shipped in? What has everyone else done with theirs? They take up quite a bit of space in a shop that doesn’t have quite a bit of space to spare.
It was kind of fortuitous for the Shapeoko 3 XL that the inner box worked well as a dust cover for the machine — unfortunately, that’s not the case for the other sizes.
I’ll be recycling the outer boxes, and flattening the inner boxes and cutting them up to cover some inexpensive plastic shelves — I figure that will help w/ stuff getting lost into the voids, and I’m sure that there will be enough that it’ll be doubled or even tripled up, and available for other uses if need be.
The foam will be used for tool storage, something like to:
I have seen people save boxes for small appliances that will never never go back into the boxes. The same is true for your Shapeoko. It will never go back into the box so why would you keep the box. Like @WillAdams recycle it if possible or make it into useful things by upcycling.
Even if you someday sell the machine likely they would locally pick it up and take it away in a truck bed and/or trailer. It is unlikely you would break it down and ship it in boxes.
I recycled the outer boxes and used the inner boxes, because they were in pristine condition, to cut four flat cardboard panels to make a “debris fence” around the machine. The cardboard panels are held in place by vertical 2020 extrusions at the corners. The slot in the extrusion is 6mm which fits the double wall thickness of the cardboard perfectly. These cardboard fence panels will eventually be replaced by 6mm clear polycarbonate panels and currently act as templates to verify size and shape. I’m doing this debris fence as an alternative to a full enclosure since the machine is in its own separate room. My primary goal is to keep cutting debris on the workbench and not all over the floor in the CNC room. Accessing the machine from any side is very simple: just slide a panel straight up in the extrusion and set aside until it’s slid back into the extrusion when needed.
Thanks for everyone’s input. Here is the (approximate) rank of what I think I’ll do:
Construct a removable barrier on both sides and the rear of my S5P and possibly a partial top. I don’t have any aluminum channel, but I think I can 3D print some suitable bottom clips and corner clips so that the sides can be easily removed for access. Plexiglass will come later.
Construct a disposable paint booth. No reason to get too fancy with a folding/portable or origami-like enclosure. Just something stable with a big hole in the back to exhaust fumes and overspray outside. Even though described as disposable, I think it should be able last a pretty long time. Plus, there’s plenty of cardboard for several spray booths.
Take the stuff down to the recycle center and don’t look back. This is a tough decision because these are very nice boxes!!
