There are only about 4 reasons to construct an enclosure for my OneFinity:
- Dust containment
- Noise reduction
- Safety (flying broken endmill or clamp)
- Enclosed fire suppression system
Of those, I only care about Dust containment. My dust extraction is noisy. So if I cared about that, I’d need to enclose the vacuum too; and I have no desire to do that.
Features I care about:
- Enclosure to contain dust
- Easy to monitor progress without a camera (basically windows)
- Enclosure allows light from above (so I don’t have to install lighting inside)
- Easy access to the lead screws, drag chain
- Ability to remove the enclosure for maintenance
- Simple design
- Simple to build
- Inexpensive parts
I like the enclosures that have plexiglass, but big panels of plexiglass are kind of expensive. I decided to go with clear flexible plastic, and I found a 3 pack of shower curtains on Amazon for $20. I used threaded inserts so I could easily remove the sides. For the doors, I clipped in magnets that stick to the threaded inserts. The side curtains have weights at the bottom. The top is mounted with hinges and supported with 1/16" wire rope. The whole thing can be rotated up out of the way, and locks into place with a gate latch.
Oh, and since there is negative air pressure because of the dust extraction, dust won’t make its way out any of the seams. Those seams are where air is flowing in. There are enough seams that it doesn’t bow in when I turn on the dust extraction. The one place I may tape off is at the top-back where it hinges.
