I am meeting with my electrician later this week and was wondering if I am on the right track for the number of separate circuits I need to handle the load of the tools in the CNC shop I am setting up.
Separate 20amp Circuits for:
CNC Controller
CNC Router
Dust Collector
Table Saw/ Planar/ Table Router (only one of these at time, hence being on same circuit.)
Electric Heater
I’ll have to see if the table saw or electric heater need greater than a 20 amp circuit.
I see these 5 items being run in tandem, thus needing 5 circuits.
I have heard you want the circuit wiring separated by a joist space for the controller and router, however considering they will be run from the house, underground to the external garage, does this matter as even if they were separated by a joist space in the garage, they would be in close proximity underground?
I am not familiar with wiring, please excuse any misconceptions I have.
I brought 2 separate 20amp circuits over to my 1F table. 1 powers the 1F controller and monitor. The 2nd powers the Makita router and a IT tower cooling fan for the controller. My controller is totally encased in an enclosure,with a furnace filter on the air intake side, to keep dust out of the controller. 3rd 20 amp circuit powers my Harbor Freight dust collector and I’ll additionally power off same circuit a DEWALT 735X planer, Cuteck jointer, Wen drill press, router table, etc. but only 1 additional tool at a time with the dust collector. Never had any issues the past 7 years with circuit overload or breaker tripping. The 2nd 20 amp circuit to table is under utilized but the intention is to get a 120V air cooled spindle in the future. This is just an FYI of what successfully and safely works for me.
The power requirement is not high. I also planned to have several circuits to service mine but have found I can run a onefinity, makita router, and my “2 horsepower” shop fox on the same circuit… if i have to. I wouldnt do any long cuts on it because i dont trust it, though. The DC is a power hog.
The biggest reason for 2 circuits to the 1F table is I have a drag chain setup with shielded cables for X and Z, and a shielded cable for the Makita router power, all running in the drag chain. Having the 1F controller and monitor on 1 circuit and the router and fan on the 2nd. To date, no operational issues due to EMI which was the driving force of my setup.
