I am continuing my planning for the machine to arrive in a few months and had a question regarding an enclosure around the machine.
Is the purpose of the enclosure for dust containment or noise abatement (or both)?
From the videos I have seen, the dust boot on a vacuum does a pretty good job of sucking up all the dust. I can’t see the need for the additional protection of an enclosure. Plus it complicates the routing and movements of the vacuum hose.
On the noise control front, I know you could build an enclosure with 2" walls filled with sound deadening insulation, triple pane windows and gasket lined doors, along with some vibration damping mounts. That could have an impact on containing the sound.
But does the standard 1/2" plywood sides, with 1/8" Lexan windows and loose fitting door make an appreciable difference in the router noise? Plus, I assume the shop vac is not in the enclosure, so they make enough noise to offset and reduction in router and cutter noise.
Thanks for your feedback on your enclosure goals, and how it has worked out in practice.
I have my 1F in the basement. We have hot water heat so sound wouldn’t be sent through the heat pipes. My wife indicates that the noise made by the router and the dust collector are more than she can handle. I have researched YouTube for ideas on quieting dust collection. There are several. I plan to do both the dust collector and the 1F…
I just went through this dilemma recently and ended up building the enclosure. I made it from 3/4" MDF and .220" plexi from Home Depot. I have doors that I cut to friction fit close and as you can see from the pics there are some gaps at the tops of the doors since this was a quick and dirty build that I just wanted to get over with. So to address your questions about noise and dust mitigation.
Noise - The enclosure I built definitely reduced the noise by about 50%. As anecdotal evidence, I can tell you that my first 2 projects on the machine were done before I built the enclosure and I stayed in the shop working on other stuff while the machine and dust collection were running. When the projects were done both times my ears were ringing (yes I should have worn ear protection). By comparison, I can now run the machine with the doors on the enclosure closed and comfortably still work in the shop without ear protection without the ear ringing. My shop is not small, almost 1200sq ft, and I mostly worked at my assembly table which is on the far end of the shop from where the CNC is. The enclosure also muffles the sound enough so that it travels less throughout the upper levels of the house. My wife used to be able to hear it from the top level of the house where her office is and now she doesn’t. It’s also much less noticeable on the second level of the house e.g. in the living room. I used to be able to hear it over the TV and now I don’t. So while it doesn’t silence the machine it definitely makes a difference. That said, I’m still considering switching to a water-cooled spindle to reduce the noise even further. As for dust collection noise, you are correct, it does nothing for that but if you invest in quieter vacs it really makes a difference. i have 3 shop vacs, 2 connected to my CNC and table saw and one near my assembly table for sanding and stuff. The two by my CNC and table saw are a Festool and a much much cheaper Amazon purchase that are both WAYYYY quieter than my Ridgid shop vac that I use for sanding. The noise from the CNC easily overshadows the sound from the quieter shop vacs even with the doors closed.
As for dust containment, the dust boot definitely does a great job with most cutting operations but does not capture 100% of the chips flying around especially with stuff like surfacing tool paths. I found that it is much easier to clean up after all projects with the dust being contained inside the enclosure.
Here is a link to a video where you can hear the difference between the doors open and closed.Below are pics of the enclosure. Hope this is helpful. Let me know if you have any other questions.
Hello, I have ordered a 1F and have to wait till late March,early April for it to arrive.
I would like to know how big I should build my base for the machine.
I will be building a enclosure because my setup is inside my garage but I have tenants directly upstairs above my shop and I don’t want to drive them out with the thing running for 4 hours or something.
I’m thinking of making the enclosure also to minimize the sound possibly going a step further with additional layers and sound absorbing material.
And then there’s the vac issue.
Did you mention you found a vac not to loud on Amazon?
Any help you can give me about the dimensions I should shoot for and any other information would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you
Wayne D.
I’m a little confused. Some of these enclosure setups have a vacuum hose coming out and some don’t. Can you run with an enclosure without dust extraction? If so what are the pros and cons of each setup?
I would skip the vaccum cleaner for dust collection and get the 1hp Harbor Freight one if noise is an issue. It’s a day and night difference. Vacs have a universal motor which are very loud while the HF DC uses an induction. I haven’t got my 1F yet but it looks like the HF DC could fit below the table. Unlike a vac it has a bag on the output of the fan that’s cloth that acts like a filter.
The only mod I had to do was remove the plastic guards before and after the fan. They just caught all of the larger chips and blocked air flow. If one wanted a Dust deputy could be added to remove most of the chips and dust before it even made it to the DC. I’m guessing, sound wise, it’s like going from a router to a spindle.
I built a soundproof workshop, if I’m in the room sure its noisy but I can wear ear defenders, it’s the neighbours that are the problem.
The workshops is stud framed with rockwool, 100mm thick, all air gaps foamed, Neoprene tape on all the studs and dense materials on inside walls (plank) the doors are 2 inches thick solid timber and an additional pair of thin doors with absorbant neoprene on inside, I use Nordseal around door gaps.
From outside you can almost hear the machine. That’s the result I wanted
My hoover picks up the dust however, it’s a workshop and all my other jobs kick up plenty of dust so not really bothered.
This is a preference thing. Noise is prevented by filling all airgaps and having dense walls and low vibration transfer.
