Ive seen lots of pics of everyones awesome machines and it seems like building an enclosure for the machine/cut surface will be ideal. Most of the pics I have seen look like a “cube” with pretty high Z-height over the machine and surface… Can anyone offer some insight into the LOWEST possible height for a roof over the machine? I am going for compact as possible- I dont have a lot of z-axis height so I dont see why it would necessarily be a problem to have a roof just over the z-motor (~2 feet or so).
Im just finishing up the build so I am definitely lacking complete context for this question but I really appreciate any advice the community might have about this!
A pretty close approximation is using teh calculator, The length of your Z rails+the usable Z height+the length of your stepper.
In other words you have your Z rails and a stepper on top (standing up), and that moves up the height of you usable Z. Make sure the top comes off of you box with screws or something (no glue) in case you even need to take out your Z axis.
perfect! this is basically what I was thinking (intuitively). I had considered the idea of a removable top to the case by based on your comment i will DEFINITELY be doing it now…
Take the Z axis and just put it on the top of the XY gantry. Make your height at least that high. My reasoning for this is you sometimes need to do maintenance on the machine that requires removing the Z axis. You need to be able to take the Z axis off the top of the machine to do this.
I see Ryan said something similar with regards to working on the machine. If I made mine with a removable top, then I know I’d end up storing stuff on the enclosure that I’d have to remove every time I worked on it.
I made mine really tall inside because you end up climbing into the machine when trying to put in hold downs and I don’t like hitting my head.
I would first build it and use it a few times. And only then decide how big to make your enclosure.
I also made my enclosure just slightly higher than the top of the Z, but I quickly found out I also wanted a vacuum. So I needed extra space to accomodate the hose… luckily it (just barely) fits but I would have made the enclosure a bit taller if I had known this in advance.
My suggestion is have the top hinged in the middle, fixed at the back. That way you have easy access for cleaning the enclosure, removing the Z axis etc. You can either use two doors for the front or have the front door drop down, or attach it to the top piece that folds so it’ll z-fold on top for access.
The enclosure is built from 45mm Rockwool sandwiched between 8mm MDF. This is excellent for soundproofing. (The bottom is 18mm MDF instead of 8mm)
I mounted the electronics on the outside. There is a small slot in the side where the stepper cables and router power chord go through.
I put the whole thing on wheels because it’s very heavy. I usually keep it under my workbench, so I roll it out when I want to use it.
The top is simply lying on top of the side walls. Nothing holds it in place, just gravity. Very convenient!
I can also remove the front panel. I made a small ridge on the bottom to hold the outer MDF panel in place, and I made bar with a couple of hooks on the side that hold the front up. Also quite easy to remove and put back.
I can simply slide the MPCNC in and out of the enclosure. It’s just sitting on the bottom, not bolted in place or anything. The electronics and PSU are mounted on a small piece of MDF that is simply hanging on a few screws on the outside. I can very easily take it off too.
I mounted a lamp inside, and a Raspberry PI with a camera. (I don’t use the Pi to control anything, it’s just to watch the camera over WiFi.) The camera is mounted almost level with the spoilboard, and has a very good view of what’s happening when it’s cutting stuff.
The on/off switch on the power strip functions as my emergency stop.
On the inside on the back panel you can see a small U shaped piece of wood. This holds the vacuum hose in place. The vacuum hose enter through a hole on the right top side near the back.
In general I’m very happy with it. Sound proofing is great. I didn’t add a window to make sure no noise leaks. I can watch it with the camera, but I also often just lift the top lid a little to watch it, especially at the beginning of a job.
One thing I’d like to improve is to wrap the Rockwool in plastic (like large garbage bags or something). Pieces keep flaking off all the time.
