Curious if anyone’s tried this and how effective it is at chip/dust control?
Just about finished with my table base and have to decide whether to make the top large enough for a full enclosure or not before I go material shopping next week.
My (limited) experience is that with a 3mm bit, or carving with a V-bit, a shop-vac and shoe is capable of collecting virtually all the chips. The heavier, faster chips from a larger surfacing cutter escape in large quantities and get blown around a bit by the router’s fan.
Mine is pushed into a corner anyway, so I put a wall along the open side. It’s about a foot high but probably only needs to be a few inches high, just like that ‘boxed MPCNC’. I didn’t put anything on the front, as it’s often useful to slide things in or out under the front tube. I’d quite like to build a removable front wall.
It’s not like a industrial CNC that throws chips (and coolant) absolutely everywhere (although it might be if you use compressed air to clear chips) but it probably does spread the super-fine dust that’s considered a health hazard.
As for building an MPCNC with walls instead of legs, I think that’s another person who mistakenly thinks the legs are a weak spot and complicates the design for little benefit.
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I don’t think dust/chip control is the purpose of building a box like that, and I if you do want chip control there are easier ways to achieve it that don’t limit the accessibility of your workpieces, like temporary cardboard shields for example would be very cheap and easy and removable.
To me the purpose of a box is so that it is not attached to the table, and you can place the machine on a large workpiece or have a flexible table (or multiple tables) for different kinds of work. I built one for this purpose but if you are building it onto a table it is not an improvement. It’s only for if you want a portable device.
As for a box as an alternative to legs for stiffness, I don’t think it’s justified because the legs deflect much less than the center assembly. The downsides of material cost and accessibility of the workspace would far outweigh the tiny stiffness improvement which will barely be measurable.
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Thanks for the replies! My main interest was chip control, from everything I’ve read I think I’ll be happy starting with the ‘stock’ legs and seeing where that takes me. My main concern is not knowing how delicate any of the electronics are and whether leaving it out in an un-air-conditioned garage in a coastal environment is likely to cause any problems… I’m thinking with reasonable chip control and some time spent trying to quiet the vac I can put it in a spare room in the house.