When I ran my MPCNC in the garage, the wife knew it was running, but it wasn’t annoyingly loud. The neighbors on my left and right could hear it running if they were outside, but it’s a low drone to people inside their house. Two houses away and they couldn’t even hear it inside.
I did put my MPCNC into an enclosure, but I don’t have doors on mine. I would point the enclosure with the opening pointing to the back of the garage. The noise bouncing on the back of the garage would help soften it before going back out.
I’m in a different situation now, but it’s still pretty loud. I pretty much always have hearing protection on when running equipment in the shop. It doesn’t really matter how quiet you make the router, once you start cutting something, it gets loud.
I don’t think I’d ever run the MPCNC inside the house. Too loud, too much dust, too much risk.
I came to think of something, related to the logistics of finding a place for the machine. Are there any woodworking clubs or makerspaces nearby, that would welcome such a project?
That totally depends on where you live. And a small one might be able to let you in there mostly by yourself. That is a good idea. Or maybe just a friend with a woodshop.
Came across this question about how loud the mpcnc is. So, I actually measured mine with spindle and shop vac running (dewalt 660 and a rigid shopvac). It was between 83-86 decibels while not cutting anything. While cutting plywood (1/4" thick) it read up to 90.
Always have my earmuffs on, but will be building an enclosure to deaden the noise before neighbors complain…