Enclosure: Part 2

I learned a few lessons from the original enclosure. The main takeaway was to not make it just barely big enough to fit the CNC machine. The drag chains would rub against the top in certain places and I didn’t leave enough space for the vacuum hoses. The second problem I encountered was that I kept hitting my head on the top front support structure.

The structure itself used 9 1.5inch x 1.5inch x 8ft pieces of lumber and 2 8 ft x 4 ft x 1.5 inch of Styrofoam insulation. I had to cut the Styrofoam to fit it in my car, so I ended up adding a few extra pieces of wood so I could use smaller pieces of foam. I also used a different piece I had laying around for the door. If I didn’t have to cut the foam to get it home I think I would have been able to do it all with two sheets.

What works well: The design is simple and allows for easy access to the CNC machine. If I need to, say, cut a large piece of material I can just pop out the foam on both sides. The large opening makes setting up the machine easy.

What I would have done differently: I used a chop saw to cut the lumber, but I didn’t use a stop to make sure all the cuts were exactly the same size. This led to a few places being slightly out of square. I also would have used a table saw to cut the foam more accurately. Finally, I would have planned out how I needed to cut the foam better when I was getting it in the car.