We recently ordered an Avid CNC PRO6060, with plans to eventually expand it to a PRO60120. This will be my first time setting up a CNC router of this size, and like most shops, space is at a premium.
I’m looking for some general feedback from those with experience on:
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Key do’s and don’ts during initial setup
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Common things to plan for in advance
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Pitfalls or mistakes to avoid early on
More specifically, I’m trying to plan around overhead clearance requirements. We intend to mount dust collection above the machine, and we’re also considering building a mezzanine over this area to maximize usable space. Because of that, we want to get the structure built before the machine arrives, but without boxing ourselves in.
What would you consider the absolute minimum ceiling height clearance above the machine to comfortably accommodate gantry travel, dust boot, hose management, maintenance access, and future expansion (including the move to a PRO60120)?
Any real-world measurements, photos, or lessons learned would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
It sounds like you are off to a good start. I’m not sure what to recommend for the min height. I think depending on how your dust collection is set up you may want a very different height for the 10 ‘ machine than the 5’ version you have now. (For reference my 5x5 machine seems fine with dust collection through a flexible hose about 4.5 feet above the spoilboard.
Are you planning on an automatic tool changer? That will have some impact on your dust boot and spoilboard choices. Do you already have a feel for what you will want for holding down your stock to the spoilboard?
Thanks for the quick feedback — much appreciated.
My current thought is to run a 4” PVC drop mounted to the underside of the mezzanine, roughly centered over the 5’×5’ table, with a flexible hose down to the dust shoe. I haven’t received the machine yet (expected end of February), so I’m trying to get as much of the surrounding infrastructure in place ahead of time.
The plan is to assemble the machine toward the front of where the eventual 5’×10’ footprint will be, then add the rear extension later when we expand. With that in mind, my assumption was that I could simply shorten the PVC drop and lengthen the flex hose when the back half is added.
I don’t yet have an exact measurement from the spoilboard to the underside of the mezzanine. I was initially referencing Avid’s published overall machine height of ~78”, but I’m realizing that may not be the most useful dimension for planning dust collection clearance. Based on that, I was tentatively thinking of setting the underside of the mezzanine around 9’, which would leave roughly 30” of clearance above the top of the machine, but I’m open to adjusting that if there’s a better way to think about it.
At this stage, the challenge is planning ahead without the machine physically here yet — but I need to get this work done before our busy season ramps up.
To answer your other questions:
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Automatic tool changer: not initially, but it’s something we may consider down the road.
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Workholding / spoilboard: we’re planning to go with a T-track-based spoilboard with a dense pattern of dog holes. I’ve seen a lot of creative and well-thought-out spoilboard designs out there (Jay Bates, Carbin Dunn, etc.), and I expect we’ll end up borrowing elements from a few different approaches to best fit the type of work we’ll be doing on the machine.
Appreciate any insight you’re willing to share — especially around how you’d think about vertical clearance when planning for a future 5’×10’ expansion.
Sorry if I am being dense here, but I’m a little confused about the mezzanine you are planning. Are you talking about just a flex hose being above the CNC? Or is it the entire dust collector above your machine? I’d be worried if you are too close to the minimum height over the table you will make it hard to lean over the various sides in order to attach your stock to the bed.
Unless you have a very high ceiling, can you just put some unistrut on the ceiling? Then you can use something like this trolley or simple static hangars to hold the actual equipment with the minimum space taken up.
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If you go to the avid’s website click on the machine size you want Go near the bottom of the page they have detailed drawings with dimensions there beautifully done if you haven’t done that already I would suggest revisiting
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I have a 60120 pro with 8” Z range, and standard height ceilings (basement shop). When the Z is fully up the cable chain just clears the lights. There’s no room for dust collection above it.
I don’t have dust collection yet (my plan is to make a dust hose “cable” chain and bring it off the side) but from what I’ve seen, you want the fixed part of your collection off to the side or corner, with moving arms to bring it to the cnc. I don’t think you ever want the spindle to pass directly under the hookup because whatever supports you have will not be able to swivel around reliably, and may jam.
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This is what I am trying to do, hopefully this paints a better picture.
It looks like the mezzanine just needs to be strong enough to hold a little bit of rigid tube and flex hose. Why not just connect those directly to the ceiling? Something like in this video:
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Thank you for sharing this video, I will review it.
I just completed this for my CNC. My ceilings are 10’ and if feels pretty good…
Thank you for sharing this video, it is more aligned with what I am looking to do. Is this your setup? I’m wondering what the size of your table is and how far the gantry has to travel?
This is my pro 4896. The dust collection has been a project of continuous improvement up to this point but now I’m very happy with the results.
It is set up so when the gantry is at it farthest position of travel from the origin of the dust collection hose drop, The hose is extended about 75-80% of its travel, so there is some tension but it’s not taught but it also isn’t dragging on the table. As the gantry gets closer, the hose accordions back together. Time will tell if the hose eventually looses some of it’s springiness… If I were to change anything I would turn the drop elbow parallel with the ceiling instead of perpendicular to it. My fitting are glued together so I’m not going to bother cutting apart anything unless the current configuration proves to be a problem.
I have 55” of clearance for my 60x120. I use a cable with a pulley to keep the hose up. Just velcro bands holding the hose on the pully, and a bungee cord to take up slack between the port and the pulley. This has seen several hundred hrs of machining and I never have to mess with it. Its a very simple, reliable and low cost solution. I wouldn’t go much lower that 4 1/2 ft because you’ll have trouble keeping the hose from tangling itself on the z axis E chain.
