Hi all. First post here and I’m planning the build of a new shop and would like to purchase an avid CNC when it’s done. I’m specifically planning for the space required for a machine. I will have 1440sq ft in my main shop area and my first question is if you were building a new shop and planning for a space would you enclose the CNC in its own room or keep it out in the open main shop? If I build a room it would be about 12x16 and could get tight depending on machine size. Second question is what is the required clearances around the machine? It would most likely be in a corner so I’m most concerned with how far off the wall in the corner and behind the machine?
12x16 could get tight per @MarkLindsayCNC
If I were you I would plan on building a small enclosure for just the dust collector. I have been thinking about how to reduce noise/heat from mine-- I may move it outside the shop into an adjacent shed, vent it outside, or build some sort of baffle system to just reduce noise.
Avid has docs online about how much floor space each machine takes up. What I did was tape off where I wanted to put the CNC’s floor space and consider how I’d be using the machine. I ended up putting mine in a corner:
https://www.delorie.com/photos/cnc2/PXL_20230123_050624090.html
I built my machine mirror-image so the cables are against that wall, which gets them out of the way but makes maintenance a bit of a pain, but it leaves the other side wide open to the shop and that’s where I do most of my loading. The front end (near you in that photo) has the rotary and computer, but also the spot where I can store sheet goods under the table. There’s a pole right at the front-right corner of the table, but conveniently it doesn’t interfere with anything.
So my advice from all this is to leave enough space for a whole sheet of whatever fits in your machine, along at least one edge of the machine, for loading and unloading.
Greg.obj
That’s pretty much what I did. I built a second lean-to shed about 6 inches away from the west side of my shop shed, and that’s where my dust collector and compressor live. Running the duct work was pretty simple, and it’s worked out beautifully. The dust collector isn’t so loud as to bother the neighbors, and I don’t leave my compressor turned on (I turn it on and off as I need to use it,) so everyone stays happy.
Do you have a separate dust collector just for the CNC? Couldn’t I just use my main dust collector for the CNC if it’s close by? My design has a 14ft lean to open to the main shop shown in the right section where the finishing room is and my dust collector would be in there in which I could enclose. This is a preliminary shop space draft with the CNC in light green. This pic is with the CNC not enclosed
by a wall or room which gives a ton of space around it. The other option is enclosing it in a room but with less room around it.
I have a 4x6 with a 49" recessed rotary along the front of the machine basically giving me a 4x4 machine plus a rotary. I put my machine in a corner of my shop. The back of the machine is pushed up against a wall and I have about 24" of clearance on the left side and the adjacent wall. I have about 3’ of clearance at the front and right side of the machine.
This works for me as i normally work on small projects and am not processing full sheets, or with my machine size, half sheets. If I need to load a 4x4 piece of material, i can manage that with the space I have.
It will work just fine with enough space to walk around 3 sides, but depending on your processes and what material size you are using you should think about the logistics of loading and unloading the machine.
There are no right or wrong answers here, just do what works for your use case.