Anyone using the SB Desktop in a home office?

[sybersport]

I'm looking to start a small side business making wood baby toys, as part of the product lines my wife is selling through her baby product business.

I have been looking at the Shopbot Desktop and the Roland MDX-40A as potential CNC mills that will suit my purpose. I'm heavily leaning towards the Shopbot for many reasons, but primarily because it would be up to the task of actual production runs for my toys. Not to mention the awesome tutorials I've found online and the great support that owners provide in the forums!

So - are any of you using your desktop in a home-based setting? I have an enclosed office that is ~10x10 feet, and I had it soundproofed (I have a 19-month old daughter and need to occasionally take work calls from home.) I can easily fit the desktop in there, but am wondering how viable it would be in a home based setting.

Thoughts?

[kartracer63]

You think you have it sound proofed. Even with a spindle (vs a router), you will make a lot of noise when cutting. Then there is the dust... LOTS OF DUST.

There is no way I would EVER consider a CNC Router in my home. Depending on what you're making, and how much you're making, it's highly unlikely I'd even consider a CNC Router (for production work) in an attached garage.

Your best bet will be in a building disconnected from your residence. Maybe a nice shed?

[scottp55]

Darren, We have 2. Mine is in a heated workshop attached to house with only a steel firedoor in between. Had a phone conversation with my mother today while I was running buttons with the Fein vac going and had to go into kitchen(20 feet) to hear her. Fein is twice as loud as spindle except for 2 1/4" downspirals that are LOUD. With door shut, my guest can watch movies in living room 25" away. Kirk shares his shop with his Dad who is a woodcarver in a 10X12' shop with only pine French doors between them and it is very rarely an issue after 9 months. My shop is 12X20' but I also have drillpress/scroll saw/stationary belt sander/closet/2benches/and 3 work stations in there.
Definitely recommend a Fein turbo II with a Dust Deputy with the HEPA filter in an enclosed space, also the mini-enclosure from Shopbot(Kirk has one) greatly contains chips when surfacing/dadoing/long tools where the dustfoot with 2" brushes isn't contacting the whole work surface. No dust noticeable in my cold coffee at end of day and no noticeable sawdust tracked into my house (dark red concrete floor) from my wheelchair wheels.
Run a good quality vacuum cleaner (Mielle or equivalent) and that's about the sound level for the majority of our cutting.

[tri4sale]

If you have a smart phone, download one of the decibel meter programs and start seeing what noise levels are like around your house. I run a 48x96 ShopBot with router, a Jet Dust Collector and a Jet air filtration system when I run mine out in an attached garage. When in my garage it runs about 90 to 95 Decibels (in the red zone, headphones are required when running) I can go into my kitchen and close the door (solid wood door) and have a conversation no problem. Noise at that point is equal to TV running.

Run the decibel meter in your office, turn something up till it gets to about 95 decibels, then close the door and see how loud the noise is outside the room.

Noise issues probably easier to deal with then dust. You'd have to build a pretty nice enclosure and dust collection system to run it inside a house. Something I've considered myself as I eye an empty corner of my office....

[ken_rychlik]

VERY BAD IDEA. Some type of garage, shed, outbuilding, ect... will save you a lot of grief.

[Burkhardt]

A spindle and small bit (1/8" if that does the job for you) gets the noise to acceptable levels. I run my machine like that with the garage door open and have not had complaints. 1/4" or bigger bits are a different story. Some enclosure would help but is not great for easy access to the machine from all sides.

The dust control also depends on the type of part you cut. simple cutout from sheets is easy with a good dust boot but cutting 3-dimensional parts or even with an indexer lets some chips escape. My DC collects pretty much all the fine dust and maybe 95% of the coarse chips and scraps but even that gets all over the place. But when you have to sand the cut parts the real trouble starts.

[scottp55]

Totally agree sanding is the big culprit, even with a smartvac venting directly outside and using abranet with modified platen. Wouldn't even consider without a HEPA vac and a DustDeputy so you don't go broke buying filters(with Dust Deputy 9month old original filter is still pristine except a 6" spot directly facing inlet). Usually blow whole shop with 90 psi with Fein running full blast and leave the shop for 10 minutes and then come back and shut down. Seems to help with Fines, direct afternoon sun when I quit early and zero dust motes visible in the shaft of light. 117cfm is how many air changes an hour on a 10X10' room. Zero carpet and fabric a must.
Time for me to shut up I think