Eric,

That's one EXPENSIVE solution (Blackbox Hurricane). I was really intrigued when you mentioned it in your post, but lost interest when I saw the pricetag.

I built my black box using white melamine from Gary Campbells original design. I've gone thru three of motors in 9 years. I use the Lighthouse 220VAC motors. I have a filter on my intake side and use a simple table top fan to blow air at the filter. I've got vacuum bleeder valves I can open and close depending on how much additional airflow I need into the motors to keep them cool. When I get time, I'm going to move the black box to a different room to cut down the noise. The motors are LOUD, especially when I turn on all 4. I'm at an altitude of 2500' so pulling the levels of vacuum that other people get, at lower altitudes, is not possible for me. But it works really well.

When cutting smaller items, I use a 1" thick piece of MDO that I've cut slots slots into and mounted T-tracks. I use homemade clamps to hold the workpiece down. The MDO is held flat and secure by the vacuum hold down. When cutting plywood (95% of what I do) for cabinets, I use a 1/8" thick piece of MDF and put the plywood on top of that. This way I never cut into my spoilboard. I only surface my spoilboard at the beginning of each cabinet project to make sure the table is perfectly flat. Same thing for long 3D carvings using the MDO to hold the material. I replace my spoilboard about once every 2 years.

Would love a quieter, all metal black box, but at the price point I think I'll stick with my home made one. Thank you Gary Campbell for the design!!