CNC Cabinet

I've decided to cheat. Historically my woodworking has been what Mark Spagnuolo refers to as Hybrid Woodworking. It involves power tools for much of the stock prep and major cuts and hand tools for the finer details. This has worked well for me in the past. Recently however I've found I have a few projects that require more precision. For instance I'd like to do engraving or cribbage boards with carvings. These of course can be done by hand but I don't have that kind of time. I decided a couple years ago that it was time for a CNC. I've got some big projects planned but in the meantime I'm doing smaller projects that allow me to practice the art of CAD design and figuring out the right order of operations to do a new suite of projects. I had decided I wanted to have a CNC a few years ago but unfortunately there was nothing on the market that met my criteria of moderate cost, accurate, sturdy a good size for woodworking and easy to set up. There are expensive machines and then there were hobby machines that used belts which tended to stretch. When the Onefinity came on the market I knew it was what I was looking for.

My shop is a two car garage and I find I'm often dropping wood on things so I felt it was important for me to have a proper cabinet for the CNC. I thought about doing just the table but that wouldn't protect the sensitive equipment plus it wouldn't allow me to control the dust they way I wanted to. The cabinet I ended up building has a 48/48 table, is 36 inches high at the bed and has a further 36 inches above the table. I wired up plugs for the machine, the router and the lights so I can easily turn things on and off. It's worked out quite well and I've done some projects for Christmas including this beer paddle with engraving that I would not have been able to do. Many more projects planned.