[Scratch]

The ventilation threads that keep popping up got me thinking, and as I'm still in the middle of setting up my walls and stuff in my shop, I was thinking it might help if you guys posted some pics and short explanation of how you have your CNC shop setup.

Like I said, I'm in the middle of my construction so I won't post up yet, but I still have time for changes to my shop and would like some good opinions. I'm sure others would too.

[Graybeard]

My shop is pretty primative-about the size of a one car garage,no insulation, heating or air conditioning. and the metal dust, smoke and fumes were terrible. My solution was to install a whole house fan at table height that sucks the dust and smoke to the outside. I also installed a water tray and put the support slats in the water. I try to keep the water level even with the steel being cut, or even slightly higher. My small powermax 600 will actually cut under water and that makes the operation very clean. I put washing soda in the water to keep things from getting rusty.

I built a small control room next to my machine. It is air conditioned and heated and has a big picture window to let me see how the machine is doing. That keeps me comfortable, protects my computer and electronics, cuts down on noise and even lets me do phone work while the machine is cutting. You can see pictures of my setup in the Graybeard photos on the CandCNC yahoo group.

Along one wall of my shop I have a long work bench, air compressor, powermax unit and a small mig welder. On the opposite wall I have a paint booth and am about to start building a powdercoat oven. I back my truck in the big door, slide my steel onto a 4x4 table, then manhandle it to my machine as needed. Am considering a small jib crane so I han handle thicker stee.

Hope that helps.