One thing about implementing the use of CNC in shop production is that you have to improve the electrical system. Since our CNC uses a router, not a spindle, it runs on 120v, at least at present. But it needs a circuit all its own, which means that the controller and computer need to be plugged into a separate circuit and the dust collection to yet another one. To accommodate this, we ran two new 120v lines to supplement what we already had. In addition, we ran a new 20-amp 240v line, with plans for a second, to provide for expansion and improvement.
For convenience, we ran both circuits to a 2-gang outlet so that we could plug the router line and the computer/controller line into the same outlets. The dust collection can be plugged into our third circuit. Down the wall, we combined 120v and 240v outlets for future expansion and convenience. We have our eye on a larger bandsaw (that will be big enough to re-saw) and it requires 240v. Also, if we migrate from the shop vac setup to a real dust collector, we’ll need a second 240v circuit to run that.
To make things easier in the future, we also placed labels on all of our outlets to indicate the circuit numbers of each. That way, there is no confusions as to which circuit we are plugging into. We numbered all of the circuits in the sub-panel and then placed corresponding labels on each outlet. This will also make it easier to expand later on, as it will be straightforward to tap into existing circuits.
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