Short answer: match the remover to the material. Wood and plastics want extraction at the cutter — a 2.5 in [63 mm] port pulling about 350 CFM [600 m³/h] — with an air blast only for the pockets the port cannot reach. Aluminium on a light router wants a pressurized-tank mist at 15 psi [1 bar] plus a small air blast ahead of the cut. Flood coolant loses on this machine, because a 47 kg gantry frame with an open bed has nowhere to hold the fluid. Both jobs share one rule: the electronics live in a sealed box of their own, rated for the dust and the mist.
The decision by material
Wood and plastic chips are light and travel on air, so you move air. Aluminium chips are heavy and hot, so you clear them with a jet and cool the cut with fluid. The table carries the whole decision.
| What you cut | Method at the cutter | Numbers that make it work | Weak point to cover |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wood, MDF, ply | Extraction at a spindle port | 350 CFM [600 m³/h] at a 2.5 in [63 mm] port; 4,000 ft/min [20 m/s] in the 4 in [100 mm] line | Sub-micron MDF dust passes paper filters; fit a cartridge |
| Thermoplastics | Same extraction, same flow | Port flow as above | Chips cling by static; run a ground wire in the hose |
| Aluminium, light cuts | Mister on the cut, air blast ahead of it | Pressurized-tank mister at 15 psi [1 bar] | Fluid film on the bed; wipe after the job |
| Aluminium, deep slots | Flood, once the machine is sealed for it | Soluble oil at about 6 % in water; pan and splash walls | An open 47 kg bed holds none of it |
Spend on airflow if your work is mostly wood and plastic. Spend on the mister if it is aluminium, and keep flood out of the plan until the machine is sealed for it.
Wood and plastics: extraction does the work
A 2.5 in [63 mm] port riding on the spindle is the practical size for an 800 W router. It is small enough to follow the tool and big enough to pass the chip load a desktop machine makes. Run a 4 in [100 mm] hose back to a small single-stage collector. Industrial-ventilation practice puts the minimum carrying velocity for wood chips near 4,000 ft/min [20 m/s], and that port flow in a 4 in line delivers just that. Keep the run short, because corrugated flex and a shoe that half-covers the port both eat the flow you paid for.
Enclosing the machine cuts the airflow you need. A sealed box funnels every chip past one opening, so a shop vac at 100-150 CFM [170-255 m³/h] holds the job down; an open bed needs the full port flow in a shoe at the spindle. Dust foot vs full enclosure on a desktop CNC works that trade, and CNC dust containment enclosure design covers building the box.
On wood, the air blast has one job: shifting chips out of a pocket or a v-groove between passes, in short bursts with the collector running. Blast alone pushes fine dust out of every gap and into the room. MDF is the case for real filtration — its dust runs sub-micron, straight through a paper shop-vac filter — so put a cartridge in the 1-2 micron class on the collector. Plastic chips cling by static, and a ground wire in the hose stops the lining building up.
Aluminium on a light router: mist and blast, flood waits
Cutting aluminium at 2,500 mm/min [98 ipm] on an 800 W spindle asks two things of you: clear the chip so the flutes keep shearing, and wet the cut so aluminium does not weld to the tool. An air nozzle aimed just ahead of the cut does the first job. A mister does the second, and a pressurized-tank unit at 15 psi [1 bar] does it with a compressor you can stand beside.
Flood fails on a desktop router for mechanical reasons. The bed is open, there is no trough, and the gantry rails and screws sit in the spray path — a 47 kg [104 lb] frame gives you nothing to bolt a pan to. Flood pays once you have added a pan under the bed, splash walls around it, way covers and a door seal that seats wet. That is a machine conversion, not an accessory. Until then, mist covers the cuts this class of router makes, and containing machine-tool coolant at enclosure gaps shows where the fluid still escapes and how to catch it.
The blast nozzle, not the mister, is what sizes your compressor: compressor sizing for a continuous air blast works the CFM and psi arithmetic. If you do convert to flood later, plan the chip path at the same time — moving CNC chips to an auger covers troughs and clearing for machines big enough to need one.
Two misters, two air bills
A siphon mister pulls fluid from an open bottle with shop air, and one common unit specifies 5-7 kgf/cm² [71-100 psi]. That puts a loud oilless compressor in the room with you. A pressurized-tank mister holds the fluid in a sealed tank and pushes it out with air at 15 psi [1 bar]; an airbrush-class compressor keeps up quietly because the volumes are small.
Whichever you buy, put a needle valve on each line, air and fluid, so you can tune the nozzle to drops on the cut instead of fog in the air. Add a solenoid to each line and you can run air-only between cuts and shut the fluid with the spindle. Then fit a quick-exhaust valve on the tank line. Without it, the line stays pressurized after the solenoid closes and the nozzle keeps dripping after the program stops; dumping the tank pressure ends it.
For the fluid itself, a water-soluble oil at about 6 % in water is the usual general-purpose mix for aluminium on a machine this size.
Sizing the extraction for a 565 x 360 mm router cutting wood
The case is the common desktop-router class. Inputs, each from the machine or the hose you will buy: bed 565 x 360 mm [22.3 x 14.2 in]; machine 47 kg [104 lb]; spindle 800 W, water-cooled, to 24,000 rpm; feed 2,500 mm/min [98 ipm]; port 2.5 in [63 mm] at the spindle; hose 4 in [100 mm] diameter, about 6 ft [1.8 m] long.
Two rules govern the answer. Hold about 350 CFM [600 m³/h] at the port for open-bed cutting. Keep the air in the hose at or above 4,000 ft/min [20 m/s] — the carrying velocity for wood chips in industrial-ventilation practice — so chips ride the stream instead of settling.
The arithmetic:
- Duct area, 4 in line: π/4 × (4 in)² = 12.6 in², which is 0.0873 ft².
- Velocity at that port flow: 350 ÷ 0.0873 = 4,010 ft/min [20.4 m/s]. That clears the 4,000 ft/min line, so chips stay airborne all the way to the collector.
- Shop-vac case, 150 CFM through a 2.5 in [63 mm] hose of 4.91 in² (0.0341 ft²): 150 ÷ 0.0341 = 4,400 ft/min [22.4 m/s]. Velocity is fine; the capture envelope at the cutter is small.
- The same 150 CFM in the 4 in line: 150 ÷ 0.0873 = 1,720 ft/min [8.7 m/s], under half the carrying velocity. The hose packs with chips.
The result: the rated port flow keeps an open bed clean with a spindle shoe, and it clears the carrying velocity with a little to spare. A shop vac at 150 CFM only works closed, with the port as the sole way into the box. Decision rule: above 300 CFM at the port, run the machine open with a shoe; below it, close the box and let the enclosure do the capturing.
Keeping the dust and fluid off the controls
The drive, the breakout board and anything with a fan belong in their own sealed box. A manufacturer-rated NEMA 4X / IP66 enclosure — not UL listed — keeps MDF dust out of the electronics and coolant mist off the terminals. A box marked with both the type and the IP code suits specs written either way. NEC 110.28 is the reason: in US installations, IP ratings are not a substitute for enclosure type ratings.
Mount the box off the spray plane — on an upright behind the gantry, or above bed height — and bring cables in through glands in the bottom face, one per cable, sized to the cable's outside diameter. Cutouts and glands for enclosures sets out the hole sizes. Grade-wise, 304 serves a dry wood shop, and 316L earns its keep once mist and daily wipe-downs arrive. Choosing a small CNC control enclosure works the sizing, and a control cabinet in a dusty machining cell shows why the door stays shut.
What to order
Two orders cover the job: the removal kit, and the enclosure that protects the electronics. For the box, count your DIN rail modules, add 20-30 % spare positions, then set every gland hole; how to size an electrical enclosure walks that arithmetic.
| Line item | What to specify | The number to hold |
|---|---|---|
| Extraction | 2.5 in [63 mm] port at the spindle, 4 in [100 mm] line, short run | 350 CFM [600 m³/h] at the port |
| Mister | Pressurized tank, needle valves on air and fluid, solenoids, quick-exhaust on the tank line | 15 psi [1 bar] |
| Coolant | Water-soluble oil with rust inhibitors | About 6 % in water |
| Control enclosure | 304 for dry wood, 316L with mist; manufacturer-rated NEMA 4X / IP66, not UL listed | DIN module count plus 20-30 % spare |
| Entries | One gland per cable, bottom face, hole sized to the gland thread | Per the gland's thread size |
The enclosure selector turns that row into a shortlist by environment and inside size, and the stainless size finder filters by grade and dimensions. A box built to your cutouts is delivered in 10 business days, counted from your approval of the drawing.
Catalog dimensions to compare
Compare these catalog dimensions with your component layout. Open each enclosure for its rating, material and usable space, then check those specifications against your application.
| Enclosure | Material | Outside H x W x D / display | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16 × 12 × 8 in | 304 stainless | 16 x 12 x 8 in | Rated NEMA 4X / IP66 by the manufacturer; not UL listed |
| 24 × 20 × 8 in | 304 stainless | 24 x 20 x 8 in | Rated NEMA 4X / IP66 by the manufacturer; not UL listed |
| 30 × 24 × 10 in | 304 stainless | 30 x 24 x 10 in | Rated NEMA 4X / IP66 by the manufacturer; not UL listed |
| 10 × 8 × 6 in | 304 stainless | 10 x 8 x 6 in | Rated NEMA 4X / IP66 by the manufacturer; not UL listed |
Questions
Do I need a dust collector and an air blast for wood, or will one do?
Extraction does the work: the 2.5 in [63 mm] spindle port flow you sized keeps an open bed clean on its own. Use the air blast in short bursts to clear a pocket or a v-groove between passes, with the collector still running. A blast without extraction throws fine dust out of every gap in the box.
Can flood coolant work on a small open-bed router?
Only after you build the containment: a pan under the bed, splash walls around it, covers on the rails and screws, and a door seal that seats wet. Until then a mist at 15 psi [1 bar] covers the cuts a router of this class makes; deep slots in aluminium are the one job worth converting for.
What size compressor does a mist system need?
A pressurized-tank mister runs at 15 psi [1 bar] and an airbrush-class compressor keeps up with it quietly. A siphon-type mister needs shop air at 5-7 kgf/cm² [71-100 psi], which means a loud oilless compressor in the room. Fit a quick-exhaust valve on the tank line so the nozzle stops dripping the moment the solenoid closes.
Will mist coolant rust the machine?
A water-based mix at about 6 % concentrate wets the bed, the vise and the ways. Use a fluid with rust inhibitors, wipe the table after each session and re-oil any bare steel. For light passes, air blast alone is enough; save the mist for deep slots and slow helical cuts.
Does the control enclosure need a NEMA 4X rating in a wood shop?
Yes. MDF dust runs sub-micron and settles inside any vented or louvered box. A manufacturer-rated NEMA 4X / IP66 stainless enclosure, not UL listed, keeps dust and coolant mist off the drive; carrying both markings suits specs written either way, since NEC 110.28 makes IP codes no substitute for enclosure types.
