Blue Box Vac Attempt

[mccoy178]

Hello,

I am posting my efforts to add a vacuum box to my table. I was disappointed to see Ga*#'s response yesterday on his original thread. I've been a part of various forums through the years and his response was a typical one birthed out of frustration. Personally, I hope that a master post will be made with all of the best tips and pointers listed in the first reply. That would eliminate a lot of the frustration he expressed. Anyways, here is the first part of my adventure. I am also adding pneumatic controls to the shutoff valves for each zone, but that is for a http://www.talkshopbot.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=24327&stc=1http://www.talkshopbot.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=24328&stc=1 post.

[David Iannone]

Looking good. You need to have the foam gaskets in between the lighthouse motors bottom and the wood.

I struggled through getting mine setup, but it is working great with 2 motors. Stick with it. You will be glad you did.

I think we should start calling this open source project the Blue Box Vac.

2001 4x8 PRT with 4g board.

Dave

[mccoy178]

Great catch! I actually brought home bolts that were about 1/2" too short, so I left off the gaskets to get it mocked up. I also bored out the holes on the motors to 3/8" holes just to have some stronger bolts. I am aware to not over tighten them.

Also, I agree about renaming it the Blue Box. I will edit my first post, as I made it with my phone. I haven't tried on this forum yet, but if I can, I will make it a standard for this open source project and update it as ideas are brought forward.

Here is easily my most popular post I've ever made (to show my street cred in regards to documenting a project):
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,50889.0.html

[mccoy178]

Nevermind. It looks as though I cannot edit posts....

[David Iannone]

Hi Ben,
I checked out your post. Looks great man.

I got a question......Many years ago I traded a arcade company a sign for a Ms. Pacman arcade. (my wife loves ms pac. we used to play it all the time. and yeah she is the high score holder in the family....lol). They put it together with stuff they had on hand extra. It is in some kind of generic cabinet. It worked great for a long time. I also had them put in the chip that makes ms pac travel faster. We hate the slow version.

But now it sits in the back room of our home unplugged because the screen shakes when turned on. Still operates fine, but its unplayable.

I had a guy come out and look at it. He said it needed a new board for $75 and I told him to do it, but can't get him to return my call after that. This was at least a year ago.

I can take pics of the whole inside boards and all. Take video of what its doing. My plan is to get it working and do a Full Wrap on the cabinet. (I am a sign guy)

But, seeing your work has inspired me to maybe take it a step farther. Since I got a Bot I would love to make an original "style" cabinet. Maybe put a better screen in it. Then do the graphics on it.

I can handle the graphics part, the moving the guts over to the new cabinet. I want it to just stay as a ms pac. The Wife would love it. Got a 14th anniversary coming up in Oct. and can't think of nothing better than her arcade all looking and working like new.

Can ya help another botter out? I will post all progress on this forum if that would be ok?

P.S. I am not a good woodworker, but with the bot and the correct vectors I think I could pull it off.

Thanks,
Dave

[David Iannone]

Don't forget to put some kind of filter inline to keep anything from getting to the motors. (in theory it shouldn't happen anyway, but just in case) Also seal the vac chamber in the box. ( I forgot and had to open it back up to do so.)

Gutterguard, cheap air conditioner filter, PVC fitting, and some silicone is the way I did mine. I didnt glue the fitting that connects to the box so I can get in there and check it monthly.

Dave

[David Iannone]

a few more pics.....

I also added a thermometer with a lead and stuck it to the can of one motor to know if things get close to meltdown if something is wrong. Vac Gauge is a must too.

Dave

[David Iannone]

7 Zone table. I put ttrack to MDO Table base that is bolted to the steel stringers. I located my ttrack directly over the stringers. (although they do not attached to the metal, just into the 3/4 MDO)

Just got the new drag knife today for cutting my plastic material, magnetic material, all my packaging material. I just took off .05 off the bleeder earlier today.

Dave

[Kyle Stapleton]

Look up "MAME" cabinets that will get you going, a lot of good stuff.

[mccoy178]

Thanks for all the tips! I have made a filter and made some adjustments to the original file that I downloaded from here. Also, here is a little gift for you! Compliments of this website:
http://jakobud.com/plan.php?id=20

243572435824359

[mccoy178]

Here is a couple pics of the inline filter:
https://flic.kr/p/rf1xy4
https://flic.kr/p/rgKvWA

And the vacs:
https://flic.kr/p/ryjuA4

[David Iannone]

Kyle / Ben, Thank you for the links. Those vectors look good. I got my work cut out for myself now......:D

Ben,
Filter looks nice. On the exhaust I went to an auto supply store and took my vac motor with me and was able to get some short metal exhaust tips that fit over the lighthouse motors perfect, then I just put pipe clamps on there and gave it a little shot with my battery impact driver.


Dave

[kenkelsey]

Hello,

I am posting my efforts to add a vacuum box to my table. post.

Great looking cabinet. Best photo I have seen which clearly shows all of the parts that make up the cabinet. I made mine wrong the first time and had to do a quick and dirty repair to bring up the Vac Hg.

Only getting 7 Hg on the scale, but it works great. I am going to start all over on the open source box and do a better job now that I have learned from my mistakes.

Dave, I am considering buying the drag knife. How's it workin for you?

Dave, I did observe my Vac Cabinet getting up to 190 degrees F. Temp probe is right on one of the motors. More typically runs at about 180 degrees for longer running jobs.

[David Iannone]

Hey Ken,
I am getting 7 Hg also with a full sheet on table and all zones open. So far it has held the things I have cut on it.

The Drag knife it way worth the money, IMO. I am going to use it to make my own packaging out of cardboard or coroplast. Also, going to use it to cut polystyrene square blanks by the 4x8 sheet, and who knows what else, I just might setup a way to have the bot do A LOT more of the simple straight cuts I do in bulk with the ruler and xacto blade. I am not reinventing the wheel here I know. Guys and Gals have been using the Donek Tool with great success for a while. I am just glad I finally have stopped running my machine like a caveman and got it setup properly to EASILY layup a sheet and let her rip. I am going to be taking some videos and pics of what I'm doing with it today and tomorrow. I will start a new thread in the Sign Making section just in case some other sign guys are interested in how it can be as valuable as your best router bit.

The Temp thing I don't know. If I remember reading somewhere 130 degrees is around normal and 200 degrees is the max? So Far all the stuff I have run has been quick run stuff. 10 minutes or less. Mine haven't gotten more than around 118 degrees.

Dave