Dust Skirt

[larry_r]

I recently had to take my dust skirt off to mill out an area to allow the new dust deflector to fit. So I thought some of you might be interested in seeing some pics of the design while I had it off.

The reason for the design was to allow me to see the tool bit so that I could properly line it up with a place on the table when needed. The only thing unique is the removable front portion of the skirt. I use a small battery powered screwdriver to remove and replace the two bolts. It has worked great.

Larry

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[gerald_d]

Hi Larry - our detachable front is rather similar. Here (http://www.mechmate.com/Forum/show.cgi?tpc=329&post=331#POST331) you can see the closed foot and here (http://www.mechmate.com/Forum/messages/32/690.html?1146912727) it is open.

[billp]

I'm wondering if a set of the small, but powerful, "rare earth magnets" wouldn't even be faster/simpler. Some of them are advertised as having holding strengths of up to 800 lbs. !
Has anyone tried this approach yet?

[stickman]

I'm waiting for steve to produce a combination dust collector, fan deflector for the PC setup.

[joe]

Gerald,

You amaze me.

Aside from the dust skirt, which is very impressive, the gouge textures is as good as I've seen. It looks to be a vector file and should carve strait away.

Keep up the good work.

J

[robert_cheal]

I have been thinking about a new dust skirt and I would like it to be more versital. I have some rare earth magnets left over from a project and they would certainly work for a removeable section on the skirt. I like that idea alot I always dread moving & adjusting for bit changes and zeroing the cutter.
I dread cutting MDF and that poses this question.
Does it make sense to split the dust hose so that there is a collection port on each side of the router? My reasoning is that depending the direction of the cut the dust plume from the router bit either gets sucked right up the dust port or it has to pass through the fan of the router before it reaches the dust port. I wondering if it's worth pursuing a dual port or if anyone has tried something like this. It would have to be compact, incorporate a fan deflector, & perhaps rotate & lock at 90 degrees to provide access for a removable side panel using the rare earth magnets. We all certainly have the right tool to create the various mechanisms. Anyway I guess thats my $.02 for now.

Thanks, Robert Cheal

[pfulghum]

where can I get the "brush tape" that people are using at the bottom of the feet?

Tried Ace Hardware, The Home Depot, Lowes...no luck

[waynelocke]

McMaster-Carr, http://www.mcmaster.com/, has a selection of strip brushes.Look on catalog page 1133.

[pfulghum]

Thanks Wayne found them, actually page 1132 looks better..

What would be your recommended product? Height/Width/Material?

Part #7372T4 ??
Or piece together with 74405T15?

-- Pat

-- pat

[robert_cheal]

I am posting a few pics of a proto-type dust skirt, some time ago Bill posed the question of using "rare earth magnets" so here is my first version.


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- Material: 16mm Baltic Birch, the side parts are cut the same flip one over for a "scissor effect".

- 2 ea. 3"to4" dust hose fittings, cut the 4" part off leaving a flange for the 3" part, glue together, screw to the center "stack" support.

- 1/2" bolt to join the parts together with a common axis.


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- Rare earth magnets glued into the holes on drilled on insides of the "nose".

- Garage door weather stripping (from Home Depot) stapled on the under side. I can't find the actual "brush" door sweeps locally so I am still looking for the best option. The weather stripping does work pretty well.

Note the collet burns when a small piece broke loose and tried to suck up the shaft the sides could not break lose because a temporary screw held them together prior to installing the magnets.


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With the magnets in the ends the unit closes up with nice "snap" and the sides stay in place aroung the bottom of the stack with the 3" flange part extending down.

The cut down cereal bowl bottom actually works quite well as a fan deflector. I don't know why that it took me so long to do this.


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A high-tech router turn off switch that pivots out of the way. I program an extended "z" to activate. I use it when doing certain production runs.

All in all it the dust foot works quite well and bit changes are hassle free. I still plan on playing with ideas for the next version. I have appreciated the inspiration I get from the ideas posted on this topic.

Robert Cheal

[gerald_d]

Good stuff Robert!

[bill_l]

Robert,

Great design. You'll find your strip brushes at McMaster-Carr, www.mcmaster.com (http://www.mcmaster.com). Brushes come in 1" to 6" heights, 3' and 6' lengths and either nylon/horsehair/stainless steel or brass bristle. They also carry different strip brush holders to attach them to various surfaces.

[davidp]

Robert,

Great design!

How is your dust foot secured to the bot. It looks as though you use a hose clamp around the hose and seure it to the gantry.

Regards,

David.

[robert_cheal]

Thanks everyone for the comments & further ideas.

I think that I stretched this thread with the placement of my first three pics, is there any way to fix this?

Now back to the topic.

I really like the idea of the brush strip holders at McMaster-Carr. I am going check them out next. That would be great to have a simple change for the sweep.

I am using the original dust foot mount that came with my PRT. I would really like to come up with a quick release clamp to raise and lower the dust shoe. The hose clamp method is tedious. Perhaps a some type of bracket could be mounted to the gantry that uses a simple cam lever to release and tighten the shaft.

I am always look forward to the exhange of more ideas on this topic and others.

Thanks, Robert

[Brady Watson]

Robert,
Love it!

Hey, just as a thought...you might be able to replace the Y-car utility strut with AL extrusion of about the same size. 8020 has a surplus store on Ebay. This would add a little bit of stiffness to the Y-car, and give you a perfect spot to mount the foot via the t-track on all sides.

-B

[robert_cheal]

Brady,

Thanks for the tip, I looked briefly at the 8020 surplus store on Ebay. I am looking forward to spending some time on these addtional ideas that are being offered. If a highly functional and reasonable to fabricate dust skirt assembly could developed it might be worth posting the part# and cutting files, etc..

Thanks, Robert

[robert_cheal]

I took Brady's tip and ordered a piece of 8020 T Slot Aluminum Extrusion 45 S 45-4545 x 52.625 for $30.49 with shipping. Would also it be worth while to find a suitable size and change out the X-car struts? I am wondering when considering certain types of future performance upgrades, what type of table and carriage uprgrades would be best.

[gerald_d]

Robert, it is a popular myth that alu extrusion is naturally stiffer than utility strut. Alu is 3 times more flexible than steel (see the E-modulus or Young's-modulus). For the alu to be stiffer, it has to be a lot bulkier than the utility strut.

[robert_cheal]

Gerald,
Thanks for the note of caution I will look into it when my order arrives. Then I can compare the strut and the 8020 Aluminum Extrusion which would be cut down to around 23", perhaps I could wrap it with steel L-channel and still be able to take advantage of the T-slot features. AT any rate the good part about the 8020 is that I have an idea or two to use it for a shop project.

Thanks, Robert

[gerald_d]

Robert, this archived thread (http://www.talkshopbot.com/forum/messages/28/9164.html) may give you some ideas.

[Brady Watson]

AL will be just fine for the Y-car. The X-car has a much greater span and deflection becomes an issue.

-B

[robert_cheal]

Thanks guys. Looking forward to more tinkering and researching.

Robert

[kivimagi]

Robert,

Would you be interested in sharing your .dxf, or part wizard file for this dust shoe?

I'd like to give it a shot.

Regards,

[robert_cheal]

I can post what I have so far for any one to use or improve on. It will probably be later tonight or tomorrow before I get a few minutes.

Robert

[dingenis]

robert,
thanks for all the work you share,
here are some pics of my set up.

dustfoot holding,
2 alu tubes (20mm diam.)perspex plates that enclose slide bearings.
All mounted on the side of the z-motor.
the dustfoot is thightend to the alu tubes with 6mm bolts.
This setup moves freely vertical, it can be attached to the Z-axis and move with it.
it is kept at working hight by the two rings with bolts at the top of the tubes.(actually only one is needed).




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here is a picture of a dustfoot. (hmpe)
damaged but still usable using some tape.
(



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right now i am working on a dustfoot that is comparable with yours .it is not a claw of dust, more a crab, using two pivot points.
Reason for this is to get dustcollection close to the bit specially when using smal bits


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one of the reasons to place the attachment for the dustfoot on te backside of the z-slide is that i am using different routers .

dingenis

[robert_cheal]

Ryan,
I am attaching a Acad 2000 DXF file for you and anyone who would like to use it or add improvements etc. let me now if it down loads properly. I am still entertaining different ideas for the brush sweep attachments and some kind a quick release for height adjustment.
(note the very idea stimulating solution offered by "dingenis"
Auto Cad 2000 DXF

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[robert_cheal]

dingenis,
I really enjoyed seeing your dust foot set up. It certainly offers plenty to consider for creating some more highly functional features. The beauty is being able to taylor our own dust foot setups to what our specific need is. I had been thinking about having a variety of dust shoes for different needs. Tomorrow when get back to the shop I will be looking at some things with some new light after seeing your work. Hopefully I will be rested and hopefully I won't dream all night about "claws" & "crabs".

Thanks for now, Robert

[robert_cheal]

I don't think that my DXF file is able to download. Any one able to tell me how to do this.
Or I could email the file directly to any who would want to see it.

Thanks in advance, Robert

[gwilson]

In Internet Explorer, right click and select "Save Target As...", when the dialog box opens to ask where to save, change the suffix".unk" to ".dxf" click save and it works fine.

[kivimagi]

Thanks!

[dvanr]

Thanks for all the ideas, here is my end result

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There are 8 rare earth magnets (10mm) in the perimeter of the plastic shoe.
Plenty of attraction to hold the bottom on which just has button screws on the perimeter.
Bottom is easily removed for bit changes.

[evan]

Looks Great! And I like what looks like an adjustable Z mounting bracket. does it allow you to adjust the Z to both the X and the Y?

[dvanr]

Hi Evan,

Yes, four bolts holding the al extrusion have been replaced with studs with 3 nuts each.
Whats really nice is that it is much easier for one person to install the Z on their own.
I used a felt pen mounted on the bot to lay out the metal and cut the pieces by hand.


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[evan]

It looks great, thanks for sharing. Of course now I have another question: What's the rod running parallel to the aluminum extrusion? Is it attached to the V wheels? Thanks again.

[dvanr]

The Rod is 3/8ths thread rod out of the local hardware. When I first set up the Y car I spent a lot of time trying
to get the car to sit down tight on the rail using all the V rollers (bottom and sides).
Installing the rod made adjusting the v rollers easier, especially the lower ones as it seemed to stiffen the sides.
(I tensioned the sides in about 1mm)

Hey it works now, thats the main thing.

[evan]

Nicely done!
Thanks again.

[stevem]

It can be done.


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[sawkerf]

Alright show-off, how long before I can order mine? How much and where do I send my check? I like that! Kip

[stevem]

Kip, I only made two. One with a pressure foot and one without. There is no barrier at the base of the shoe to prevent chips from blowing out from the sides, so there is some blow out. I would have to redesign a more rectangular shape to use bristle brushes. In addition, since the various generations of Bot do not have the same Z axis, a generic mounting system would be required (a problem to design).