Newbie- comments and I have a couple of questions

[setguy]

Alright I have search this site from top to bottom and I will say that this site is incredibly useful. Our company recently got a new Shop Sabre 4896 router table with the 4hp HSD spindle and the 25hp vacuum table. before anyone slams this choice we looked at virtually every CNC router table on the market before making this choice. So far REALLY impressed with the tables construction. We talked to several shops in the area on what they had the pros/cons on their machines and found out a friend of ours has the larger/older model Shop Sabre so we had extensive conversations with him about the ins and outs of the table, and then decided.

We are still waiting for the electrician to come wire it up, but so far we are impressed with the table itself.

because I know I will be asked, we will be cutting 1/4" to 3/4" birch plywood, MDF ultra-lite, gatorboard, Sintra, and possibly some thin aluminum but we are still debating the aluminum.

Ok now with the questions.

1. Our HSD came with ER25 collets... anyone know if I can get a 3/4" collet for this? all I seem to be able to find is up to 5/8". And that's fine if it doesn't go that big... we just really wanted the new Amana surfacing bit.

2. I have read all (and I mean all) of the dust collection threads on this website as well as others. We already have a killer cyclone dust collection system installed. We have the 2.5HP TEMPEST "S" Series Cyclone Dust Collector with 14" Aluminum Impeller from penn state industries. We ordered one with the knowledge that we would be getting a CNC router. The problem is that our cyclone is already ported to our table saw, our chop saw and 3 floor sweeps, before anyone asks its all grounded and there are blast gates on every port. We still need to port it to the CNC but that will be pretty simple. We're doing an over swing arm to 2" flex into a dust boot that I designed (stole for several other designs I found/saw). Not for the question/comment, we were thinking of adding a compressed air port to the dust foot to us the ability to shoot a steady steam in the bit area when someone opens one of the other blast gates. I don't think we need to do that but we also don't want to loose any cfms on the vacuum. Any thoughts?

3. On those same lines, we thought about instead of a blast from the air compressor, using an air blower so it was a steady stream blowing the dust into the dust collection port. Again any thoughts?

Thanks for all the help

R

[ger21]

1) Yes. http://store.pdscolombo.com/-c-271_275_285.html
2) Imo, a 2" hose is much too small. Blowing air isn't going to increase your suction, but it'll help to clear dust and chips out of the cut.
3) won't do anything. You need some serious suction to get all the dust that the router will create. Probably a larger system than you have, even if it was dedicated to the router.

[cabnet636]

i have a dedicated 3hp dc for my camaster cnc, on the left is the 2" hose foot that barely worked at times and the new 4" that i am sure will solve the problem, i have friends who swear by their shopsabre's so therfore so do I,
i just love my camaster though!! dust collection is all about cfm's

jim

[setguy]

Ger1, thanks for the website for the collets.

We re-thought the dust foot for the router, we're upping it to the 4", figure better safe then sorry. I also talked to the cyclone manufacture that we bought the collector from and he forwarded some information:

The TEMP1425S has the capacity of:
• Up to 12.5 drops
• Up to 50ft run
• Shop size to 2500sq ft
• 1450 CFM
• 2.5HP Motor
• 12” Max Static Pressure
He sent a pic of the fan curve as well

Our dust collector is less then 20 feet from the Shop Sabre and is the 3 drop in the line. (floor sweep is 1, table saw is 2) and everything has a blast gate.

I sorry if this seems like I am being defensive, it's just when we geared up this shop we knew we were going to purchase a cnc router and we tried to anticipate everything beforehand, and buy accordingly. It's just frustrating.

We ran into the same problem with our power but we got that solved, who the hell only puts an 80amp main in a light industrial space? Good thing we have a 460 panel as well as a 208 panel. We had to order a different motor control for the vacuum pump at the last minute and add a buck transformer for the controller (220v @ 20amp -we got the servos)

Well, we'll see what happens, if the dust collector doesn't pull enough on the router side, we'll either get a dedicated dust collector or put in a booster, I have one sitting here anyway.

But on the up note, the machine is put together, the cabling is ran, the computer networked and ready. We're just waiting for the power, and that comes Wednesday am, the electrician already came by to look at everything so he can bring it all with him. Now we just have to figure out how to use virtual mill and how to get stuff to the table. We can't wait.

I think we might still try the compressed air/blower idea, just to see if/how it works, I have read on several other forums people use this method when they cut aluminum to help keep the bit cool without flooding the table. one site even had a link to the vortex air cooler, seems like a decent investment "IF" we try aluminum.

"IF" is magic word here, it basically mean "I wanna try this..." with the answer being "well I don't know..." which is followed by "hey isn't it time for you to go home? so I can do this without you being here, so if I screw it up I have time to hide the evidence, but if I succeed I get to rub your nose in it for the next month?"

Again "IF" is a magic word...

Thanks again guys.

[ger21]

Originally Posted by setguy one site even had a link to the vortex air cooler, seems like a decent investment "IF" we try aluminum.

I read an article in a woodworking trade magazine a few months ago about using Vortex air coolers when cutting wood. The article said the Vortex cooler gave 30-60% better tool life, and that standard compressed air didn't really help tool life much at all. If I recall correctly, it said that the temperature at the cutting edge when cutting wood can reach several thousand degrees.

[todd71]

The cutting of aluminum isn't that big of a deal. It's just kind of messy.
The chips shoot everywhere. I cut these with an 1/4 O-flute and a chamfer tool. Just a lite mist is pretty much all that's needed.

[setguy]

I thought I would post an update on our dust control situation. We upped to the 4" as suggested, it turned out to be the smart choice. we are still looking into the air tube idea, even with an upcut bit the chips tend to settle back into the cuts. right now our dust foot is open in the back, that's only because I shorted myself on the brush when we upped to the 4" tubing. but it still does a good job clearing the majority of the chips.

I wanted to extend my thanks to everyone's input on this.

By the way the 3/4" er25 collets are back ordered until mid November 2008, if anyone else asks. but for $37.00 I'll wait for them.

Thanks again