Cut my dust problem for $1...may work for you too.

[scheek]

Doing my wood work, I, like so many others, have the dust problem. It gets everywhere. I've tried vacuums, made boxes, forced air, etc, with little progress. Then I found the problem and something for about a $1.00 that has come to the rescue and works.

My 3.5 hp Bosch router blows out from the bottom. It does that to cool, etc. This is something that does not need to get clogged or sealed off. If it does, it will burn the router up. I have a hose adapted next to my bit to pull grinds but there is so much power from the router that the router prevents any direct flow to my vacuum hose, thus grinds go everywhere.

So to correct the problem all I needed to do was reroute the air flow, thus prevent it from blowing my grinds everywhere.

This is really too simple but took 3 years to figure out. I took my face mask off and pulled it over my bit and strapped it to my router with the rubber bands. The collet keeps the space required from my blow-bys on the bottom of the router. Now air shoot up and not down.

Now there is no air blowing to my bit so my vacuum is now doing the job that it suppose to do. This has cut my dust 80% and maybe more.

If your router blows from the bottom...try this trick. It may help.

Stephen Cheek
Built my CNC in 2007

Somewhere on this site you can see my CNC and how I made it.

[rodjava]

Hi Stephen,
Any pictures?
Great idea.
Rod

[scheek]

R1 shows the router as is.
R2 shows the router with mask

[rodjava]

Very inventive.
I plan to give it a try myself.
Rod

[Phife]

so your just putting a dust mask over the router bottom? what keeps it from rubbing on the collet?

[rodjava]

It would not matter since the mask is a paper/cloth product.
Rod

[Phife]

Originally Posted by rodjava It would not matter since the mask is a paper/cloth product. Rod

So it doesnt matter that a paper/cloth product is rubbing against something that is spinning at 10000-23000RPM?

I can see this going horribly wrong, Either it heats up and can become a potential fire hazard. It wears down until it no longer sits on the collet and ends up covering the cooling exhaust ports, or even catches on the collet and wraps itself around a high speed spinning collet. All of these are very likely to happen and since most machines run for several hours unattended it could be really dangerous.

I would not recommend this to anyone, it may work for a while but WHEN it fails it could fail badly.


Build a proper dust shoe for $3 worth of MDF or Acrylic using your CNC machine and have a permanent solution that will have none of the ugliness and potential problems this has.

[rodjava]

I'm not the original poster, but only gave my thoughts.

You make a hole in the mask slightly larger than the collet.
The mask would not have to rub on the collet in order for it to works as the OP described.

You should try it yourself before condemning a great idea.
Just my two cents.


Rod

[Phife]

Originally Posted by rodjava I'm not the original poster, but only gave my thoughts. You make a hole in the mask slightly larger than the collet. The mask would not have to rub on the collet in order for it to works as the OP described. You should try it yourself before condemning a great idea. Just my two cents. Rod

LOL, condemning a great idea? really?

Did you try it Rod? if you make the hole larger than the collet then the mask is covering the exhaust ports.. bad idea.

I can see by the picture the OP posted that the mask it sitting on the collet and only the router bit sticks out, the collet is rubbing on the mask.

Anyways, Im not condemning anything, just pointing out to other people who may think its a great idea to try this of the potential hazards.

Really its fairly easy and not much more expensive to make a real dust shoe.

Stay safe! Happy CNCing!

[rodjava]

Phife,

The Hitachi router blows air downward which prevents the mask from
actually blocking the exhaust vents.

I have the same router and will try it later today.


To each their own....Still think it's a clever work around.

Safe cnc'n back to you.

Rod

[scheek]

To keep material away from the moving collet you might slide an over size washer (slightly larger than your bit) between mask and collet. ( I don't do this but it should work) This will keep any moving part away from any rotation.

For my short projects (hour), this app works for me. The beauty of this trick is that you can see your bit work. I like that and it's still easy to change my bits too, without working around a shoe and skirt. Function over looks works for me.

I certainly don't want to argue pro's and con's...the CNCzone forum is for users and their experiences so to learn from each other. Everyone has an opinion. i appreciate them all. I've learned a lot here... but more from my own experiences.

On another note...I never leave my CNC unattended.

Cheers

[rodjava]

I had to try it for myself.

Like I thought, the mask does not get sucked in the to exhaust vents since the air is forced downward.

If I didn't already have a functional dust collection hood, I would consider the mask as a affordable option.

Rod