Router motors

[wcarrothers1]

Just curious... How many people are using monster routers in their gantry machines?

Guess more or less people are building smaller ones using trim routers.. But I just replaced my 2-1/4HP ish bosh router with a porter cable 7518 3-1/4HP router.. the Bosh was my nice router for hand work having a fixed and plunge base and all. Was hard to see it used in the gantry. Just seemed abusive for a tool I really liked.. Although looks wise the Bosh looked to be the correct size in the gantry..hehe

So I got a porter cable 7518 which is really tipping the scale on the to heavy side for hand use but in the gantry (other then it's weight) who cares? Seems I have the power in the gantry to move something this big so should be able to run some really fast cuts with it. (not that the bosh was ever over taxed....)

Anyway just finished mounting it up and it is a monster size wise..

Also has anyone came up with any good ways to divert router fan exhaust? seems the exhaust out the bottom of the routers is counter productive for dust collection since the wind it produces tends to blow everything out before the dust collection can actually work..

I'll hopefully have some new pics of it mounted for those who want to see. But really it's mounted the same as the bosh was with 2 - 1/2 inch aluminum plates clamping it in. but they have 4.2" circles cut in the plates rather then just 3.5 Also had to make up a new dust collection skirt for it.

I think the PC is a little louder a router then the bosh. So that is one down side I can see already.

b.

[wcarrothers1]

Also one other thing. The 4 guide pins used for height adjustment in the base of the 7518 can be pulled out of the side of the router so you don't need to cut divots in your clamp sides (like some of the ones on ebay have) to slide the router body in.

Just grab them with a vice grip and twist a bit to the right and they sort a unscrew. I doubt my router will ever see use in the base that came with it so loosing the pins vs having to spend time making room for them in the clamps was easy. Becides I'd hate to think of the oops that would happen if one of those pins vibrated itself loose (they look like they could)..

But anyway.

b.

[ger21]

Originally Posted by wcarrothers1 Also has anyone came up with any good ways to divert router fan exhaust? seems the exhaust out the bottom of the routers is counter productive for dust collection since the wind it produces tends to blow everything out before the dust collection can actually work..

Use longer brushes, to form a "seal" to the workpiece. On our 10HP routers at work, when we use short tools and the brushes reach the table, virtually all the dust and chips is collected. With longer tools where the brushes don't reach the part, dust can be thrown 3-4 ft sometimes.

Whenever I get my router finished, I plan to use compressed air to keep the chips clear while cutting, to hopefully improve cutter life. Haveing the brushes tight to the part will be important to keep the chips contained.

[wcarrothers1]

ya I guess longer brushes would not hurt. Most of my cutters are pretty short (unless I use the collet extention which I don't plan on using if I don't have to)

And the Porter cable has a very short snout (guess designed that way to prevent more stress on the bearing they say).

I'd say making a shroud to divert some of the air from the router fan would be nearly as good as compressed air at the cutter. Or at least not require a second machine running to do the job..

I just made my skirt for the Porter C setup brissels are not all that long. Maybe 5"...

b.

[epineh]

As far as dust removal goes, I have rigged an electric leaf blower to some 130mm flexible AC style tubing, at about 80mm away from the router cutter pretty much all of the dust is sucked in and away, I was quite surprised at how well it worked. It moves a lot of air. I don't know how long it will last with continuous duty cycle, I guess I could re-build another one with a better motor.

Russell.

[thkoutsidthebox]

I haven't even finished my first router yet, so take this with a rather large pinch of salt! But I do know a little bit about dust collection.

It seems to me that you would be better building a solid non-permeable skirt, of plastic or wood or something similar, from the router base which comes as far down as possible, on slides so it is free to be pushed upwards as the router moves down, but will drop under its own weight as the router comes up.

And then attached onto the bottom of this have the minimmum possible length of brush to make a good seal with the surface. Make sure the weight is enough to stay slid down under its own weight, but also little enough that it will rest on the brush and not simply press down on the table.

I haven't seen an example of this on the zone (yet), but it just seems like common sense.

My thinking is that your vacuum will have to move out of the 'dust zone', not only an equivalent volume of air that the router is moving in, but also enough extra to suck air in from the surrounding area through/under the brushes to bring all the dust with it creating a nice negative pressure type of seal inside the skirt.

If the brushes are very long then air is being sucked 'through' a large bristle area which will decrease suction pressure around the spindle in the dust zone, and if the pressure is low enough (Or even dare I say it....positive pressure SHOCK HORROR )...) then dust will escape. If the brushes are as short as possible, and short enough, then there will be enough suction that you should physically be able to hold a strip of paper near the base of the brushes with your vacuum and router running, and the suction pressure should cause it to wave and blow in the airflow in an attempt to be sucked in through the brushes to the dust zone.

Of course its very important to balance the airflow so that your vacuum motor is receiving enough air that it doesnt wear out.

Make a solid sliding skirt. Buy brushes and cut them shorter. Put brushes around the base of the skirt, and also covering any necessary slots to allow the skirt to slide up/down fitting around the router body. At least this is the idea/plan that Im going to go with on my solsylva and if it works, which I assume it will, then on my future larger machine too.

M2c.

PS: If it doesn't work then I'll delete this post and quietly slink away in shame! .....

[ger21]

Originally Posted by thkoutsidthebox If the brushes are very long then air is being sucked 'through' a large bristle area which will decrease suction pressure around the spindle in the dust zone, and if the pressure is low enough (Or even dare I say it....positive pressure SHOCK HORROR )...) then dust will escape.

Just my opinion, but if you want to have any chance of getting most of the dust and chips, you'll need a 1200cfm dust collector. Long brushes won't have any negative effect on that.

[Madclicker]

Originally Posted by ger21 Just my opinion, but if you want to have any chance of getting most of the dust and chips, you'll need a 1200cfm dust collector. Long brushes won't have any negative effect on that.

I agree. It's not the suction that removes the dust, but the volume of air. I had a problem with dust being left behind when I was trying to use a shop vac as a dust collector. When I finally piped my 2 hp (real) dust collector to the machine the problem disappeared. Even my smallest shop vac has more "suction" than my dust collector.

[wcarrothers1]

I have a pen state DC3 dust collector motor rated 850cfm on top of my cyclone dust collection separaor (the design wood mag made up years ago and you can see it in the background of one of the assembly pictures on HomeCNC.info I think). Been a very good combo for probably 7-8+ years for me in my shop. Could use to suck a little harder but hay (probably would help more if I cleaned it's filter more often.. but anyway)

Perhaps I'll be upgrading the motor or something soon. a 2hp collector sucks way harder then 1.5 does

So I'm a little under the 1200 rating Ger would want But I do have 4" pipes all the way to the router so I'm moving as much air as I can. Although my machine is on the opposit side of the room from the dust collector. Perhaps I'll move it at some point. Would probalby be more efficient to have it on the other side of my shop these days..

I'll try to get some pics of my skirt tonight if I can just for fun.

b.

[thkoutsidthebox]

Originally Posted by Madclicker I agree. It's not the suction that removes the dust, but the volume of air.

I agree, maybe some of my phrasing was slightly off. The cfm rating is the major important factor. But I still feel that a more/less 'sealed' area around the router spindle would have a significant effect.

However, if your in doubt I'd ignore my posts and defer to those with more practical experience.

[Oldmanandhistoy]

Originally Posted by thkoutsidthebox I agree, maybe some of my phrasing was slightly off. The cfm rating is the major important factor. But I still feel that a more/less 'sealed' area around the router spindle would have a significant effect. However, if your in doubt I'd ignore my posts and defer to those with more practical experience.

Put a hand full of dust in your hand then put the end of your dust collection pipe tight over dust. Switch on the dust collector then switch it back off remove the pipe from your hand and you will find all the dust still sitting there.

No air movement no dust collection.

John

[wcarrothers1]

heck witht he amount the router fan blows if you had a good enough seal the dust would go out the pipe..hehe

But anyway

I made a little better skirt for the porter cable setup so we will see how it works.

b.