DUST...I'm Bloody Sick Of It...Here's My Solution

[Cartierusm]

OK, so I've been using my CNC for about a year. I've tried the shoe that fits over the router with the bristles. That only works good, in my opinion, if you are routing out a lot of sheet goods. I route guitar parts so I have lots of different contours and cut depth up to 2 1/2". For now I've just let it go, but the saw dust is literaly at my ankles. I tried putting a wide mouth funnel dust collection port at the end of the CNC table and have a large house fan at the front of the CNC table blowing toward the funnel. It worked all right, but was in the way as I had foam board screwed to the sides of the CNC table inside of the gantry. Which makes for hard setup. It didn't work perfect so I scraped it. I tried it with different angles with the fan, I even make a cover and blocked off the exhaust ports on the bottom of my Bosch router, because the Bosch has a very powerful fan blowing out the bottom, probably to clear the chips away. I tried it with it blocked off, full open and redirected with a piece of platic. The full open seemed to work the best keeping the dust blowing down onto the table so the large fan could kick it into the dust collector. Nothing I've tried work good enough for me.

So here's my solution. I started thinking that I needed something to follow the work piece as well as the Z axis. SO I made this in the picture. It's finished except for the bristles on the bottom, which should be here this week. What you're looking at is a 4" dust collection ABS plastic glued and reinforced with Hot Glue and attached to the underside of the router. Then a piece of easy flexible 4" dust collection hose glued to the inside of a 4" ABS drain waste pipe. Now that part moved up and down with the Z axis but the bottom is held in place by Loc-Line flexible line, usually used for directing coolant on machinery. The Loc-Line is bolted to base of the Z axis, which doesn't move up and down, and bolted to a plexiglass base. The plexiglass base will have the 4" hose hot glued to it and on the underside of that will be a 1" horse hair fine bristle.

So for setup I will have my work piece on the CNC then move the base so the horse hair is onto the piece. The base will stay in place and since it doesn't move up and down with the gantry it will remain at a constant height to the work piece, hopefully catching 90% of the dust. The Z axis can move up and down freely as the flex hose acts as an according to allow movement. Now it is able to go up and down completely to the same height I had before, meaning I don't really have to have longer bits. The bristles are horse hair so they are fine and very easy to bend. I didn't want hard bristles like those on the end of shop vacs, but I'll keep experimenting until it's good.

I do have to unscrew it, 2 screws, from the underside of the Z axis, but that only takes 5 seconds. Yes that's a pain in the....but this is really a prototype if it works I might machine it out of aluminum and make it pretty as well as strong which means I will add a quick release to the unit, I've already got it designed, its a pretty basic engineering item but will allow the unit to come off with a quick twist.

I would love feedback as well as anyone who has suggestions in design or function so I can refine this if it needs it.

[automizer]

I like it, I have always hated the brushes you mention. I used to follow the machine around with a shop vac if I had time.
I'm wondering your using loc lines to support when they get bumped they move and stay. Do you have anything in place to use as a spring back?

[Cartierusm]

No, nothing else. I want it to give so if it does get snagged it will move instead of mess up the machine. It will be about 1/2" above the work piece and the bristles will be touching the wood so I don't think I'll have a problem. Plus the loc-line is there so I can set the height to the workpiece so it needs to be able to move.

[wcarrothers1]

Hate to say it.. But have you tried this yet?

Personally I see most of the problem with trying to collect dust is first people should divert the air comming from the router motor body. My brush dust skirts worked many times better once they were mounted in such a way that blocked that air from the collet/cutter. basicly was changing the base of my skirt from having an opening that alowed the body of the router to go through and changing so it hung down a little from the body of the router, had a hole large enough for the collet nut to pass through and gap big enough for the air to be diverted right and left after comming out.

I see your tube mounts to the router body (looks like) and that air is still streeming down. So perhaps you have a better seal on the work piece but still have all that air blowing which has to be diverted to being sucked out your hose with any dust.. Just makes for a non negitive (ie suction) level at the vacume hose..

My VFD spindle has the air cooling channels around the side of the unit and then the bearing support lower down (where I can clamp my skirt) then out of that goes the collet. So I understand that the lengths between the collet and router body are pretty short on a normal router motor (specially on porter cable routers)..

Diverting the colling air from the router motor is something to consider and will help probably more then anything else.

b./

[Cartierusm]

I know, I mentioned that in my first post, the problem is, like you said, how to divert it so the vacuum can do it's work. I don't really have a solution except block it off completely, which would probably burn the motor out since I run it for hours at a time. I'm sure I can come up with something but it will be tricky. As I said before I haven't tried it as I'm still waiting for my bristle strip to come, but thanks for the help.

P.S. What I'm hoping will happen is the bristle on the bottom which is very fine and close together will keep the dust in and router fan will push the dust every which way and into the collector.

[Nitroghost]

wcarrothers1, any pics of what you are talking about? It sounds like a good idea, but i can't picture it.

[wcarrothers1]

See my pics of the router skirt.. Under that plate with the hole now big enoguh for the collet nut to pop through was a large opening big enough for the PC to fit through . Added the plate left a maybe 1/4 or less " gap beteween the plate and bottom of the router and there you have it./. Isolateion between router blowing and suction.

Add a plate with a hole in it in your tube and put holes around the edge for the air to excape.

That wind is still there and the skirt will still not work as well as you want it.

b.

[SPEEDRE]

I think carrothers1 is dead on about the down draft from the motor. That really works good when routing by hand. I've been toying with making a pan type shield to divert the breeze upwards and away from the cutter, a sort of can that goes around the body for about 2". I only have some sketches and brain pictures, so I can't show what I mean. I think that when the breeze is stopped, all but the very very light particles, will be airborn. Maybe, Cartierism, you could add four shop made mini swivel casters, about 1/2" high and soften the attachments now using LineLoc. It should then follow the contours and pick up all that is left by the cutter on the parts and in the surrounding areas.

[automizer]

not to divert to far from topic here but I'm following this thread closely as I need to make something for my machine, but I have an Automatic tool changer on mine so with that in mind I was thinking were you have a solid plate why not a ring of brushes. This way it can easily compensate for varying tool lengths.

[Cartierusm]

From what I've found long brushes don't hold the dust in as well. I would need about 6" long brushes and when they crush into the work piece they move apart.

I think I have an idea of diverting the air from the router. I will drill a 1/4" - 1/2" hole in the plasitc ring and then block off the router and use as pipe to direct the air out.

What kind of CNC do you have that has an ATC? Do you have a pic?

[harryn]

My experience is mostly with hand routing (cnc version is still a project). I haven't found much of anything so far that really controls dust from getting everywhere.

My "intention" is to build the cnc router in a box that hopefully will not be too hard to load. Hopefully, this will help manage both dust, noise, and maybe safety.

Is there any chance of adding an enclosure ?

[Cartierusm]

I've tried that but the problem is it takes up too much room in the shop and you still have to clean up, it just keeps the dust from getting everywhere in the shop.