Vacuum for Taig Mill


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Thread: Vacuum for Taig Mill

  1. #1
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    Default Vacuum for Taig Mill

    Greetings all,

    I have not been active on here in years. Had to get out of the hobby for some time. I may have lost the house and more importantly the workshop but she didn't get my equipment, Especially my Taig CNC mill! My equipment however has been in storage for a few years and I am determined to rectify that. I no longer have the luxury of a nice spacious and climate controlled workshop with loads of bench space, very isolated for noise purposes. I will again someday but for now I have a different plan.

    The plan is to make a couple of mobile and very efficient tool crib / work stations. I won't get into all the tiny details about it all quite yet but if people are interested I will definitely share down the road.

    STATION #1: All about the mill

    1) The mill will have a permanent space on top and just enough room for an enclosure. Nothing overkill but I have ideas
    2) Underneath there will be a sound deadening section to house a shop vac with a line running to the mill head. I have been researching this and an going with drop ceiling tiles which are fire rated and sound dampening rated and fairly cheap.
    3) The rest of the cabinet will be to house the computer, controllers and other computer equipment.

    STATION #2: All about the bandsaw and other tool

    1) The Band Saw will have a permanent space on top
    2) Other tools will be housed underneath and have a pull out work space extender. I have been going micro on all my tools. Taig lathe replacing my Compact 8, Proxxon drill press replacing my larger table top unit, ricon small belt sander replacing my huge tabletop monster.


    Most of it seems pretty straight forward to figure out. What I need advice on is the vacuum as this is the heart of the system for keeping the "shop area" clean. By shop I mean corner of a very small spare bedroom so you see why it is important from both a housekeeping standpoint and noise.

    1) I am planning to use my Rigid Shop Vac. It has a 1-7/8" hose but I did buy a 3/4 inch Makita hose made for small power tool dust collection with shop vacs.
    2) The sound deadening area will be completely enclosed with an exhaust area run through a baffle system. Something like this:

    Here are my concerns.

    1) General effectiveness of this. Most people seem to be collecting sawdust with this type of setup. This will be metal chips which are heavier. Which also means they don't float around as much as sawdust which could be a good thing or a bad thing. Not sure.

    2) Safety - fire or over heating? It will be fully encased in the fire rated ceiling tiles with space left for air flow around the vac.

    3) Life of the vacuum. It will be enclosed except for the exhaust baffle and will at times run for an extended time of hours. I don't care if it burns out in lets say years or even once a year. They are cheap enough to replace IMHO versus the mess it may contain and time spent not cleaning up. This stuff gets everywhere as you all know.I just don't want it burning out after one long session for example or having to replace this weekly or monthly. No a true dust collector is not an option right now. So is over heating or burnout an issue? I know it is but to what degree?

    4) Hose. I know shop vacs aren't high CFM like a DC and rely on high static pressure to pull particles. Will chocking the hose down to the 3/4" be good or bad? I can always stay with the 1-7/8" it cam with. I was thinking the 3/4" for weight lower profile flexibility, etc.as it will be mounted to the head and need to move along with it and hopefully not put any more stress on the head than needed.

    I am not sure if my time is more well spent on a better enclosure. I had one before (too big bulky and not 100% effective) and I just always hated cleaning up the mess in there . I found it stopped "most" of the chips from escaping but not all. I was hoping the vac would capture most if not all of the chips before they ever had a chance to get anywhere. The new enclosure I am going to try for more a more effective solution.

    Anyone had any experience with this?

    Thank you

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    Last edited by under-dog; 01-25-2019 at 11:30 AM.


  2. #2
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    Default Re: Vacuum for Taig Mill

    I'm not sure your ShopVac is really going to be powerful enough to pick up oily metal chips, especially if they're compacted (as they often are). I'm not seeing it snatching them out of the air, either - metal chips mostly tend to cluster around the cutter with only a minority going airborne. (Wood dust is different, and with a dust boot it can be effective if that's what you're cutting.) Vacuum isn't improved by necking down the hose; you want as large diameter a hose as can fit. And I think your concern about it overheating is valid; they aren't made to be shut up in an enclosure.

    I think your efforts would be better spent in creating a better enclosure for your mill, that can accommodate flood cooling. That's the best way to push chips out of the cut and into the sump; dust collectors just won't do it. There are "chip conveyor" systems used with full-sized mills, but I've never seen one fitted to a Taig - not that the idea couldn't be miniaturized and adapted to one.

    [FONT=Verdana]Andrew Werby[/FONT]
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    Default Re: Vacuum for Taig Mill

    Hey Under... Glad you are clawing back!!!
    Your shop vac will work fine for things like delrin , etc. You can gather about 60 to 80% of the metal chips, depending on if you use coolant. Not too good but better than nothing. Look at the loc-line products and play with some different sizes of nozzels at the collection point. Depending on the suction of your shop vac, you might do better than when I experimented with this. The best to you.



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    Default Re: Vacuum for Taig Mill

    Ican - thank you

    awerby - I totally agree, since posting this, my efforts have been redirected at a new more air/chip tight enclosure. Not the cheapest or most simple solution but in the end will likely be the most effective and sustainable.

    So I am now building an 80 20 enclosure and still somewhat undecided about the base for it. I am torn between more 80 20 which I already have, some desks they may be getting rid of at work and this stainless steel machine base I got at the scrap yard. Its insanely cool!Vacuum for Taig Mill-0-jpgVacuum for Taig Mill-20190126_121907-jpgVacuum for Taig Mill-20190126_121914-jpgVacuum for Taig Mill-20190126_121856-jpg

    I want it to be compact and space efficient. Not sure if the stainless stand or a desk fits the bill. The 80 20 route lets me build "exactly" the size I want. The stainless pedestal is a bit tall but otherwise perfect. Its awesome. I would gut the old keyboard and "controller" and put in a new keyboard and a track ball mouse or something like that

    It is Just cool looking.....and it is built so precise and quality. They don't make stuff like this anymore. It is insanely sturdy and strong and stable for all 16 gage (1/16" thick) stainless sheet. I was at the scrap yard scavenging 80 20 and it cought my eye. I looked it over and went back to 8020 scavenging. After buying all they had and loading the car.......I was like " I can't leave without this thing!"

    Its major downside is it sacrifices any under storage space for things such as the controller and computer. And it is a bit tall. The pedestal is 42 " tall and I need to add leveling feet. Add the enclosure at 32" and its getting tall. In the apartment I am in right now it may just squeak in with the ceiling or very close.

    Give me a vote here. Is this thing just too cool to not use?

    Last edited by under-dog; 02-26-2019 at 04:59 PM.


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    Default Re: Vacuum for Taig Mill

    I cut a lot of softer materials. Wax, wood, brass, pewter, delrin and aluminum and plastics. Ferrous would be a more rarity for me



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