another "initial ideas from a noob" post.. im extremely space limited.. i have one small "room" im hoping to use. i want to squeeze in a 1015 machine, but that will leave me half a metre at one end of the machine, and about 40cm to squeeze down the side. above is not much better. loading stock will be fun. at least one end of the room is partially open so it should be doable. i may end up going with a 1010 if it starts to look impossible fitting everything in. one of my many, many unresolved issues is the vaccum shoe/hose. i see most setups use huge 4-6 inch vaccum hoses, suspended from above the machine with lots of slack to allow movement. im not sure why such huge hoses are preferable. i am hoping to get away with a standard vaccum cleaner style hose, and route it along the side of the drag chain to keep things neat and "compact-ish" .. not having the machine yet and not knowing a great deal, id like to know why this is a bad idea? for the actual vacuum system, i was hoping to use a plastic barrel with one of those "vortex" dust catchers, with a secondhand house vaccum as the suction source. much quieter than a shop vac.. again, terrible idea? wont work at all? will be ok? ive not go the space or budget for a full on extraction system, and id like to keep the noise level as low as possible. advice most appreciated.
I wouldn't be inclined to route a vacuum hose anywhere near the drag chain. The dust rushing through the hose can build up very high levels of static which can seriously interfere with your electronics. Most domestic vacs have a conductive hose and are earthed at the vac end, but if in doubt put a length of bare copper wire along the inside and connect to mains earth at the vac end. @sharmstr 's link above is a great way to suspend it. Alex.
thank you for the quick replies, i was just reading an article about static in the hose. Would the spiral of wire alreadyin the hose wall, earthed, help? is any kind of braid/wire/copper tape around the hose sufficient to eliminate the issue, or just reduce it.? does the earthing system have to be *inside* the tube? the arm does look like a good system, although given my stupid "room" has a barrel vault ceiling and the walls begin to curve inwards about half a metre above the table, it would need to be kept as low as possible.. all the EMI issues i see discussed, im planning on adding earthed metal braid around every cable.. Seems the spindle cable is a big source of EMI too, do people get away with routing that in the drag chain along with the stepper and limit switch cables?
Most domestic vacs will effectively have an earthed hose - it doesn't have to conduct much current after all, so conductive plastic, the coil of wire you mention, all help conduct the static to the vac's body which will often be earthed. Some people say they have no issues with the spindle cables in the drag chain, but we often have people here asking for help with emi problems who have done that, and the problems are much reduced if they take our advice and separate any potential sources of emi from sensitive cables - physical distance is the best solution to most emi problems. You could probably come up with a method to support your hose (and spindle lead) above the centre of your machine, with enough slack to reach every corner. Are you planning to have a spindle with vfd? Many people don't realise that you really don't need the power available from most spindles (750/800 watts is more than enough for every job I've ever done on my machine - including milling metals), and can't actually use it without sacrificing the machine's accuracy. Have a look at the RoutER11 from Openbuilds, but bear in mind that, at the moment, you would have to order it as part of a machine "bundle" RoutER11 CNC Kit Alex.
thanks for the further advice, most appreciated. im planning to order a "blackbee" kit: The BlackBee CNC and was planning to order a 1.5kw spindle/vfd. i think an 800w would be fine, but ive never found one with an er16 collet, and i want to build in as much flexibility as possible from the start. im also going watercooled.. another noise-reduction thing.
I don't know if the water cooled spindle is quieter, or maybe that much quieter, than the air cooled one. I know, though, that it is adding much more complexity to the installation.
Obviously, neither do I! However i have read enough forum posts with people marvelling at how quiet they are due to the lack of fans.. That and not blowing dust everywhere. Given i have a "history" with pc watercooling, and boxes of old pumps and radiators, it seemed a reasonable option to consider
