Welcome to Our Community

Some features disabled for guests. Register Today.

Dust shoe, to move or not to move...

Discussion in 'CNC Mills/Routers' started by Andreas Bockert, Oct 29, 2018.

  1. Andreas Bockert

    Andreas Bockert Well-Known
    Builder

    Joined:
    Oct 1, 2017
    Messages:
    142
    Likes Received:
    78
    Hi

    When it comes to dust shoes there seem to be two major designs:

    Which flavor do you prefer?

    It seems to me like fixed Z would be more predictable. I.e. it would be easier to determine if it will hit anything throughout the cut. It also seems more complex to design...
     
  2. Mark Carew

    Mark Carew OpenBuilds Team
    Staff Member Moderator Builder Resident Builder

    Joined:
    Jun 28, 2013
    Messages:
    2,759
    Likes Received:
    2,438
    Great discussion @Andreas Bockert
    We are working up ideas for a dust shoe that will work with the OpenBuilds machines so anything learned here will be useful. :thumbsup:
     
  3. GrayUK

    GrayUK Openbuilds Team Elder
    Staff Member Moderator Builder

    Joined:
    May 5, 2014
    Messages:
    1,668
    Likes Received:
    627
    I like the Swedes Floating Dust Shoe :thumbsup:
     
  4. Andreas Bockert

    Andreas Bockert Well-Known
    Builder

    Joined:
    Oct 1, 2017
    Messages:
    142
    Likes Received:
    78
    The floating dust shoe is very nice.

    Here is the dust shoe I used to have (before Z-axis upgrade). The design is three parts. The nozzle-mount, the brush and the hose holder.

    The nozzle-mount

    It attached to the side of the Z-axis C-beam with two slot-in T-nuts. It's possible to adjust the height of it by loosening the T-nuts. I routed them out of MDF on the CNC two parts and joined them using dowels. The nozzle is attached using friction fit.

    The brush
    The brush part is made up of a 2mm (or so) sheet of lexan on the top that is attached to a frame by using screws and captive nuts. These screws are also used to snap the brush to the nozzle mount with some magnets that are embedded in the nozzle mount. On the outside of the brush frame I attached two layers of a thin foam sheet using hot glue. The two layers were cut in an overlapping fashion. This way, there shouldn't be any direct path for a chip to escape through the the "brushes"

    The hose holder
    The hose holder attaches to the top of the Z-beam while still allowing the the Z-axis pulley to move freely. I also added some extra holes to allow access to the M5s at the top of Z. The hose simply snaps in to the "pinch".

    Comments
    I think the designed worked pretty well overall. When cutting aluminum, I think just having the brushes there to physically block the chips made the biggest difference. Overall, it prevents the dust/chips from spreading too far but it isn't 100% effective at extracting them.

    Pros
    • Side design makes it fairly compact
    • The overlapping foam-pad "brushes" seemed very effective.

    Cons
    • Side design eats a bit of work area.
    • Wasted airflow from the non-working side of the shoe.
    A picture is worth a thousand words so check out the images. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any images with it still mounted to the machine so a few renderings will have to do.

    I hope someone finds this rambling useful.
     

    Attached Files:

    ArthurS and sharmstr like this.
  5. MCRCNC

    MCRCNC New
    Builder

    Joined:
    Jul 24, 2017
    Messages:
    6
    Likes Received:
    5
    I have a fixed.

    I mostly work with sheet material so it works for me, and I wanted something that didn't increase the footprint of the spindle. This is mostly because when I use 1200mm long sheets it takes my maximum Y travel to cut it. Same goes for X travel to a lesser extent as I have 800mm so a 3rd of a full sheet works but only with maximum reach.

    It was fairly straightforward to build - a ring of plywood sandwiched between acrylic and a box on top to take the hose. It was only a prototype as I have recently upgraded the Z axis to C-Beam (huge improvement) and it works far better than I expected.
    As the C-beam doesn't move ( i know some people have theirs mounted the other way round) the brackets on the side had a permanent location. Height can be adjusted with the t nuts.
    In another future version I'd changed these standard bolts for some hand knobs perhaps. I would also look at making the rear even smaller and make the whole thing more accurately (cutting acrylic is tricky, need more practice)

    IMG_20181020_165902.jpg IMG_20181020_165517.jpg IMG_20181020_165532.jpg IMG_20181020_165853.jpg IMG_20181020_165858.jpg IMG_20181020_165910.jpg IMG_20181020_165922.jpg IMG_20181020_165937.jpg IMG_20181020_165948.jpg IMG_20181020_170007.jpg IMG_20181020_170019.jpg IMG_20181020_170056.jpg IMG_20181026_100025_046.jpg IMG_20181026_100025_047.jpg IMG_20181026_100025_048.jpg IMG_20181026_100025_049.jpg IMG_20181026_100025_050.jpg
     
  6. sharmstr

    sharmstr OpenBuilds Team
    Staff Member Moderator Builder Resident Builder

    Joined:
    Mar 23, 2018
    Messages:
    2,059
    Likes Received:
    1,448
    @MCRCNC Thank you for posting. I came across your instagram post on this shoe 2 days ago and almost mentioned it here.
     
    MCRCNC likes this.
  7. Andreas Bockert

    Andreas Bockert Well-Known
    Builder

    Joined:
    Oct 1, 2017
    Messages:
    142
    Likes Received:
    78
    Looks like a good, straigthforward design. Do you find that it works well even without a brush that acts as a physical barrier? Also with that small inlet hole?

    I've considered trying to duct something from the back but never found a solution I liked. It always seem to eat too much Z travel.


     
  8. Andreas Bockert

    Andreas Bockert Well-Known
    Builder

    Joined:
    Oct 1, 2017
    Messages:
    142
    Likes Received:
    78
    Some renderings of the new design. I bought myself a 3D printer that I'm planning to put to good use.

    The design is inspired by suckit. The two channels on the sides will allow for adjusting the height of the shoe. It's a fairly complex design (by my standards at least). Hopefully I'll actually print the thing one of these days.

    On design decision I made was to have a fairly large hole on the router side of things. I'm thinking that the airflow generated by the router could aid a bit in chip clearing. Hopefully, the shopvac should be able to overpower it and prevent the dust from escaping the boot. Compared to my old design I've also added a curved part that redirects the airflow and prevents it from simply sucking air in through the brushes that are closest to the hose.

    Bracket_2_2018-Nov-02_05-25-21AM-000_CustomizedView12531619410.png Bracket_scoop.png
     
    sharmstr likes this.
  9. MCRCNC

    MCRCNC New
    Builder

    Joined:
    Jul 24, 2017
    Messages:
    6
    Likes Received:
    5

    Yes it works well enough without any brushes, surprisingly so. The full force of suction is concentrated directly above the cut at all times. One thing I was concerned about was whether the hole was too small but it doesn't seem to be. I only run this from a shop vac.

    As I said previously my Z c-beam is static, only the front plate moves, so the shoe doesn't move at all.
     

Share This Page

  1. This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
    Dismiss Notice