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View Full Version : Reinventing the Shopbot-supplied dust "foot"



bcammack
11-15-2007, 09:49 AM
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=gdf2m2a.4y0mhct2&x=0&y=sjhpig

The rigidly-mounted dust collector foot supplied with the unit did not accommodate the range we require to adequately capture and remove the amount of dust our routing process produces.

25% of the time it's too high off the material, 25% of the time it's smashed against the material, and 50% of the time it okay except for the back of the skirt is sucked in, so air's not being drawn around the spindle nose and tool.

So, out with the long, flexible skirt and out with the rigid mounting. I substituted a pair of 16" side-mount, ball bearing drawer slides, centered (approximately) on the centerline of the spindle shaft.

Limit straps (not installed in these pictures) will allow the dust foot to hang from the spindle with the strip brush tips about even with the tip of the tool. The 1" strip brush and mount are from Grainger as are the drawer slides. I sealed the gap between the strip brush mount and the plastic of the dust foot with clear silicon caulk.

The question of how to mount the slides without voiding the spindle warranty by drilling holes in it was resolved by engineering a "wrap" of 1/16" T6 aluminum (cut out on our waterjet cutter). It "hangs" on the back from the 2" wide strap resting atop the spindle mounting block. The three pieces of 1/4" threaded rod act to pinch to far edges from the back strap around the spindle. I have added a few dabs of silicon caulk to the inside of this jacket and allowed them to dry, acting to improve the friction grip between the spindle body and the jacket. I could not physically make the jacket slip on the spindle after tightening up the pinch bolts.

The drawer slides are mounted to the jacket with pop rivets, from the inside and facing outwards.

The two mounting brackets on the dust foot were cut from the same 1/16" T6 aluminum plate (including the screw holes) on the waterjet cutter. Subsequent to these photos, the brackets were marked and drilled to receive pop rivets to join the foot to the drawer slides.

It's all quite rigid at this point. I will post further pictures as I have the opportunity.