Broken 8' wire guide

[panelman@bayou.com]

Any thoughts on a replacement wire guide?

Thanks, Frank

[barrowj]

Yes, call shopbot, they have replacements. I broke mine and purchased a new at a reasonable price from them.

[bjwat@comcast.net]

They all break eventually...

Order 2 (1 spare)

-Brady

[Mayo]

If you have any electric sign companies in your area, they may have scrap lexan from old signs or as cut offs from new material which they generally buy in huge rolls and in large sheet sizes. You could probably pick up a piece from them for next to nothing.

[bjw]

We had a local sheet metal shop make a copy out of
0.062" thick spring steel over a year ago. Our SB
runs at least 8 hrs a day 5 days a week and it's
holding up very well.

BJ

[hippo]

My wire guide finally broke a couple of weeks ago. It lasted just about a year, and strangely enough, broke in the middle. I just drilled and bolted the broken ends together. About a day later, it broke again, 1ft further down. I read this thread, and all the recommendations seemed to involve either high cost, or long wait times, and I was in the middle of a project. So...

I can't stress enough the importance of going down to your local home improvement store, and walking up and down EVERY aisle, until you find things you didn't even know you were looking for. Although in this case I was looking for something specific. Don't count out the decorating and garden areas, you never know what you might find.

End result: I found a ready made wire guide, 3.5" x 8ft black vinyl with pre-drilled holes. Your choice two rows of holes near the outside edges, (I picked that, to separate my signal and power wires) or a single row of holes down the middle.

And what may you ask is this magical replacement part? Well, it turns out to be some kind of mounting track for screened in porch installations. Best news of all, it was only $5!!! I bought two.

Here's the UPC Code:731677350005, and is made by "Screentight" hopefully that will somehow help you track it down in your area. I got mine at Lowes. I don't have a picture of it on the bot yet, but here (I think) is a photo from the manufacturers website. You can see their 1.5" and 3.5" vinyl track in several of the pictures.


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If my wife ever brings home the digital camera from work, I'll try to take some picture of my own setup.

-Dan

[marshawk]

BRILLIANT!

I did the same thing at Lowes the other day and found the same product! I spent about an hour walking down every isle and found the white and black strip put together. Attached are the pics...

I used pieces of the old wire guide to shore the flimsier material and to allow me to use the original mounting brackets.

Cheers!

Chip


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[hippo]

That's the stuff! Glad to know I'm not the only hardware store wanderer...

I can't tell from the photo, is that the narrow stuff, or the 3.5" stuff? I didn't use the actual white trim. It didn't seem that flimsy to me, I tested it out, and it seemed good. I had a small problem when I added the weight of the dust collector on top, but once everything was firmly strapped down, it worked great.

After all the trouble that I had taking down the old one...I had to cut through untold zip ties, and didn't have enough on hand to put it all back together. So, I decided to go with Velcro strips for this one. Makes it a lot easier to move things around. The holes in the plastic seem to be about 3/16" x 1/2" so the Velcro fits right through without any modification.

Finally got some pics:

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[stickman]

Hey, Dan and Chip could you guys take pictures of your dust collections heads, I would appreciate it.

You can e-mail them to stickmanwood@hotmail.com (mailto:stickmanwood@hotmail.com)

Thanks, Jay

[dirk]

I used the same material. after a couple of months you'll have to replace as it looses it's spring and will start to flop around.

[hippo]

Jay,
Sure, but I'm using the standard Alpha dust collection foot. I haven't had a chance to come up with something better yet.

Dirk,
Hmm. I'll hope for the best. Will report back in if the same thing happens to me.

-Dan

[pete]

Dan - a couple of questions pls. Your shop looks like an ordinary house room - is your 'bot set up in a spare bedroom or something - plenty of light - great. Also, it looks like you have a removeable vacuum plenum on top of your table - how is that working out. Thanks. Pete

[beacon14]

I'd hate to be the one who has to dust those window blinds

[hippo]

I was wondering when somebody would ask that. When I first ordered the Bot, there was not a single room anywhere in the house (Except the living room...Don't laugh, I know a guy who did, but then he wasn't married... I wonder why
that it would fit in. Even the back area of the Garage was not big enough.

Since this was for a business, I planned to rent some warehouse space, and install it there. Turned out that the rental space cost $1200 or more a month everywhere. So, no choice but to put an addition on the house. The pre-fab patio sunroom was the cheapest/quickest, so that's what I got. With, the promise to the wife that if the business ever grows to the point where I move it into an office space, then she can have the Sunroom. (That keeps her rooting for the Bot)

The Blinds haven't got that dirty, I've been carefully dust collection everything, and my daily work (cutting styrofoam) doesn't produce any dust.

The vacuum plenum works great...for what it was designed for, but I learned a lot making it and am planning version two. I seriously underestimated the power of the vacuum, and the box seriously deformed the first time I tried to use it. Since it was glued together, I had to cut 1/4" dowels, and fish then through the openings to act as supports where needed. Here it is under construction, you can see it was only supported down the center:

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It sits on the bot table, and hooks up to at Fein III vacuum (that was recommended here) It was a nightmare at first. All the wood was warped, and the box wouldn't sit flat, Then I couldn't get it to surface inside, etc. Here's how it looks on the table:

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The fancy cut out pattern does seem to have been a waste of time, but spectators love it. Looks very complex...

-Dan

P.S. Now you can tell people that you're NOT crazy, you know a guy who added a room to his house just to hold his 'Bot...

P.P.S. It doesn't hurt that the blinds are tan colored ;)

[pete]

Dan - thanks for the pictures and details. I would be interested in seeing what you come up with in version II. What is the white material that sits on top and how do you control the loss of vacuum on areas not covered with material to be cut. Thanks. Pete

[hippo]

The white stuff is a styrofoam spoil board, and there are no areas not covered with material to be cut. This box was designed for a specific project. I need to to cut a lot of 2'x4' sheets of material. That box is a perfect fit. The side walls keep the material from sliding, and the vacuum keeps it flat.
-Dan

[marshawk]

Jay, Here ya go. We use 6" PVC Y fittings that go over the end of the router. We split one side to make it fit. This setup collects about 60% of the dust.

We purchased some of the blast deflectors from ShopBot to try to improve that number, but have not installed them yet. I'll let you know how that works.

Gene came up with this contraption, by the way. (Didn't want to steal his thunder)

Chip
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[jhicks]

Dan, I have yet to construct a Plenum/vacuum system but looking at yours I wonder, Do you feel the Plenum needs to be that deep now that you've been running it? I keep thinking about a modular matrix with inserts but never envisioned a 4" deep box. With all the discussions about tape gaskets etc, it seems all one needs is a thin vacuum plenum perhaps 1/2". Any opinion on that now that aspect would be appreciated.
Sooner or later I need to start some vacuum development so just hoping to take advantage of your knowlege and experience on this one.
Nice shop by the way.

[hippo]

Thanks Jerry,

No, the box does not need to be that deep. This was my first attempt at a vacuum holdown, so I wasn't sure how much area was needed for airflow below the material. Also, that was the minimum height needed to allow the vacuum hose to attach evenly to the side. I think the next one will overhang the table, and the hose will attach to the bottom.

-Dan

[jhicks]

Dan, I hear you and agree mounting the vacuum ports from the bottom or overhanging the table end makes sense. Based on what you now have experienced, how deep would the plenum be on rev. B? From what I've seen there is no real reason to have a 4" vacuum hose but my advice is worth about 50% less than what it costs.
All input is appreciated as I'm collecting just about everything I have heard and read in hopes of building something that incorporates the best options, greatest versatility, and utility. Sounds great but am sure its a long reach for me to expect a viable working model on the 1st attempt. Time will tell.
Thanks

[bill.young]

Hey Jerry,

I've made a lot of vacuum setups that just used 2 layers of ply, usually 1/2". They have several advantages over hollow boxes...they aren't very thick and don't take up too much of your z-travel, the top doesn't pull down when you apply the vacuum, and they are cheap and easy to make. Channels are cut in the 2 pieces first and then they're glued together (with the channels on the inside).

If you download a Boxmaker file from the Project Wizard.. www.shopbotprojectwizard.com (http://www.shopbotprojectwizard.com) ...you'll get files and instructions for making a table that will give you an idea of how they're done.

Bill

[paco]

edited-deleted...

[srwtlc]

I recently broke my wire guide and I checked with a sort of local plastics supplier and they sent me a free sample (exact size needed) of some black ABS. It appears to be the exact same thing as the original. I called the guy back and ordered a few to have on hand. They have a $10 minimum order and they're $4 a piece. They were very nice to deal with, so I thought I'd give them a plug here. If you're in the central or midwest US and need a quick replacement, give them a try.

Badger Plastics & Supply P.O. Box 190 Plover, WI 54467
Phone 1-800-456-7228

[pete]

Dan Schwartz - just curious - did you ever make a version II of your vacuum fixture - if so, what changes did you make and do you have any pictures pls. Thanks, Pete

[hippo]

Hi, I was down at the Jamboree, and saw that all the new alphas have clear lexan wire guides. They're very interesting especially as they taper. Thicker at the ends, narrower in the middle. Seems to better control where the bending goes on.

I picked one up even though the vinyl one is still working great. It did get a little floppy, but with some velcro strips, I cinched the dust collector hose down tight, now they lend support to each other.

As for vacuum fixture #2, I've been too busy doing production (and making baby furniture for the little one) to make any new fixtures for the bot, though I did finally track down one of those little Reciprotor pumps on ebay, so I'll have to make some pucks or something soon.

-Dan