Yet Another Dust Foot

[Gary Campbell]

Hey Guys..
I know this has been beat to death, but here is a dust foot version with a bit of a twist. I installed a PVC "Collar" down into the pickup area to increase velocity in that area. It really seems to be an improvement over the OEM PRS foot. I also used 4" hose right to the foot instead of the 3" squeezed down on the OEM. I just ran a test with a .5 EM full width, full depth in 3/4" MDF at 4ips, over the edge of the table. This has been the weak spot in our dust collection in the past. Besides barely allowing any chips to escape, about half of the few that escape are sucked back into the foot 3-4" off the edge of the table from mid air. Now that I have the flow that I need, I am now making a scaled down version to use with bits shorter than 2" using all clear materials, including the tube.

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Gary

[myxpykalix]

Where did you get the materials to make your boot? Do you have anymore pictures or more description on how you made this? THe black looks like broom hairs? I don't see how you get from the bit cutting area to the "chamber"? Can you post more pics? Thanks!! good job

[Gary Campbell]

Thanks, Jack..
the Lexan came from a local plastic shop. The broom is from McMaster. The rear fitting is a bandsawed piece from an ABS dust collection wye. Top & Bottom are 3/8" Lexan clear, side is 3/16 Lexan tinted and we dont like it. I just cut out the profile & a 3/16 by 1/4 rabbit on the top & bottom with the Bot. Cut the hole for the fitting on the bandsaw. Used a heat gun to bend the lexan around. Glued it all with devcon plastic welder. Ran a 1/4" round over bit around it. Used contact to install the broom.

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Gary

[larry_r]

Gary
1st, your not beating this subject to death. I think many us are pursuing a better "mouse trap" when it comes to dust collection.
2nd, your design is interesting, I too would like to see more pictures.

Larry

[harryball]

It looks nice... I would be happy to Beta test it for you. :-)

Robert

[myxpykalix]

just so i understand this, on the bottom you have 2 holes. 1 that your spindle fits thru and the outer one with the brush around it encapsulates the chamber from where the vacumn comes from. And you say that the suction is much better? What type of dust collection do you use? I have a 2hp, 4" hose dust collector and one of the things i find is with my longer bits without having the dust foot contacting the work i lose a lot of suction, you think this design would help?

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[bill_l]

Gary,

Do you have the part number or page from the McMaster catalog from which you purchased the "broom"?

Bill

[Brady Watson]

You can use a FrostKing door sweep available at any decent hardware store, Lowes or Depot.

-B

[knight_toolworks]

the only problem I see is can you raise the spindle up all of the way. it looks like the hose will hit first.

[Gary Campbell]

Jack..
I havnt tested that yet, but I am sure to in the next couple weeks, I will let you know. I have some 6" bits I can try it with. I use a 1.5 HP Delta cannister dedicated to the Bot. Not sure if this would increase your suction, but it did mine. It seems to work best between 1/2" and 1" OFF the table.

Bill....
McMaster page 1226 Pt# 7372T5 ($38.50 per 3')

Brady... you are right, but I am 50+ miles from a big box store and I hate to even go in them.

Steve...
Nothing hits on the up side. The box will drag with 2 1/2" bits when cutting over 1" deep. I am working on a smaller version for those bits.

Gary

[knight_toolworks]

I meant when you lift up the z can you lift up to where you hit bottom out? sometimes I cut really close to the max of the machine with only 1/4" left of z travel.

[Gary Campbell]

Steve..
I made it so that when the Z hits the upper stop bolt, the hose fitting touches. At this Z height I have 8 1/4" from the bottom of the collet nut to the table, so I rarely cut there. The bottom of the "box" is the same height as the bottom of the collet nut. Either way.. nothing hits. Here is a pic at the top of the Z movement.


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[maginter]

Gary -

This is a very nice set up! It gives me some ideas for something to work on the PC router.

Very nice!!!

[bcammack]

Jack, did you take a look at this posting of mine about modifying the existing ShopBot dust collector foot so it isn't rigidly mounted anymore?

http://www.talkshopbot.com/forum/messages/17997/25658.html?1195138158

[knight_toolworks]

you have the newer machine with the older one it won't work when the z is all of the way up the top of the boot is about 1 to 2" past the bar.

[rnels]

Steve,

I had this set up for mine that is kind of similar on a PRT alpha.

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More pictures at: http://www.nelsonsdesignssp.com/Nelsons%20Designs%20shop.htm

[myxpykalix]

brett,
I went back and looked at it and was interested in your use of the drawer sliders. For me the placement of holddown bolts are a pain to get to, so i'd rather have that adjustment in the front. I'm going to take elements of all these good designs and incorporate them into something that works better than what i have at the moment.

[Gary Campbell]

Steve..
I just looked over the pics on Randy's site. With a slight relocation of the inlet similar to Randy's, either design will work on your PRT. I think that in order to get max effectiveness out of the dust collector, you should have 4" hose to the foot and keep the pickup opening as small as possible. His design may pull better than mine as his has the round 4" inlet at the router which may have less turbulence than mine. They both have 12 sq.in. +/- inlets.
Good Luck, Gary

[knight_toolworks]

I tried something similar but I can't have the boot go below the collet nut.
I use such a huge range of bits that I can't lose any depth.
so mine has the hose on front. right now it has a 2.5" hose that is only so so and I will change it to 3" once I get the ordered adapters. I want to use 4" but there is no room to fit it between the rails and the spindle.

[bcammack]

Jack,

One of the cool things I hadn't anticipated is that, on the machine, you can shove the foot up and the drawer slides "latch" it up at the top of the spindle barrel, out of the way of the collet nut.

It stays completely out of the way while changing bits. Also, if you have an open area within the range of the carriage's x/y travel, you can fully extend the drawer slides, press the releases, and unclip the foot and attached slides.

Now that it's on the machine i really need to bring in my digital camera and take some pix of it.

[rnels]

Steve,

Mine is built to be almost even with the bottom of the collet nut. I made different sized sheaths to slide down to the proper depth just leaving the amount of bit exposed that I am cutting. The sheath is made using 4” thin walled PVC which has the built in connector. The connector width is used in the plywood bottom plate and the regular width is used for the sliding extender (can be made in several lengths to allow for longer or shorter bits) The sheath is held in place by a single wing type nut and if left a little loose it will ride up if necessary.

[knight_toolworks]

You have a new bot mine is the prt. I have a 3/4" plexi plate my shroud is mounted too and it almost hits the nut. I tired a hollow form but it was way too thin. for that reason alone I could use a prs. this is my current one. I took the hose connection off of the back though. I can only get a 3" hose in between the spindle and the carriage.

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