Where to buy extention hose for dust skirt?

[byoc]

I've been all over the site and can't find them for sale. Is there something comparable at Home Depot? The only thing I can find with a conductive wire in it is dryer hose, and I'm sure that won't last very long.

[randy]

Keith, those can be found at Woodcraft, Penn State Industries, Grizzly, and Rockler, just to name a few.

Slowly I turned...
Randy

[scottcox]

Keith,

I bought mine at woodcraft for about $12 each 10ft section on sale. It comes with a heavy steel wire embedded into the PVC (clear rubbery type). I ran a bare copper wire inside for my ground.

[paco]

Look for a woodworking tooling supply around if you can... you should find this not too far. Buy online if you can't find it.

Dyer hose will collapse withe dust collector vacuum.

[byoc]

Thanks, guys. I'm holding off on planing the work surface till that gets here. The term "sacrificial board" made me LOL. Was anyone else feeling a little overwhelmed by their shopbot at first? I'm sure it will be just fine, but between running a business and the time that I actually have to set up the bot, it feels like it won't start "earning its keep" for about another month. Sorry...just felt the need to comisserate.

[dhunt]

Keith..
You are embarked on what's known as The Learning Curve.

Those two thinning patches in your hair just over the temples
come from tearing your hair out,
a common occurence most new Botters experience (the hard way!)
for the first 3 mths. of operation.

The hair will grow back,eventually.

The Forum stands by you in your hour of need,
even suggesting Rogaine sources, if need be.

You have to have your head very very On, for CNC.
It is not forgiving.
It would help to have someone in your area/region come over to your place
(or you go to his) for some experienced Hands On Quality Time! - no kidding.

I was reeaall lucky,
we had John Forney come down and 'crash course' us for about 4-5 days.
Saved us MONTHS on that Learning Curve you're now enjoying!

[handh]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Keith, I know what you mean. It took me around 4 weeks just to get everything together and hooked up with trying to build cabinetry and also the running of the business here. I thought everything would just go peachy once we started cutting. But it is a "sacrificial board" at least the first 2 were. Now after working out all of the kinks and learning more as the days go by, This morning I cut 18 sheets of 4x8 sheetgoods, some melamine, mdf, plywood. Everything actually came out the correct size and actually had a spoilboard left instead of the "sacrificial board" (LOL). My wife is actually believing that the SB might work, as I told her. That rogaine might not be a bad thing to have on hand for a while. I will agree with David, best to be thinking about what you are doing, and don't get in a hurry and preview before you cut and I have started looking at the code to check to make sure that I haven't made any mistakes. One thing that I had problems with that you might what to make sure you watch is that when I was troubleshooting my computer system and would close down the control software and or shut off the SB Control was to make sure that I rezeroed the Z because it took me a while but I have a spindle and when the motor is at rest the Z can drop down a little and really mess you up. I thought that the SB software was playing tricks on me but finally caught the Z moving at rest. So I guess everyone knows this but anytime I start the SB software I check my zeros. It just takes time. From one newbie to another good luck!

[handh]

Also I have found 50 ft of the clear hose on ebay with wire inside for about the same price of 20 ft at woodworking supply houses. You might want to search for it and see.

[byoc]

I know everything will be just fine. I'm just a little stressed out because the SB was supposed to take the place of the new drill press operator I needed hire 2 months ago. I'm not dissapointed in the SB though. I did hope it would be a little more "plug and play", but in the research I did before purchasing a CNC machine I couldn't find anything that was as flexible as the SB that was even remotely in the same price range.

I just missed the Jamboree. I would have flown out to NC for that had I known what I know now.

[terryd]

Keith,
I know what your feeling "the jitters". When I got my Alpha I had about two weeks to get it running to replace the sawyer I really didn't want. Everything had to be perfect or the schnitzel was going to hit the fan. I never did get comfortable until the day I went from 0,0 to 96,48 completely submerged in the table. broke the bit blew the router breaker caused a lot of smoke, jumped the rails, dropped the gantry, cut off the dust collector hose and lost just a few steps in the program..... I looked at the car wreck that was my brand new Alpha and figured it was history. After putting it all back together and having it run just as it had before I concluded that if I didn't destroy it then everything else was uphill. We understand each other now. I occassionally get really stupid and 'Alphabot' forgives me everytime.....now for the wife.......I digress....
TerryD