New dust boot improvement

[knight_toolworks]

MY first one used this base and as you see the air came in the back. This worked better then the original but it had its issues. When you cut the back end of a sheet it did not get any dust and at the edge of sheets it only did ok. But overall with the larger airflow it was better.
It was almost the same as this one but had the brush all the way around.
The biggest problem with making the boot is the bar that the z springs are attached too. It makes rising up the boot a real problem. If not for that I would have made a hollow rectangle air channel to the front.
So I could think of no better way to do it but to put the hose in front. If you don’t need the boot to rise with the z then life is easier. But since I cut sometimes within 1” of maz x and everything in-between I need it to rise.
But there is another problem if you use the middle position you can’t fit a 4” hose in there. So I used a 4” to a 2.5” adaptor and some 2.5” hose. I would have used 3” but I did not have any on hand. Even with about 2.5’ of 2.5” hose in my test cutting I did not have any dust get loose. When doing an edge cut I saw a few pieces of wood get loose but not much. Plus it cleaned out the cuts pretty well too.
When I have some free time I will narrow the boot down to about 4” and connect the 2.5” hose directly. I may go to 3” if I see dust getting loose. When I remove it I will cut the back hose connector off too. I like using the acrylic as it is easy to machine and drill and tap for screws.



6767

6768

[john_r]

Steve, Would you mind sharing the cutting file? And how do you glue up that plastic? I have a nice SB boot that I've ran into too many clamps and such too count.

Thanks,
John

[knight_toolworks]

acrylic is dirt easy to glue. You either get the glue that is like water and clamp the pieces together and flow a little in or you get the thicker stuff in a tube put a little on and clamp it.
it is the easiest stuff to glue up.
I used 3/4" stock for this though 1/2" would work well. when I used 1/4-20 bolts I drill a 3/16" hole then use a gun or spiral tap to get threads. the strip brush I get from www.mcmaster.com (http://www.mcmaster.com)
I have the cutting file for the front. it's not much to it. You have to play a bit with the front hole to get a the fit you want for the hose. it also needs 1/4" or so take off the length. well if you change the back piece you can get that. what I did was screw the bracket onto the block put it on the machine using clamps to get the plate in the right place then I glued it up. with the hose piece there is plenty of room but with the hose in back I had to grind the heads off the bolds so it would clear the gantry.



6769 (34.1 k)

[john_r]

Awesome! thanks Steve.

[br928]

Steve,

What is your source for the quick release clamps you used for the sides?

[knight_toolworks]

you can get them everywhere. I can't think of the brand name but there are a huge amount of styles out there. just do a google search for quick release toggle. most woodworking stores and such carries atleast some of them and hardware stores.but it is best to see them in person to really see what you want. I got these at my local hardware store. they are a bit spendy at about 16.00 each.

[bcammack]

I noticed those clamps are now in the Harbor Freight catalog, so the assertion "you can get them everywhere" is now completely true.


Here's some fun I'm having with our Shopbot dust collector. It is intended to address the issue of limited effective range available with the fixed dust collector.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=gdf2m2a.4y0mhct2&x=0&y=sjhpig

If you cannot view these images as a non-member I will find another way to post them.

The additional pieces are cut out on our waterjet from 1/16" thick 6061 T6 aluminum. The slides and strip brush are from Grainger.