i tinkering around with dust collection the last few days (as chips are stating to pile up behind my machine), built a cyclone and attached it to the shop vac (just a small thingie)
I noticed, that that wasn´t sufficient enough to suck the majority of chips into the seperator.
Has anyone built a “dust shoe” for the LowRider? Does it make sense?
I don’t like the 611 dust collector. I made a new plate and a part to attach the hose right to the plate. It works ok, but it has one flaw, it will suck down onto the work piece if it gets too close, so I think I want to make some cuts on the bottom to allow air to flow even if it’s all the way down on the work.
I also keep thinking about putting some bristles around the outside, which will stop the flying chips, and allow the vac to pick them up, but I want something removable, so I don’t have the right idea yet.
Maybe I could kill two birds with one stone by making the bristles attach to the underside with a plate. Then I’d need clearance for that plate, and I wouldn’t get jammed if it went all the way down.
This is a foam sheet I’m using on my MPCNC. Will be adding it to my Lowrider build currently in progress.
I tried bristles from a brush but they caused interference with the Z axis if they got caught up on the work piece when trying to change direction. These foam sheets are awesome though. They keep their shape, don’t interfere in the machine’s motion, and they are in a sheet that you can cut strips from. I used double side tape around a dust collection shoe, wrapped the foam strip around it, then cut vertical strips about half an inc wide.
Here you can see pictures of my dust shoe on my MPCNC. The foam sheet is double sided taped to a wood ring. That ring has neodymium magnets hot glued in. There are corresponding magnets glued into the shoe that mounts to the bottom of z-axis. This makes the shoe easy to pop on and off.
I have a scratch built cyclone dust separator powered by a Harbor Freight dust collection fan. The is a piece of aluminum duct mounted to the shoe and the z-axis. It is connected to additional ductwork that runs across the ceiling of the shop (garage) with dryer vent hose.
Moves a great amount of volume with a lower static pressure. That lower static helps keeps the z-axis from getting sucked down. Absolutely loving this setup finally. I’ve done brush bristles, conveyor belt brushes, clear vinyl sheet material, and the foam is working the best so far.