LowRider2 CNC - Hose Attachments - Vac-Shoe Adapter for Vacmaster 2.5" Hose

LowRider CNC Hardware Development
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This allows connecting a 2.5" hose from a Vacmaster Pro shop vac to the LowRider 2.

Includes both a Dewalt version and Makita version of the “VacShoeTop.” (The original default “VacShoeTop.STL” should not be used, as the redesigned ones offered here allow more airflow. See notes on airflow below.)

My Vacmaster Pro shop vac came stock with a 7’ hose. I bought a second matching 7’ hose at the home improvement store. I used the coupler I designed (included in this setup) to connect the two hoses. The stock hose ends with a long plastic sleeve. The second hose (bought as an accessory) has a matching long plastic sleeve on one end, and a short plastic sleeve on the other end. Match the two long sleeves into the coupler. The short sleeve on the end then goes into the adapter I designed (included in this setup) on the LowRider 2’s router plate.

Notes on airflow for this Vac Shoe Assembly for Vacmaster 2.5" Hose:

  • Unobstructed circular opening for the hose (ID) has an area of 3,017 mm²

For comparison:

  • Opening in the router plate (Makita version) has an area of 4,035 mm²
  • Opening in the router plate, less the round area directly under Makita, has an area of 2,959 mm²

Of importance is approximate size of the “mouth” at bottom of this “vac shoe” set-up. That’s not as easy to calculate, so I did not. Instead, this is a poor approximation that I calculated that by adding together the horizontal footprint (1500 mm²) and the vertical “face on” footprint (800 mm²), which comes to 2,300 mm².

I drew inspiration from this item:

‘Low Rider V2 - 4" dust collector adapter’ - Low Rider V2 - 4" dust collector adapter by Tailslide - Thingiverse

…and I remixed from these two items:

‘Lowrider2 Makita RT0700C Plate and Vacuum Shoe’ - Lowrider2 Makita RT0700C Plate and Vacuum Shoe by frederikkemner - Thingiverse

…and the original LowRider 2’s “VacShoeTop.STL.”

Note: My stock hose fits perfectly in the coupler, but the second hose is a bit loose. I wrapped a rubber band around it, and pushed the coupler over the rubber band, getting part of it in between the hose end and the coupler. This provided a tight fit.

PS: This also means I will now need to remix my pen holder, “REDUX LowRider 2 MPCNC - Pen Holder (v2) MOUNTS CLOSER” available at the link below.

… If I can get a new version of the pen holder designed, so it works with this hose adapter, I will try to come back here to link the new version.

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I remade my pen holder design to fit with this new hose adapter.

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I must get around to measuring my vac hose - I think it’s 2" which is really 1 3/4 so I get confused!

I think that skinny bit that goes under the rail is a bit of an issue - maybe not by itself, but I don’t understand the “vee” shape of the hole in the plate. Have you given any thought to opening that out a bit while you are at it?

I think long term I’m going to see what sort of a mess I can make of something similar to:
MPCNC Primo Makita (65mm) Dust Shoe by IMDR_5534 - Thingiverse With just a little luck and a complete redesign of the router base, we might be able to get a quart into this pint pot yet! :smiley:

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I wonder what he’s bought to get that brush feature. Something like this maybe?

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I like that his brush feature is removable via magnets. One of the concerns I had about a brush feature was being unable to see when I needed to, for example when setting up and zeroing the Z height.

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That brush looks pretty much like the one. I may be worrying unnecessarily here, but my magnetic dust system connectors work very well and are easily removed by sliding them sideways (by design) - I wonder what sort of a mess would result if the magnetic dust cowl caught on someting! (I’m still intending to go that route though. One day.)

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Doug - here’s what I’ve been thinking of, I have asked @BenG for some more info - I must stress I’m just thinking at the moment and have no intention of changing the stock setup unless there are gains to be made.

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I have a decently long bit so I can cut through at least 1 inch mdf so it does leave dust in the cutting path but clears everything else that would normally just pile up on the table

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Thanks, is there a drawing or STL available?

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I’ll look on thingiverse to see if I can find where I got it from I’m 90% sure I still have the stl for it but I don’t suddenly wanna be sending his stl around without him getting views or downloads if he doesn’t want it but yeah I’ll see if I can find it and I’ll share it in here!

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Thanks, just a link will be fine - I am sure I’ve seen it on Thingiverse, but haven’t been able to find it over the last week or so.

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So the router plate is widened, and the vac shoe is moved to be beside the router in the X axis so it does not have a steel bar between it and the router… This would add to the “clearance” distance needed on the side with the modified vac shoe. Definitely an interesting concept worth considering.

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@BenG what happened to your case there? It looks like it was melted due to being subjected to intense heat. ??

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It’s just thin pla it was in the sun on a hot day which warped it

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I can’t seem to find it either…

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Well, heat from direct sun will do it. I hate that for you.

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Yeah I’ll just reprint it in abs or asa and should be fine!