I dont think that would help for the suckit dustboot. It does not move with the z axis
Is there an official channel for CM/CC feature requests? I know this wouldnāt be a trivial add, but also wouldnāt require a rewrite eitherā¦
That is actually the reason I prefer them.
I set the height of my shoe such that it can clear anything on the bed.
You just need to keep your clamping profile as low as possible.
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@keebie81 : I was answering @PhilG and his comments about retraction height and speed of job.
@keebie81: Iāll repeat myself on your comments though. I think itās unreasonable for Carbide to make a change for a small subset of itās customers, using someone elseās accessory, where that change is going to mess up other operations/workflows for others. I have a suckit, I like it (mostly), but it doesnāt change my opinion. There is no win here for everyone. Someone isnāt going to get what they want, and if -I- was carbide (and Iām not, just so weāre totally clear) I would want the customers that buy my stuff to have the best experience possible with an unmodified machine, as it comes from the factory. Sounds kind of harsh, but honestly, if you donāt like the way CM works for you with a particular accessory, donāt use it. There are plenty of other options. Part of what makes CM easier to use than many tools is that it -doesnāt- have a hundred options and checkboxes, and thatās completely appropriate for beginners getting results with a new machine. If you need a sender thatās more flexible, use something more flexible.
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After reading through this thread, I have come to a couple conclusions you may all enjoy:
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the dust boots are more of a hassle than a help. I need to be able to see the tool so I can make sure nothing has happened/the tool hasnāt broken the itty bitty tiny tip off.
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the dust boot will hold chips closer to the tool, even with the vacuum running. that is extremely bad. I prefer a jet of cooled air to move the chips away from the tool and the work piece.
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always make sure your holding devices are not residing within the normal operating space of the machine. I personally, as a master manual machinist, prefer to use a nice vise, and make sure it stays below the toolpath and machine functions such as homing.
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Carbide 3D has made a wonderful machine, that competes with $250,000 machines for making dies. (check out āMy Job is Greatā in the gallery). The machineās simple design, and simple software lets me focus on making good parts without having to spend time fiddling with settings.
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Inexperienced people will always become frustrated. Hell, Iāve been a machinist for 30 years. Iāve been frustrated too! Donāt let your lack of knowledge discourage you or embarrass you. We are all here to help each other, and Iāve seen it dozens of times, and been helped myself.
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I agree. The dust boot is such a hassle.
Maybe a flow hood for fine dust, but the router blows the work clear, mostly, and itās fast and easy just to vacuum now and then.
When I was new, I practiced a lot on modifications for my tools, but now I want to make stuff, not work on my machine 
Thatās gonna happen, regardless.
I think some of the best newbie projects are tool holders and clamps of all kinds.
Itās a good, productive, and simple way of learning your software.
With pockets, holes, profiles, lots of toolpaths and strategies one can make for simple holders, and learn a lot too.
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Good point! I skipped all the tool holding things, and other modifications, and jumped right in to making dies. itās taken a year, but now I can load a .svg or .dxf, and in 5 minutes be cutting the stock. That process might have taken less time if I had fiddled with work holding etc.
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- Inexperienced people will always become frustrated. Hell, Iāve been a machinist for 30 years. Iāve been frustrated too! Donāt let your lack of knowledge discourage you or embarrass you. We are all here to help each other, and Iāve seen it dozens of times, and been helped myself.
The most valuable comment in my amateur opinion. Instead of 30 years, Iāve been doing this for a month or less. Iām enjoying the learning more than the things Iām making. Iāve made quite a few wooden scrap ābricksā so far that will go into the fire pit for kindling. But, the relatively amateur projects that I am making, I am going to keep posting to the gallery. Doesnāt matter if they are simple, if I can help someone else, then it was worth the few minutes it took to take a picture and post.
My moto (which Iām thinking about making into a sign and posting above my machine): āLearning has occurredā
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Yeah. One thing the past week has taught me is that documentation-wise we need a basic set of step-by-step function checks for the machine, and a compleat description of normal behaviours.
I was traveling over the past weekend, but hope to do that and some other projects this coming week.
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Just for giggles, hereās the āitty bitty tinyā tool I was referring to in my post above:
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I think the health risks produced by dust is more important than the hassles created by the dust boot. Everyone got the own circumstances. For me dust collection is a must nor only because dust is bad for my health but also because of the shop location inside my house.
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Itās not a hassle; itās a safety issue. I believe rapid machine/tool movements to areas off the workpiece should only be initiated by the operator so he/she is prepared for that movement (possibly with a finger poised over the OFF button). Automatic rapid movement could be made a configuration item left to the preferences of the operator.
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Youāre cutting brass (right?). Try cutting MDF, plywood, or even solid wood and you will slowly grow a thin layer of dust on everything in your shop.
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Try cutting African Padauk wood. More dense than mahogany and rust-orange in color. I have a thin layer of rust-orange on everything.
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Itās obvious that some folks LOVE their dust boots 
Thats the great thing about owning your own tools and shop.
Weāre our own boss, and can operate any way we see fit.
Iāve been in more than one OSHA movie for not being safe.
You know, those ones where the forklift is holding the forklift that is holding the manlift that is holding the pipe welder in the air
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Itās not a hassle; itās a safety issue. I believe rapid machine/tool movements to areas off the workpiece should only be initiated by the operator so he/she is prepared for that movement
Exactly this. Specifically for the newbie to the world of automated machining (Iām in this bucket). Nothing is more alarming than the machine doing something uncommanded, without explanation. My S3XXL retreats to the left-rear corner of the machine following a job. Why there? Why not home? Why not just retract Z?
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I think all these ācontroversiesā are just the nature of the beast. The Shapeoko 3 is a kit. Carbide Create and Carbide Motion are not totally completed software. They are still growing and yet to fully evolve into the butterflies they are imagined to be. Right now they are really good catapillers. But like all catapilars each one must be raised in an environment suitable for their growth. Since many of us have never raised catepilers it is hard and confusing why they react to different settings in their environment (our particular methods of machining). Cattepellers have nerves which we can not see just like our shapeokoes have computer coded reactions built into their programing which most of us can not see (understand). Since we are not the āentropologistsā (programmers) who have gene spliced a high end cattapeller with an everyday moth we can only wonder what that āentropologistā was thinking when he morphed a monarch with a moth and got a Shapeoko. He knows what he did and we are only teaching it to fly but it doesnāt have itās wings yet. Thatās became our job when we each bought our Shapeoko ākitā. Appearently this forum doesnāt have spell check because I keep spelling caterpiler differently and it never tells me which one is correctt. Well thats another thing I have to figure out.
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That is a lot of ways to spell caterpillar.
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My opinion on this: CAM software and gcode should handle machineās motion. The controller UI should do only what the user tells it to do. The only time the machine should be automated is when itās running the code that I told it to. If I break something, I want it to be my fault. Iām usually smarter than my tools.
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caterpillar , hey Phil, it didnāt turn āredā . I wonder if Iāll ever need to spell āthatā again ???
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