My vacuum cleaner never seems powerful enough to keep the chips out of deep slots and I constantly have to hold the nozzle next to the cutter for optimum results.
I know I could use a dust shoe but I don’t really like them unless the machine has no enclosure. i like to be able to see the cutter and the work its cutting.
Maybe I need an air compressor?!
So I printed a little ER 11 collet fan to blow downwards and clear the chips! 
Wow! Those work good!
Very clever indeed! I wonder how they’d work at lower RPM’s (for cutting metals).
not as well unfortunately 
but they do cool the metal down a lot!
File for your patent👍
Let us know when you are ready to start selling them.
I really don’t like the bulk of a dust clown shoe on my spindle. I would much rather use air. Your fan idea got me thinking that perhaps cannibalizing a computer fan might work. I have several 1 1/2 inch fans from a Sun workstation that I gutted a couple of years ago and when I remove the fin assembly, I can press fit it over the 611 collet, which means it will be easy to test. I may have to fashion a shroud around the outside of fins to make sure the air is directed down and not out the sides. Of course now I start wondering if more fins are better or if a deeper fin is better than a shallow one, how big/small of a fan…all kinds of things to keep me up tonight. Maybe a processor fan would work, too, since I don’t have access to a 3D printer.
I’m thinking of putting the vacuum cleaner into a box and running the exhaust thru a separate hose back down to the dust boot mount and blowing that return air into the kerf. 2 hoses may be too much and congestion on the spindle. But is musable.
What spindle are you using?
1.5kw air cooled import
Unfortunately it is not my design, but something I grabbed off thingiverse!
Well, I learned way too much today about fans. I thought I could take a standard computer cooling fan and cannibalize it to do a collet blower. Well, it’s not that easy. The DeWalt turns in the opposite direction that computer (and most fans) do. So if you were to attach a standard fan to the collet, it would draw air up from the workpiece instead of blow it down to evacuate dust and chips. Why can’t anything be easy? Huh? For once?
By the way, I found this: http://blog.othermachine.co/introducing-the-bit-fan-a-new-othermill-accessory-you-can-make
Ahh interesting… That’s quite annoying!
Ahaha i Guess I was beaten to it!
Dremel has one, too, for about $5. I don’t have a 3D printer, but I think I’m going to try to make one on the S03. If nothing else fut for the education.
Could you link to the thingiverse page you got the model from? And was that an upcut or downcut bit in your video?
Thanks!
I had to share this, before I go to bed.
You know those fire crackers that fly/whizz through the air?
They’re rotated the right way, and it sure looks like you could squeeze it on the Colet 
Funny. mmm hmmm.
I downloaded the STL from OtherMachine for their version and I spent some time scaling it up and getting it ready to mill. I hope to do that tonight. I’m going to do it in wood first just as a test since I have lots of scrap wood and not much scrap plastic lying around my shop.
I think that rotors for drones might be the same, too, but I’m not entirely sure of that.
@chaunax this is for the er11 collet: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2207950
up cut 3 flute bit (6.35mm)
I ran the STL from OtherMachine tonight on the S03 in plywood, which is not an ideal medium for something like this. The outside ring did not hold but I ended up with a three-fin fan. I had to clean it up a bit but then I pressed it on the 1/8 inch bit I was using and made some cuts and was really impressed by how much stuff it blew out of the path. Of course, that stuff is all over the shop, but I expected that. A great advantage is that you can see through the fan so there’s nothing blocking your view of the bit. Frankly, I enjoy watching the bit cut, but I’m ugly, fat, old and useless and I entertain easily. After I made the one from plywood, I mounted up a piece of UHMW plastic that I’ve had around for some time. UHMW is a pain to work with; it doesn’t like to be cut, it hates being sanded, it won’t glue, but I had some around because it’s really nice for making templates. When the job was done, it was fuzzy. And I mean fuzzy. It looked either like Rob Ross’ hair or a cat was sitting on it. I also found out today that the university where I work has a 3D printer available to students and staff, so I sent the STL over there for printing. It’s in the queue and I hope to get it Friday.
