Simple side plates like Vince has with door sweep brushes riding the upper V-wheels and rails would work well with the basic sweepy hooked up to a vacuum. I’m still looking for the door sweep picture where someone cut a 1 inch piece and has it mounted to the side plate with the brush running in the V wheel grove.
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I’m with Will, there is definely no requirement to spend $1000 on dust collection. Throughout my first year with the Shapeoko I used a cyclone separator knockoff ($25) attached to a low-end home vaccuum, and it worked more than good enough. I only upgraded much later to a decent (Festool) shopvac to reduce the noise but mainly be confident that I could operate the system for hours on end, and it’s useful in the shop anyway beyond the Shapeoko.
Also, I still don’t have linear rails, and I was still able to do lots of projects. I’m drooling on the PRO as much as the next guy and it’s a great machine, but you may not NEED it (wanting it is a different matter).
Honestly, setup a half-decent dust collection and you will likely soon enjoy using your machine and milling things, rails or not.
@VetiTheYeti I don’t think that the SO3 is an inherently bad or poorly designed machine, but I do share your sentiments on the fact that the Pro came out shortly after I purchased mine as well. Like most anyone there are things that I would probably have done differently or change, but overall from my point of view the machine isn’t horrid. Would I buy a different machine if I had to do it again? Possibly, but I also would have to spend a lot more money to get something like a Tormach, so that is certainly something to consider.
I came from using VMC’ s so it has definitely been a bit of adjustment, but I do think that with some small modifications and workflow considerations the SO3 can be a useful machine. I wouldn’t give up on your machine yet.
Those are pretty nice! Might have to order up a set.
Based on the last pic in your OP any dust collection would be a huge improvement! Also I have 8 other machines that I hook up to DC so shop vac is not going to be the right tool for my application!
If it’s just the one machine any 2 stage setup you can cobble together would be smart. Or spend a little more and look into a Thain style from Rockler or Harbor Freight they will set you back $2-300 but be very effective at moving air and dust.
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