My controller died and had to be replaced. Support said I should really use dust collection as that may have killed the original controller. Well, my 4XL is in a cabinet and I don’t have enough height to run a hose and still maintain reliability. No matter what I do, I wind up getting the hose between the back of the cabinet and the machine which then screws up my cut. Wasted some expensive wood that way.
The dust get contained in the cabinet and I vacuum it out after each run.
As someone who is now allergic to most of the oily exotic hardwoods (wenge, zebrawood, padauk, chechen, purpleheart, catalox, leopardwood, chakte viga), it is very important. I now break out in a rash in every place the dust touches my skin. It’s the worst around my neck and wrists, since that’s what is mainly exposed unless I am wearing my Tyvek bunny suit and 3M PAPR if I want to work with those.
If I happen to inhale too much dust, I feel like crap for a couple of days.
So, don’t discount it as “It’s just a bit, I hardly notice it.” Your body will notice it, and when it’s had enough, it’s had enough, and you’ll be notified in a most unpleasant manner.
I would say it is highly critical as well. I know you say you vacuum after every use, but, do you open the controller cover and vacuum that out as well? I find if I don’t use dust collection, the dust gets into the rails, compressed under the v-wheels and gets trapped in the cuts (especially with down-cut end mills). Do you have a picture of your setup? What if you ran a hose on the top side of your cabinet and drilled a hole for it?
Side note, I am also allergic to many types of wood. Particularly maple, which I use a lot, so dust collection and a mask is critical for me.
I’ll add my suggestion that you need to have some type of dust collection as well. It comes down to two major reason. As already stated, health issues are a big concern, even with an enclosure. Both what you might get on your skin and in your lungs. Even if you don’t think you are getting it stired up you will have enough small particles floating around. You may not have any issues now, but without proper dust collection or personal safety equipment you will be effected sooner or later. Keeping the machine dust free goes a long way in the longevity of it. Cleaning up afterwards is definitely important, but the more you can keep out as the machine operates will help it last as long as it can.
The folks above are correct about the personal health aspect. I will say that that is a given but as far as your machine health it is also important. Machines without dust collection get more dust ground into the v-wheels, extrusions, ball screws, linear bearings and as you found can cause controller problems. So for your health and the machine health dust collection is very important.
Rome was not built in a day and neither was your enclosure but modifying it or rebuilding it should be a priority or pay the price for your health and your machine’s health. Pay me now or pay me later as the old commercial said.
I tried the arm as you can see. I finally cut the hose off so I wouldn’t ruin the end grain cutting board I just made. I tried tie-wrapping a stiff wire to the hose to raise it straight up and a tighter bend over the Z stepper, but it still kept hanging up. At this point the only option I see is to rebuild the enclosure to gain another 6" of height. Any other suggestions? Thanks for your input
I think you just answered the question. Having been in similar situations myself with other projects I can say - after a bit of self deprecation - look at it as an opportunity for creative design.
AGREED! Marble wood and cocobolo absolutely F%$K me up. Hell, even walnut puts the spank on me these days. Dust collection is an absolute must have. Don’t mess around with wood dust. Not good long term.
At times I’ve used bungee cords to hold up my vac hose going to my dust boot - allows the hose to shift & stretch around but then pull it back up enough to keep it out of the way.
Great idea to use bungee cords! I think I am going to break down and make the cabinet taller. I may add some mineral wool insulation to quiet it even more!
Is the dust contained to inside your cabinet? I don’t see the controller inside. If the controller is mounted inside the cabinet, simply relocate it to outside.
I’ve been considering doing a play on this following example for the articulating/jointed arm but rather than only be supported by one end (anchored to a wall) it is also supported at the spindle end (a part that has no Z travel).
I will eventually enclose mine, but dust collection was far more important to me. I have a swing arm above the machine and it works well. It does unfortunately require a lot more vertical space for when I incorporate an enclosure though. Mine is in two parts, one solidly mounted, the next on a home-engineered pin hinge. Pic attached if it’s of any help.
After seeing that oneinfinity dust extraction arm, I am attempting my own. I am going to make a plate that mounts under my Z stepper and extends out to mount the expanding hose to the dust shoe. I ordered a swiveling 45 from the Rockler Dust Right Flex Port system. I have some aluminum bar that I have cut into sections and will make links to support the hose. The aluminum will be supported on both ends. Wish me luck LOL
