Hey everyone, this is my first post. I’m a woodworking hobbyist of many years but brand new to CNC. Just got my Shapeoko XXL up and running. Installed a T-track and wasteboard system and leveled the wasteboard and am ready to go. Man that was a lot of dust though. So I think I will design a dust shoe similar to the Suckit that I’ve been seeing and hearing is pretty good. I figure that is one of the reasons I got the CNC, so I can make my own parts when possible, but before I do I wonder if anyone has already designed one to fabricate on the CNC that is willing to share the design or gcode. Thanks in advance and many blessings to all.
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There are a couple of designs listed at: https://wiki.shapeoko.com/index.php/Dust_Shoe
I worked up a design and documented my process at: http://www.shapeoko.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=3658
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Thanks Will, I’ll take a look at these and see if I can make sense of them.
I have a clone of the Suckit that was 3d printed. I had a dustboot that was attached to the bottom of the router before. After using the clone I may go back to the router mounted dust boot. I find that I have to remove the dust skirt a lot to zero and install tools and the support arms for the Suckit clone are always in the way. The router attached dust boot had magnets that I could remove the dust skirt and get to the router more easily than the suckit design. Both designs seem adequate to get the dust but my experience with the suckit clone has been frustrating. My Son In Law 3d printed a dust boot from thingaverse but it only had a 1.5" dust port. The small dust port starved my 1.5 HP Jet dust collector for CFM. A perfect vacuum does not pull dust. What removes dust if the CFM air movement.
What ever kind of dust collection you decide on get it on there soon. It is very unhealthy to breath the fine dust that a CNC Router produces. Not to mention the mess and clean up it takes to keep your shop reasonably clean and neat.
If you run without dust collection your V wheels will get sawdust all over them and impact and cause accuracy problems with your routing. You still have to periodically inspect your V wheels even with dust collection but the build up is considerable without dust collection.
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Thanks for the tips. I think I will try to design a router mounted boot. You aren’t exaggerating about that dust, especially with MDF. I have a full face respirator and had to use that when flying my spoil board and etching a grid on it. I’ll check my v-wheels tomorrow; hadn’t though of that yet.
FYI, you have made a t slot spoil board but it will wear out and I recommend you replace your spoil board when the time comes with the Myers Woodshop designed spoil board, clamps and fences. You can buy his design from etsy.com or get it free from his web site. Myers Woodshop has a youtube.com channel and he has some good stuff.
I originally used a T slot type but the clamps are always in the way. With the Myers clamps they are much lower then the type I see on your spoil board. With the clamps camming against the work it is help very well and you can use a much lower retract height in your projects. The lower retract height makes your projects go much faster. When you have a 10MM or 12MM or even higher a lot of time is wasted in retracting and lowering to make a cut. I typically run a 4MM retract height because I know that there is nothing for my router to run into. The Myers design has two big cam clamps and 4 small cam clamps. I made two additional large cam clamps with the design reversed. I found that his original design sometimes pulled my project away from the corner of the fence and the reversed cam clamps push the work tighter against the fences.
What I did not like about the T-slot is the MDF is mushy and you damage it every time you clamp. Plus the clamps stick up way too far in the air and you WILL run into one of them. Additionally I use the OOPS clamps from Suckit and they are very low profile as well. Clamping can one of the hardest things to master on CNC Routing.
In the picture I had some other design cam clamps but they were small and required additional pieces of scrap to reach some projects. The Myers large clamps are used 90% of the time by me and the L brackets are useful for making holding jigs for vcarving box lids.
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Hey GDon, Thanks for the tip. You are right about the t-track clamps sticking up too far. I almost hit one. Luckily I was watching for it and saw the collision coming in time to remove the clamp. I used the CNC to drill holes in the spoil-board slats so I could use the Kreg in-line clamps. They are only an 1 1/4 inch at their highest point. Most of the stock I’ve been using has been 3/4 inch so they didn’t stick up too much over the work piece. Plus I only used two to the sides I knew the spindle would not travel with bench dogs on the opposing sides. After I saw your post, I researched the eccentric clamp and found one that I decided on. Picture included. I found it on MTMWood’s channel on YouTube. The added distance extenders really make them work with my spoilboard since the t-tracks are still installed. These cam clamps are good for my workbench too.
Thanks again for your help.
Cheers
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