Just got my new machine setup with the sweepy dust boot connected to a festool CT 15 dust extractor. I ran some test pieces to check for square and machine tolerance, about a 15 min job on domestic AC plywood. I noticed my Dylos Pro particle meter was reading kind of high about 1000 (Shop is normally around 130-350) ppm in the 0.5 micron to 2.5 micron range. I have an ambient shop filter that I setup with a Wynn environmental merv 15 filter that usually does a pretty good job when I’m using other tools with dust extractor (sander, track saw, miter saw, etc) but it doesn’t seem to keep up with the CNC router. I usually use a mask; N95 throw away, RZ reusable, or 3M P99 respirator, but I can’t seem to find any of the above with the current COVID-19 PPE demand/shortage. Any suggestions on improving the dust management on my machine?
Do you have an enclosure? If not, I highly recommend one for containment.
Hello @EngineerNate
Maybe you have a leak in a hose connection, or the dust boot is set too high?
1000ppm sounds really high.
I had the PPM go down when I added dust collection to my XXL. So I do think something isn’t right.
Hope you work it out.
Also, welcome to the club!
Jairo
Thanks for the response. An enclosure is on my list of things to do more for safety but the dust containment will be a nice bonus! As far as the dust boot goes how low should the brush go with respect to the end mill and the work piece? In this case I was cutting 3/4 inch plywood all the way through. The bristles weren’t touching the surface until the last half of the cut. My festool is running a cheep non anti-static plastic hose that came with it. Thinking about upgrading to their nicer braided hoses in either 27 mm or 36 mm. Would that make much difference?
A 27 or 36mm hose is for portable use and just not going to flow very much air, even with a high pressure difference suction. Keeping the brush or curtain of the dust shoe close to the workpiece is going to be pretty important, boots like the PWNCNC are “Z independent” which means they sit at a constant height making it easier to control distance on some cut paths.
Alternatively, a high volume dust extraction system on a 4" (100mm) hose will flow a lot more air (about an order of magnitude more) which will do a lot better sucking the chips and dust away from the tool head, this is also useful for other fixed tools such as table saws, bandsaws, disc sanders etc.
An enclosure even a make shift one for the interim, would help quite a bit: safety, sound suppression, and dust containment can be checked off.
As Liam mentioned, if you’re performing a lot of through cuts, it may be more useful to look into a Z-independent dust boot. I have a SuckIt Pro and it’s definitely not a panacea for all dust collecting scenarios, but having it Z-independent, I’m at least able to keep the brushes in contact with the top surface of my work piece at all times.
I dedicated my CT Mini to my XXL and my Dylos Pro doesn’t go up too much. I run my air filtration system at all times in the shop as well, and on a high setting. It does a great job of keep the small particle counts down.
As mentioned, an enclosure is going to be the best bet. I’ve yet to enclose mine, but I have it planned for the near future.
Thanks for the replies I ordered a PwnCNC dust boot to give that a go. I’m not interested in 4 in dust collection at this time, I guess I’ll start converting my table to an enclosure this weekend. Any one running the ultimate dust deputy on the smaller CT vacs (mini, midi, ct15)?
CT Midi + [clone of] dust deputy here, it works great, I guess the real deal would be even better (at least in terms of integration / stacking them)
There is a company that makes a hose sleeve that does the anti static thing. I need to find it and I’ll post the link.
I got this dust collector about 6 months ago and I’m very happy with it. I have it connected to 6 different power tools including my Shapeoko and I’m very happy with the results. The sucking power is awesome even when sucking from 3 tools at the same time.
I have the Oneida Dust Deputy on mine. Hose fittings, especially Festool, are loose, as they hit the elbow joint. The straight connector doesn’t work any better, also loose. Thought about trimming the dust deputy down a bit.
Speaking of stacking, that sorta sucks on the mini. It comes unhooked a lot. Really I wouldn’t recommend it.
I have the jet dc1100 (pre vortex). It is a great DC. I made it much better by adding the onieda 4 inch dust deputy. I get no dust in the DC bag. With no dust in the bag there is very little dust in the filter. This keeps my cfm up and dust in the shop down.
I got the same DC, and since I have the dust deputy, I think I will be following you as well. I have the dust deputy installed on my shop VAC, but I think I will use it for now, and get another one later. Thanks for the idea.
Ahmed,
Just to be clear I have the 4" Super Dust Deputy. There is a 2.5" Dust Deputy that would not be suitable for a DC1100. I got the 4" Onieda Super Dust Deputy with the collection barrel. They had a 5" and 6" model available but no collection bucket with them. My DC1100 has a 6" inlet but I had already used a 6 to 4 inch adapter and all my hoses are 4 inches so the Super Dust Deputy and the bucket was the best fit for me.
Thanks for pointing this out, I don’t think I can spend $235 fot it right now. I will use the one I have with the 2.5" ports till I can afford to get it.
https://www.amazon.com/Oneida-Air-Systems-Deputy-Deluxe/dp/B06Y37FF9D/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=4"+oneida+super+dust+deputy+with+the+collection+barrel.&qid=1594631066&sr=8-1
I bought an old nilfisk canister vacuum and added a dust deputy to it. The vacuum sits under the shapeoko and the dust deputy is on a shelf on the left side of my enclosure. These items plus the centec vacuum hose from amazon makes a great setup. The hose has a quick disconnect so you can unplug it from the sweepy easily.
When I buy shop items I comparison shop. Amazon is not always the cheapest. My Woodcraft store was $211.00. some online stores are cheaper but shipping makes them about what Amazon with prime costs. Many products cost the same every where like Kreg and Festool.
I searched for a bit but couldn’t find the sleeve I was thinking about. I seems as though that there are many inexpensive anti static hoses available now. This link has the most popular ones in a list form.
Top 10 anti static vac hoses
This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.