Today was my first day using the sweepy v2. What I noticed is that when the bristles hit the wood that the router was cutting, it would occasionally cause my z-axis to slip upwards. Has anyone else experienced this issue and have a work around? As it didn’t come with installation instructions, perhaps I installed it incorrectly? I tried to extend my bit as long as it could go, but eventually, the bristles will hit the working material.
Previous to the sweepy v2, I had printed a dust boot from thingyverse and I used vinyl strips instead of hard bristle - didn’t suck all the dust, but never had it impact my z-axis.
Ideally you should initially set the Sweepy height so as to take into account the final cut depth, i.e. if your are going to cut 1" deep, set it something like 0.75" above the stock surface, so that at the end of the cut it only compresses the bristles by 0.25". If you initially set it too low, near the end of the cut it may push onto the stock too much, and even skip Z steps. This is true for any variable-height dust shoe, but even with the Sweepy bristles placed higher than the stock surface, you should still get a decent suction
Actually, I found the Sweepy v2 bristles much softer than those on the v1 and unlikely to affect the Z-axis.
As Julien pointed out, it’s a good idea to set the height it based on the final depth of cut, but I prefer to keep the Sweepy low - to catch as much dust/chips as possible - but use feed-hold to pause the process and adjust it accordingly.
Yes, the slipping is when the bristles go deeper into the wood (and not in the first 0.25"). I thought I had mounted the sweepy as high as it could go on my dewalt 611 but then looking at the photos (Step 8 Spindle Installation - Carbide 3D) the plastic collar with the dewalt logo is removed - this should give me more height. I’ll give that a try and report back.
Hmm, must be doing something wrong. I removed the collar but realized that the window for the spindle lock button doesn’t align if I push it up further (see 1). Not a deal breaker, but I still can’t push it further up because the hole diameter with the bristle brush isn’t wide enough to accommodate the size of the router diameter (see 2). So for this small carving bit, the bristles are much longer.
You have a 69mm Sweepy right?
For carving with a tiny/pointy tool like that (which is not going to generate massive amounts of chips) I would probably just run without the bristles
Also, once the tool is in place, you shouldn’t really need to access the lock button.
Not having a DeWalt router I’m not sure if you can use spanners (wrenches) to secure the tool, but just be aware there has been at least one issue (on this forum) where the lock button has jammed, causing the casing of the router to break. I can’t find that thread, though. sorry
