[Senna]

Chris... I just whipped out an exhaust deflector for you. The piece of HDMW I had on hand was just slightly smaller than the diameter of the Hitachi router body but is larger than the diameter of the cast exhaust ports. Being smaller than the router body is important as it shouldn't interfere with a typical dust shoe attachment method.

It took me about 10 minutes to turn and drill the attachment holes. I put it on my router and it fits perfectly and works great! It's sitting here waiting to go into Hitachi service...! OH... I used M4 (I think that's what they are...) flat headed socket cap screws to replace the two screws that attach the bearing dust plate. You remove the dust plate screws and put the deflector over top of the plate... line everything up and install the two slightly longer replacement screws. I took the collet nut off just to make things easier. Simple.

Happy cutting!!!
Steve

[FandZ]

Chris... I just whipped out an exhaust deflector for you. The piece of HDMW I had on hand was just slightly smaller than the diameter of the Hitachi router body but is larger than the diameter of the cast exhaust ports. Being smaller than the router body is important as it shouldn't interfere with a typical dust shoe attachment method.

It took me about 10 minutes to turn and drill the attachment holes. I put it on my router and it fits perfectly and works great! It's sitting here waiting to go into Hitachi service...! OH... I used M4 (I think that's what they are...) flat headed socket cap screws to replace the two screws that attach the bearing dust plate. You remove the dust plate screws and put the deflector over top of the plate... line everything up and install the two slightly longer replacement screws. I took the collet nut off just to make things easier. Simple.

Happy cutting!!!
Steve

Thanks a TON Steve!!! That's what I love about the zone, every member always tries to ensure the success of the next member. This community really is like no other. And don't you worry, I'm going to put it to great use.

Chris

[Senna]

Hi Chris,

Did the deflector get there...?

I was hoping to see your dust shoe design but decided to work out a dust shoe of my own in Aspire today. I drew it up and test cut the file in some 3/8" pressboard underlayment I had laying around. It's a take-off of Kent's split shoe design... having a plate that clamps to the router body and a brush plate that registers with a recess in the clamped body plate. Four sets of neodymium magnets will secure the brush plate to the clamped body plate. With as strong as these things are... I might have to go with only 2 sets... we shall see...!

For the skirt material I'm playing around with a 24" concrete broom I picked up at Home Depot today. It has 3" synthetic bristles and looks like it will work great but I'll need to do some re-sawing and cutting it into the lengths needed for fitment to the shoes brush plate. I'll have the pics of the shoe build on my thread as it happens.

Steve

[FandZ]

No deflector yet but I'm sure it'll be in tomorrow. I have a pretty lazy mail man. I just moved to this place and shipments seem to take 1 to 2 days longer to get to me. There are places I order from on a by weekely basis and I've always received my orders in 3 days. Since I moved here, it's 4 to 5 days. What a difference a zipcode over can make.



I designed several different dust shoes. But since I'm using a K2 router mount, I've decided I'm just going to use the hole that comes with it to secure my dust show. I figured it's there so why not use it. If you look at the very top of the picture I'm attaching you'll see the hole. It's a bad picture but the only one I have on the PC.

Also looks at the Y axis carriages. Talk about a perfect fit. It was a relief to see they just cleared the X axis gantry base. On my model it showed it would work but I was nervous all the same.



Chris

Hi Chris,

Did the deflector get there...?

I was hoping to see your dust shoe design but decided to work out a dust shoe of my own in Aspire today. I drew it up and test cut the file in some 3/8" pressboard underlayment I had laying around. It's a take-off of Kent's split shoe design... having a plate that clamps to the router body and a brush plate that registers with a recess in the clamped body plate. Four sets of neodymium magnets will secure the brush plate to the clamped body plate. With as strong as these things are... I might have to go with only 2 sets... we shall see...!

For the skirt material I'm playing around with a 24" concrete broom I picked up at Home Depot today. It has 3" synthetic bristles and looks like it will work great but I'll need to do some re-sawing and cutting it into the lengths needed for fitment to the shoes brush plate. I'll have the pics of the shoe build on my thread as it happens.

Steve

[ATRepair]

I really like the design. It looks like it has rigidity that mine is missing. I hope you can post videos of it in action soon. This gives me some good ideas for my next build.

[FandZ]

I really like the design. It looks like it has rigidity that mine is missing. I hope you can post videos of it in action soon. This gives me some good ideas for my next build.

Thanks for the compliments. I plan to post some videos soon. I'm still tinkering with it and contemplating on a little upgrade. Hopefully this upcoming weekend I'll start putting it through it's paces and give it a proper test.



Chris

[Senna]

Chris,

The mystery of your missing deflector is solved. I've been concerned that it hadn't arrived last Saturday as I mailed it Priority First Class which is a 3 day delivery. It turned up in my box this morning as undeliverable. Not sure why unless I screwed up the address. I'll PM you to confirm. I'm really sorry for the hold-up... I know the waiting is difficult when you are so close...!!!

Steve

[FandZ]

Chris,

The mystery of your missing deflector is solved. I've been concerned that it hadn't arrived last Saturday as I mailed it Priority First Class which is a 3 day delivery. It turned up in my box this morning as undeliverable. Not sure why unless I screwed up the address. I'll PM you to confirm. I'm really sorry for the hold-up... I know the waiting is difficult when you are so close...!!!

Steve

No worries Steve. I was going to PM you and check on the address. Since I just moved here I was wonder if I may have given you the wrong address.


Chris

[CarveOne]

No worries Steve. I was going to PM you and check on the address. Since I just moved here I was wonder if I may have given you the wrong address.


Chris

Make sure that you filed a forwarding address with the US Post Office. They don't automatically do it for you. That was real evident when I used to maintain a database of 10,000 members for an organization once. I spent a lot of time trying to keep address changes updated and finding "lost" members when they moved.

CarveOne

[Senna]

OK Chris...

I added the missing numeral component to your address and the deflector package went out today! I expect you'll see it Thur or Friday. Fingers crossed...!

I sure hope your machine progress wasn't delayed just by this snafu...???

Steve

[FandZ]

OK Chris...

I added the missing numeral component to your address and the deflector package went out today! I expect you'll see it Thur or Friday. Fingers crossed...!

I sure hope your machine progress wasn't delayed just by this snafu...???

Steve

None in the least. Having a dual X axis drive setup is new to me. With my previous machines I haven't had to worry about aliment or the case of having only one motor stall on an axis. With this machine if one side stalls, it will pull the rollers out of alignment on the other side. There's no give in the gantry so the X axis roller assemblies end up taking all the twist. So I'm taking my time learning its limits.


I'm attaching two pictures of an upgrade I'm contemplating making. Option one is a plate that will join the rollers to the gantry base. That way if one side stalls the carriages can't be pulled out of alignment.

The other option will require me to replace the gantry riser base. I'm leaning towards option 1 since it will not restrict my fixtures.

There is a 3rd option, simply run the machine within it's capabilities. Personally, I like to dummy proof things though.

[CNC Lurker]

That is a sweet build! The thought of a cost-effective bolt-together sounds great.

I would like to do something similar, except maybe use one stepper on the X-axis and connect the 2 ACME screws with a belt and pulley system (like the Solsylva models). For me, it would only be for budget reasons to use a 3 stepper package instead of 4.

[Senna]

Chris,

Obviously you haven't been able to carve out any free time lately to move your project forward. Hope you manage to get back at it soon...!

I've made a bit of progress with my machine. I finally got a dust shoe designed and machined that makes the grade! Very pleased with it!

I also had my 8020 Erector Set Router Build thread moved to the DIY-CNC Router Table Machines forum. It fits better than where I had it now that I'm up and running.

Get to cutting...!

Steve

[FandZ]

I can't believe it's been so long since I've updated this thread. Earlier on I had some issues with the machine that turned out to be wiring in the plugs for the motors. Since then the machine has been through several upgrades and now has a cutting area of roughly 42x16. It has been a good machine and a great learning experience. It has paid for itself many times over and now is supporting me and my family. Can't express how grateful I am to this community and to cncrouterparts.

Things now are kinda at the point where I need to upgrade again to either 4x4 or 8x4 foot work area cnc. The pictures below are of half my workshop. The left part of my double bay workshop is for cnc work, cutout, tab sanding, and then finally a detail sanding station. I've also made upgrades to my shops dust collection and now use a vornado type dust collection system that vents straight out of the window you see the exhaust fan in. I'll try and get pictures of it up at some point. The right side of my shop beyond the curtain is divided into a drying booth, a storage area and hopefully a spray booth to come.

I've also attached a picture of a low floor desk that I made for my children to do their homework on. It's something I may start selling in the future as it's been such a great tool for my children to stay on task while doing their homework. I'm actually talking with a teacher that is opening an immersion school who is interested in trying them out to see if it helps her pre-k students work better.

It's been an adventure to say the least. I still have a ways to go to reach my long term cnc goals. Anyhow, I'll try and get more pictures of my dust collection upgrades up.

[CarveOne]

Hi again Chris. Glad to see that you have been using it on a regular basis. I'm still making upgrade after upgrade to my two machines and doing more of the "3D" projects.

[FandZ]

Hey Carveone. I'm going to have check your thread out for updates. I think the last 3d work I've done were some wall tiles. But I have done almost 700 hours of machine time over the past 6 months or so. It's been busy. 2.5d is pretty much all I do now. Funny thing is I got into cnc machines for 3d replication of ideas I had. CNC, it's a way of life.

[CarveOne]

Check out my website homepage, Additional Photos folder, and the Downloads folder. It's faster than reading my two main build logs here.

[FandZ]

I have to say, I love that huge clothes pin you made! gives me some ideas for sure. I have to make one. Awesome work all around.

[CarveOne]

I glued two layers of 3/4" poplar board to make that 18" one. Three or four #64 rubber bands serve as the "spring". They are twisted double before putting them on the clothes pin.

I made a couple of 8" ones with red oak scraps as well. Smaller rubber bands work well for those. I figured that I would terrorize some old housewives with the sight of that big clothes pin. It would probably give them nightmares. Younger women probably don't even know what they are used for.

[CarveOne]

Here ya go. Aspire .crv3d and DXF files, gcode, photo, and simulation image are included in the attached .zip file. I used a 1/2" down spiral carbide end mill and two pieces of 7-1/2 x 20" poplar glued together, but just make it 1-1/2" thick with anything you want to make it from. The cutter needs to have flutes that can go that deep.