[indycraft]

I finished this shoe yesterday and tried it out while routing a nest. It works well. I do have some concerns about the brushes catching on the work but have some ideas on how to minimize catching. It did catch while routing the nest but not enough to cause problems.

One of the ends slips out to facilitate bit changes.

[todd71]

Looks pretty cool. But do you have to set the tool length down
past the bottom of the "box" to cut? Having to do so could lead
to finish and dimensional problems. With the tool so long you'll
have lots of tool deflection. You want to be able to "choke up"
on the tool as much as possible.

[indycraft]

Looks pretty cool. But do you have to set the tool length down
past the bottom of the "box" to cut? Having to do so could lead
to finish and dimensional problems. With the tool so long you'll
have lots of tool deflection. You want to be able to "choke up"
on the tool as much as possible.

Hello Todd,

Thanks. The box "floats" on the surface of the material and remains on top of the material even as the z axis goes up and down. I can set the bits in the router normally. The box can and does catch on the hold down straps that secure material to the worktop but not enough to cause a problem...........so far.

Bart

[johnmac]

Looks nice. I need to build something like this. Where did you find the brush strips?

John

[indycraft]

Looks nice. I need to build something like this. Where did you find the brush strips?

John

Hello John,

Thank you. You can find brush strips and holders at McMaster-Carr or MSC Direct.

Bart

[Claude Boudreau]

Hello Todd,

Thanks. The box "floats" on the surface of the material and remains on top of the material even as the z axis goes up and down. I can set the bits in the router normally. The box can and does catch on the hold down straps that secure material to the worktop but not enough to cause a problem...........so far.

Bart

I am curious about the independent movement of your box...can you show a picture of the way you mounted this , seem fixed to the router to me...

[indycraft]

I am curious about the independent movement of your box...can you show a picture of the way you mounted this , seem fixed to the router to me...

Hello Claude,

I think these pictures will give you a good idea of how this works.

Bart

[todd71]

Way cool !!!!! :cheers:

[indycraft]

Way cool !!!!! :cheers:

Thank you Todd.

I really can't take any credit for this concept. I searched the internet.....got some ideas and applied them to my needs.

Bart

[Claude Boudreau]

Great idea indycraft,

Is there something holding the two parts together when you home your z axis?

[indycraft]

Great idea indycraft,

Is there something holding the two parts together when you home your z axis?

Thank you Claude.

No.......the shoe is too short to home with it in place.

Bart

[mrmfwilson]

Here is a good source for brushes. Metal Back Strip Conveyor Brushes by VALUE BRAND - Conveyor Brushes by Zoro Tools Industrial Supplies
Also check this thread for other dust shoe ideas. http://www.cnczone.com/forums/diy-cn...dust_shoe.html

The floating box is great! What a great idea.

[adprinter]

Hello Claude,

I think these pictures will give you a good idea of how this works.

Bart

Looking at your photos, it looks very similar to the earliest iteration I tried on mine for a dust shoe. The final version ended up just having a plexiglass top, mounted to a plywood frame, which was routed along the bottom edge for mounting the brush strip.
The thing measures 9"x18" to accommodate a 4" diameter flex hose, so instead of mounting to the Z axis, I designed the final version to be a sort of a cross between a dust shoe, and a pressure foot.
In other words, the Z axis is separate from the dust shoe (so it doesn't have to bear the extra weight of the dust shoe). I cut a 3.5" diameter hole in the plexiglass top, thru which the router cutter plunges up and down. Tool changes are easy, since the dust shoe remains on the table, the router is simply jogged up out of the opening in the top of the dust shoe.
However, this "convenience" added a new problem: longer tool length was needed, for the cutter to be able to reach thru the dust shoe, and still achieve the desired cutting depths. So I machined tool holders for any tooling less than 2" in length. This was necessary on my machine to provide the clearance needed for the spindle lock plate (which I added a couple of years ago).
On the bottom side of the plexiglass, I mounted a 4" diameter LED ring to shed some light on the subject (Halo light).
The whole assembly is mounted on 2 steel rods, oriented vertically, which ride between grooved bearings- (sliding glass door bearings) this allows it to "float" along the work surface on the tips of the brush bristles. The dust shoe project turned into a major ordeal, trying to come up with a design which would actually collect ALL of the dust. I ended up having to mount a plywood border around the perimeter of the table (to provide a membrane which the brush strip could actually seal against, when cutting near the edge of the table).
The plywood border was added, after observing that whenever the router was cutting near the edge of the table, the dust shoe was actually off the edge of the table. This "broke the seal" of the brush strips against the table, and a lot of dust would not get picked up. Adding the plywood border corrected the problem.

[Analias]

Nice work Bart.

I like that you can see through it. I nitpick over my cuts too much to simply kick them off without being able to see how they are working out. I would end up not running with the dust shoe off so I could see the cut. Your method allows the operator to see the progress of the cut.

Do you have any videos of it in action? I would like to see how well it floats vertically over the work.

-Freeman