[sonicwonder2000]

Hi gang. I'm a long-time lurker, who has finished designing and accumulating about 75% of my cnc parts, but am at a loss on dust collection.

I have done an extensive search here, but without direct experience on how much dust is generated, I am even more confused than I was before ...

The problem is that I am going to be operating in my father's garage, so cleanliness is paramount. My Dad notices even fine dust on anything (think O.C.D ), so a GREAT dust collection system will have to be designed into the unit from the get-go. The cnc footprint is 52" x 36" and it will be used to cut mainly wood, plastic, and some aluminum. I am thinking of using a large shop-vac that I own and venting the collection exhaust out of the garage so fine particles are not distributed indoors.

My questions are:
1) Will a shop-vac suffice for this or will a "cyclone" type collector be necessary. Space is also a consideration.

2) How effective are the router attached "dust hoods" I see everyone using? Will they substantially trap all airborne particles?

3) I am considering completely boxing in the CNC with a dust hood/box unit to entrap dust. This would be the least preferable method, but brute-force will be necessary if option #2 is not effective. Has anyone done this with their cnc??

Thanks for any clarification you can provide.

[Regnar]

The problem with using shopvacs is not the exauhsted dust but the lack of dust pick up. With a brand new filter and a nicely design system it will just be a short matter of time before you loose the suction to dust. Even with most over the counter dust collectors you will have dust getting through the bags. Your best bet is a cyclone, but takes up mores space requires more power than a shopvac and usually are not portable so if your dad wants to park the car in the garage it might not work for you. You should google Bill Pentz. His website is filled with great information on dust collection.

I short/cheap alternative is to get a cyclone for your shopvac. I dont want to say this is the best thing in the world because I recieved mine in the mail right before my trip and I will not be able to run it for another week or two. http://store.oneida-air.com/dust-deputy-diy.aspx

[mkc2]

found one on the cnczone so i made it and works great cutting mdf,
no dust outside the machine as long as the boot stays over the job its perfect for my garage.
Here's the link for the one i made.



http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=67663

[nlancaster]

Regnar, Let us know how that works. Looks like it works fine in the video.

[freecncplans]

I have used a shop vac to clean up loose dust and they quit working very fast if you do not keep the filter cleaned (note...all the time). I bought a dust collector from Harbor Freight and it works so far. I know it doesn't move the rated amount of air, but it works much better than a shop vac. I got my dust collector for $157 including tax. Getting every drop of dust is almost impossible. Venting outside may be frowned upon by close neighbors and the dust can still gather where it exits.

I am going to use Bill Pentz's cyclone plan for my machine when I can afford it. Check out Clear Vue Cyclones cyclones.

Sean

[cdndave]

Hi Sean,

you might want to check your URL - it links to discovery education store

try www.clearvuecyclones.com instead

Dave

I am going to use Bill Pentz's cyclone plan for my machine when I can afford it. Check out Clear Vue cyclones.

Sean

[solodex2151]

I have used a shop vac to clean up loose dust and they quit working very fast if you do not keep the filter cleaned (note...all the time). I bought a dust collector from Harbor Freight and it works so far. I know it doesn't move the rated amount of air, but it works much better than a shop vac. I got my dust collector for $157 including tax. Getting every drop of dust is almost impossible. Venting outside may be frowned upon by close neighbors and the dust can still gather where it exits.

I am going to use Bill Pentz's cyclone plan for my machine when I can afford it. Check out Clear Vue cyclones.

Sean

I highly recommend Bill Pentz's cyclone designs. You should be able to build a good chunk of it with the CNC machine. That said, venting outside is the best possible thing but you need to check your local ordinances to see if it is allowed.

That said, if you can vent outside you are 3/4 of the way there. A delta dust collector will do pretty well with a 4" tube if you use a floating brush setup to trap the fine dust. If you must vent indoors, Bill Pentz's system is probably the best.

Regards,

Nate
www.finelineautomation.com

[acondit]

I have a neighbor that vents his dust collector through the wall of the garage to the outside but has the bag filters outside, so it basically gets most of the dust out of the shop but also keeps most of it from the outside air.

Alan

[Jack000]

I tried the clear vinyl skirt, but found that the vacuum tended to warp the vinyl, leaving some very large holes for the dust to escape.

[freecncplans]

Oops, sorry bout the incorrect URL. I guess that happens when I stay up too late.

As far as blowing the dust outside, we are in the country on several acres and my father-in-law owns the land next to my shop. He doesn't even live here anymore and we pretty much do what we want with it. I would blow all the dust out, but I need to collect some of it so I can dispose of it in the dry state.

Sean

[stevespo]

There are some good dust hood designs scattered around the CNCzone. For a few years, I used some clear plastic as a skirt with a 2.5" dust hose connected to my Oneida cyclone. This was ok, but the plastic occasionally got caught by a bit, or got pulled up towards the air intake causing it to loose suction.

For me, this has been a much better design. I can use very small cutters, all the way up to 1.5" diameter. The brush (door seal brush) creates a good seal, focuses the air around the cutter, and remains very flexible for 3d cuts. I can still see what is happening around the cutter. You can design for different height brushes if you anticipate a wide range of Z movements or very long cutters.

Steve

[analogman]

Stevespo, I really like that shoe. How did you glue the brush to that plastic?

[stevespo]

It's hard to see in the grainy photo, but I routed a 1/8" wide x 1/8" deep circular groove in the base and then just super glued the brush in. I thought I would work out a way to make interchangeable brushes, but it's actually pretty easy to just make a 2nd fixture with longer brushes for the longest bits. I honestly haven't needed it yet. The fixture is very simple, just 1/4" Lexan super glued together.

Steve

[BobF]

My collector originally used a brush which I liked, but the only brush I found had a metal back and could not easily be made circular, so I went to clear vinyl. In order to prevent the vinyl from flexing so much, I wanted thick vinyl. You can buy a single strip of the very thick material they use for the hanging doors in industrial settings. I got one strip at Mcmaster.com for I think about $8. Its .060 material and doesn't get sucked up into the collector as the thinner stuff. My collector is a round end rectangle and I attach the skirt with velcro. Now I can easily change it to a longer skirt for longer bits. I can also remove it to change bits.

[mattgatten]

This is my little machine with a vacuum foot. I lose some Z travel where the hose connection comes in contact with the gantry. That means I can't raise the attachment any higher. I'm in the process of designing a ring that will let me mount it with the hose connected in the front. Then I can raise it as high as I want.

I catch about 90-95% of everything that gets cut. I don't know how you guys are catching it all.

Also, this machine has a dedicated 1hp dust collector with a 4 ft run of hose to keep the CFM's up.

Here is a link to it in action.

[stevespo]

I had some extra door/seal brush left over from a project. This bent quite nicely into a circle, and is about 1" long. The Rigid (Home Depot brand) shop vac comes with a brush that slides right out of the plastic housing. You can also buy this separately. The brush is thick, but flexible, 1.75" long, and already bent in a 2.5" diameter circle. I'm going to use this for my next hood when I need a longer brush.

I think you get the most efficient collection by focusing the air close to the cutter. The offset bases (like my first one) lose suction when the brush/plastic loses contact with the work surface. By tightening up on the brush size and focusing the air, I bet I collect 99% of the debris. The tiniest amount of chips escape, but it's minimal. YMMV.

I also moved my hose to the front, so I don't sacrifice any travel. Definitely do that with your design.

Steve

[ger21]

You'd probably get a lot more of the dust if you ran the 4" hose al the way to the machine. Going down to the2.5" hose really hurts performance.

This is my little machine with a vacuum foot. I lose some Z travel where the hose connection comes in contact with the gantry. That means I can't raise the attachment any higher. I'm in the process of designing a ring that will let me mount it with the hose connected in the front. Then I can raise it as high as I want.

I catch about 90-95% of everything that gets cut. I don't know how you guys are catching it all.

Also, this machine has a dedicated 1hp dust collector with a 4 ft run of hose to keep the CFM's up.

Here is a link to it in action.

[sonicwonder2000]

Thanks for the useful input. Given the less tahn 100% efficiency of these collection devices, I think my best bet may be going with a fully-boxed enclosure. I will couple this with a shop vac, cyclone, and vent outside to minimize airborne dust.

[solodex2151]

Thanks for the useful input. Given the less tahn 100% efficiency of these collection devices, I think my best bet may be going with a fully-boxed enclosure. I will couple this with a shop vac, cyclone, and vent outside to minimize airborne dust.

What I would do would be a combination of both. I would have a shoe with a 4" hose to grab the most of the dust and then an enclosure with another 4" hose to grab want escapes. Feed those 2 4" hoses into a 6" pipe going to your cyclone and you should be good. If you just use the enclosure the big chips are going to stay on the table.

Regards,

Nate

[sonicwonder2000]

What I would do would be a combination of both. I would have a shoe with a 4" hose to grab the most of the dust and then an enclosure with another 4" hose to grab want escapes. Feed those 2 4" hoses into a 6" pipe going to your cyclone and you should be good. If you just use the enclosure the big chips are going to stay on the table.

Regards,

Nate

Do you have any pics of your setup?