So my spoiler board is beat up. Always is. I actually just stack a new one on top of the old one out of laziness.
The other day I was playing with the R7 dust boot without the brushes. The vacuum was on, just going to clean up a small mess.
I dropped the dust boot and it fell flat on the board. There were a 100 paths leading out of it where I have cut too deep on a 1000 different jobs. This is on my personal machine. I just run and often don’t care if 1/2” material is actually 12.7mm or not. Ie 1/2” cast acrylic is actually 11.9 and 1/4” 5052 is actually 6.1. Whatever my tabs are large enough to deal.
When I dropped the clear flat acrylic on there though I noticed it sucked down a piece of 1/8” wood right next to it.
Vacuum table?
What if we cut a grid in the spoiler board, cut a 2.5” or 4” hole dead center and plugged a vacuum hose up to it from the bottom. Seems it would work. Anyone try anything like this?
One thing to note, MDF is porous enough that it will allow a vacuum to pull through even a solid surface. So if you want to focus the vacuum force, you will need to either seal the MDF, or use a HDPE or other non-porous material. Also a good vacuum will be need, most shop vacs will do a decent job, but sealing it will be a big deal.
I am working on a large area, self sealing, vacuum table for thin material, that leverages a shop vac.
@Aaron_Troxel good point. Since I have a dust boot now, so will most of us soon, I’m looking at dust collection systems. Trying to figure out why harbor freights cental machinery unit is more powerful than $1800.00 units and only 200. The CNCzone guys swear buy this thing. Gotta be a reason it is so cheap.
Collecting is one thing. Holding onto the fine particles in the filter is entirely different (I have no connection to this other than owning one). http://billpentz.com/woodworking/cyclone/
@Steve_Epstein completely agree. Wood scares the crud out of me. I hardly ever work with it due to articles like these! I like plastics and metal. But this was one thing that inspired me to move into the dust boot. I get jealous as heck watching the amazing wood stuff you guys create so I’m going in both barrels. Looks like this HF unit has a 5 micron filter but guys are buying a 30 micron bag. Even if I run the thing to every piece of equipment I own I still should (with waste gates) be able to play with a vacuum table set up. I’m tired of holding tabs.
I use vacuum clamping a lot for gluing operations. I have an old refrigerant tank and I suck it down with a old compressor from a junked refrigerator. When I need to clamp I open the jig to the reservoir and leave the pump on. You need enough vacuum to hold the part if a corner lifts off (CFM) and enough hold down force to keep the part from moving (mm of mg). The tank increases my CFM.
@Colin_Kaminski interesting approach. Super maker!
Having used vacuum test fixtures on PC boards for years, we needed a good CFM flow initially to get the plates down and seals engaged, but once sealed, cfm needs drop. A flat support level is needed to get the plate or board flat, as it may bow inward if not supported. We used closed cell foam, foam tape, and CA glue to make up durable custom gaskets. As you cut openings in your plate, more cfm will be needed unless those areas are isolated from the vacuum areas.
To be sure, we had multiple pounds from hundreds of 1/2 oz spring test probes to compress, so we needed much more volume than what should be needed for this type work. Remember its pounds per square inch, and 1atm is about 14.7 psi at sea level. You guys in Denver …a little less.
@Donald_Loocke seems you have the experience needed. If one is starting with 1550 CFM at sea level, how does one know the type of drop increase as job progresses needed for all of our cuts? Over power and hope for the best? Can you over power?
There are a couple of very good dust collection sites that covers this. Will try to locate and post them later. The cfm is clearly the key to move enough air to capture fine dust. I have a similar unit to the 2 hp harbor freight units. Had mine for almost twenty years now. Upgraded with a Thein baffel and tossed the bag filter for a much better 5 micro pleated one. I always did hear the best method was to blow it all outside…but then the guy next door may have an issue… so with a closed shop, capture is what you have to do. BTW, some of THE worst dust is MDF fine dust… also the larger units are less irritating than a screaming cheap shop vac.
Steve posted Bill’s site. I think it is one of the best.