Thanks Guys.

Sean: It has a 5 hp motor and the company says 1442 CFM. Here is a link to the company's specs for this system: www.clearvuecyclones.com/Specifications.htm

Robert: I've got more pictures of the pieces that I took while I was building it. They're on a CD around here somewhere. I'll try to post them this evening.

Yesterday I cut some 3/4" thick mdf into 10"x11" rectangles and the DC pulled them up into the foot. Had to add tabs to keep them in place. I have the foot optimized for a 1/4" endmill and I'm anxious to see how well it performs when I use a 1/2 endmill to surface the spoilboard since I'm not using a skirt and the foot will be forced to be another inch or two above the cutting surface. I'll let y'all know.

Hello Doug.
You really are ending up with a nice machine .
Know you need a big vacuum or that monster is going to swallow everything.:D
I wonder how nicely sophisticate is going to end the MECMATE, when nice craftsman like yourself and many others keep giving new ideas.:):)
Regards to all

Well done Doug!

For everyone reading this: As Doug noticed, a big dust collector can lift the work off the table. Also watch the fire risks. Electrical grounding is vitally important to prevent build up of static electricity and arcing/sparking.

Thanks for the reminder Gerald. I'm not properly grounded yet.

Attached are more pictures of the different pieces that went into my DC foot.

The squarish looking piece is the front of the foot. I shaped it from thin aluminum sheetmetal. The hole in the middle of it is for the router collet and bit to fit through. The gray plastic piece is the hub from a 3 inch PVC fitting that I turned to a slightly smaller dimension on my lathe. It fits almost perfectly into the bottom of a Milwaukee router.

The photo to the right is the DC Foot before it was completely riveted. I used duct tape to hold the sheetmetal in position. Then I coated the seams with mastic. The vertical pipe was created from flat sheetmetal rather than using off-the-shelf 6" ductwork. The reason I did that was so that I could wrap it around the outside of the hub of the transition rather than inserting it into the hub which would create a lip that would catch sawdust, threads, etc.

The next photo is a view of the bracket at the top of the Z-axis. It was flat 1/2" X 1/8" steel that I curved around some 6" PVC pipe. Then I welded a 1/4" threaded stub to the band and drilled a hole in the Z-axis stiffening tube. I also used some 3/4" conduit around the bolt stub to hold it in place.

The bottom photo is a view of the sheetmetal transition before I trimmed it and added the front of the foot. Also, you can barely see where I had to trim the bottom of the car so the foot would fit. The piece I cut out is directly behind the bolt that holds the bottom of the spider plate to the car.

It took me several days to build this foot but I'm very slow. If anyone needs additional information, don't hesitate to ask.

Doug,
Your dust foot looks great. Do you have any pictures of stuff you have been cutting on your machine?

Heath,

I haven't cut much because the dust was killing me. So far, I've just been goofing around with it. I haven't even surfaced the spoilboard yet.

Doug,
No problem, I have a hard time with MDF dust myself. That stuff is horrible. Great stuff to work with, but the dust kills me. :( What are you going to be doing with the machine when you are going?

On the health hazard of MDF dust, please realise that there are different types of MDF with some being a lot more unhealthy than others. Try to find low formaldehyde MDF's like Trupan from Chile. Your lungs, and your cutting bits, will thank you.

Do these switches need the protective covers?
* APBD (double switch cover for #BD)
* APBF (single switch cover for #BF2/BF3)

Thanks very much for putting together this list of parts!

Hey David,

I'm assuming you're talking about those clear rubber membranes that go over the top of the push buttons. If so, the answer is no? I did not use them.

Doug,

Taking me some time to catch up on all the posts, but I'm getting there.

Nice work on the dust collection system and foot. Nothing bigger than a few microns is getting past that system.

My clearvue is still in the box. :(

Thanks Greg. You're going to love the system. I'm glad to read you are feeling better and getting back to work.

Doug's cyclone - aka - ozark trailer hitch chrome removal system!:eek:
(clearly said with pride and jealousy)

Might seem like a silly question, but, can you use some of the vacuum from the dust collector to drive a vacuum hold down? The idea crossed my mind while reading several posts on these powerful dust collectors.

Paul

Paul,

That's a great idea. I would assume that since the vacuum hold down is just holding with negative pressure, in theory it should work. Your vacuum system might have to be beefed up. I would be interested in something like this, one less electrical drain.

MIKE

Sorry guys, but doing doing both hold-down and dust collection with one "sucker" is very seldom a success. For hold-down you want minimum flow with max pressure / for dust collection you want max flow with minimum pressure......it is very seldom that these two requirements will meet without big compromises on either side.

It's powerful but not THAT powerful.:)

Doug,

In your post #87, (yes, your pictures are quite helpful :) )you show a picture of the "E stop" enclosure box on the cable track side.

You drilled two holes on the bottom (next to the motor) and there are two wires entering/exiting the enclosure.

What are those wires for?

Greg J,

Those are just the cables connecting to the other enclosure boxes. Those waterproof/dustproof connectors on the ends of the boxes were too small to fit all of the cables in them so I just drilled some new holes.

Doug,

Can't say enough how much your pictures are helping.

I'm in the shop wondering where the shield ground for the motor cables should go. I run back to the house and see how Doug did it. :)

Thanks.

I'm flattered and glad I can help but if I were you, I'd be copying JR's work.:)

Let me know if you need a better picture of something. I'll be happy to take more if you need it.

Greg,

You are also helping me, I copied your Many other Gr8 builders are also inspiring me. I think very soon I'd be posting pictures (hopefully):)
http://www.mechmate.com/forums/attac...3&d=1209733571

Sharma,

imitation is the best form of flattery. :)

We are all imitating Gerald then :)

Inexpensive Low Profile Clamps
 

I ended up redesigning my dust collector foot after a collision with a clamp trashed it. :o It now looks something like GregJ's foot only ugly and more rectangular. (So I'm not going to post pictures of it.) I also use brushes for the sides. Even though the brushes should allow it to easily pass over my clamps, I wanted them to have a lower profile. I was worried that the thickness of the brushes would cause the Y motor to lose steps as they passed over the highest point of the top of the clamp. Attached is something I came up with.

The red piece is one half of a 3/4" pipe clamp set that cost $5. The pipe was approximately $3 and the silver floor flange was approximately $3. It is extremely rigid and clamps the plywood very tightly. Also, the safe Z height can now be set lower.

Tonight, the switch on my Milwaukee router fell apart. I worked on it for an hour or so and never could get it to work right so I'm going to install something like J.R. made only mine probably won't be as pretty.:)

Hi Doug,
Now that I see your pipe clamps again. Are they working well? Any problems?

"Sliding arm" clamps, where the head and shank are one-piece bent steel, have a nice low profile.

Johan: I haven't actually cut with them yet. I was going to cut a full sheet yesterday when I found out the router switch was broken. Hopefully, I'll get it working today. If you haven't noticed, I'm REALLY slow.

Gerald: I considered those but they are pretty expensive compared to my homemade clamps. I'm slow AND cheap.

Strong and very adaptable as well.
Don't feel alone on the speed. I like to do things slow myself. How else can one enjoy it!;)

JA, call me Mr. DIY if we don`t try we won`t know.

Hi Doug.

Now that looks quite professional - 10/10 .

Cheers Nico

Thanks guys.

I got the new switch wired up but today was one of those days when everything goes wrong. I made 6 trips across town to different stores, bought the wrong stuff, ruined a couple of good things, had to go back to the store, etc. Finally got it wired up at 4 o'clock in the afternoon so I decided I would cut some stuff out. I was making two passes around a rectangle that was 8"X10" and had almost finished the second pass when the Z Axis plunged an extra 1/2 inch and kept cutting. Luckily, I was sitting close by and pressed the pause button. I checked the G code and it was correct. Then I checked Mach3 and the location of the Z Axis was where it was supposed to be. I'm guessing that signals from the unshielded router wire I had used jumped over to the short section of unshielded wire going to the Z Axis motor and caused it to plunge. The wires were only a few inches apart. I'm hoping that's what it was because it took me 3 more hours to rewire it with shielded wire. Hopefully, I can test it one of these nights this week.

Doug,

How do you hold small parts in middle of table. I am having problem holding them away from sides. collision with clamps is also a big issue. Suppose to build some jigs and fixtures.

Sharma,

I haven't had to hold anything in the middle of the table. The few small things I've cut have been clamped at the 0,0 corner of the table. You are probably right, you'll need to build some fixtures.

Thanks for quick reply