New custom dust shoe design

Add-ons & Modifications šŸ’Ø Dust
21

@Heyward43 H: Some time ago, you asked me about magnet strength. I asked Lee Valley and they just go back to me, saying that their magnets are N35.
I know nothing about the N scale, but online site that I just looked at says that your N52 magnets are between 20 and 25% stronger than my N35.
My shoe does not move at all using 3@N35 1/2" on each bracket.

22

@Heyward43 H: Referring back to my post about trying yet another version, I think that I am going to backtrack on that. I have an idea for steel brackets that would attach to the mill using the top two and bottom two M3 bolts in the Z gantry. I found some 1/8" thick x 1/2" wide steel strips, but I donā€™t have any way to bend them to fit them into place. Iā€™m satisfied with what I have now. I can live with losing the 2" in X. Some day, that may change. The shoe itself and the brackets would work with the new supports. So, Iā€™m going to end this project by cutting a new shoe out of the acrylic that I have - more for looks than anything else - and move on to the next challenge.

23

Thanks Grant for following up on that. I have 2 different strengths - N52 and N45. Neodymium strengths range from N35 to N52. So yours are the minimum. Probably why yours work for your setup. Mine would probably be too strong. In order to separate mine you have to slide them apart. Pulling them apart is almost impossible. Your 3 N35s are probably equivalent to 1 N52 or 2 N45s of mine.

24

I totally understand. You can spend a lot of time trying to fix or upgrade things. This, of course, cuts into your carving time. Iā€™m having the same problem trying to get things done and not using the cnc. Iā€™m working on fixing that.

25

@Heyward43 H: I cut one in acrylic this afternoon. Iā€™m happy with it. If you or anyone else tries it in acrylic, FWIW, I used a single/O flute 1/8" bit. Sienci sells them for aluminum. I set the Makita router on its lowest speed setting and feed at 50ipm. The finish was better than expected.

26

Thanks G. Are you talking about your ā€œmagnetā€ design? If so did you use the 1/2" acrylic. Just making sure.

27

@Heyward43 Thatā€™s the one, H. There was no real need to do this acrylic cut. The wood one was working fine. I just wanted to fool around. I kept the same wooden brackets with the attached magnets and the same supports on the Mill itself. All I did was cut a new plate/shoe in acrylic. And, yes, it is 1/2" acrylic.

Here is the .dxf file. I forget which cad/cam you are using. If you are using VCarvePro, I can send you the .crv file, it you like.

one_piece_shoe_2.dxf (12.7 KB)

28

Thanks G. Yes, I have VCarvePro, latest version - 10,021 I think. The .crv would be great.

29

@Heyward43 H: Iā€™m sending you a private message with my email address in it. Email me and I can reply attaching the files. I canā€™t attach a .crv file here and I tried to fake the system by changing the file extension to .jpg, but the system is smarter than I am and would not let it through.

1 Like
30

Happy to release the newly designed shoe Iā€™ve been working at :slight_smile: First, some pics:

IMG_20200601_154552
IMG_20200601_1545522121Ɨ2828 2.68 MB

IMG_20200601_154545
IMG_20200601_1545452828Ɨ2121 2.7 MB

IMG_20200601_154442
IMG_20200601_1544422121Ɨ2828 2.93 MB

IMG_20200601_154433
IMG_20200601_1544332121Ɨ2828 2.98 MB

IMG_20200601_154427
IMG_20200601_1544272121Ɨ2828 2.84 MB

IMG_20200601_154423
IMG_20200601_1544232121Ɨ2828 2.89 MB

IMG_20200601_154410
IMG_20200601_1544102121Ɨ2828 2.54 MB

IMG_20200601_154539
IMG_20200601_1545392121Ɨ2828 2.86 MB

Notable features that I thought were important to maintain:

  • Z-axis independence
  • No hose out the front (maintains bit viability and better accommodates machine enclosures)
  • Wide range of height adjustability
  • Reasonable suction
  • No collision of the dust shoe with existing geometries
  • Minimized loss in X-travel

New preforming features that I wanted to improve:

  • Easily removable to address issues with probing material and bit changing using the previous design
  • Greater bit visibility
  • Stronger (some issues with brackets breaking with existing design)

This design revolves around the same concept that Grant has been playing with which is magnetic shoe attachment. Youā€™ll notice the magnetic attachment to the bent metal bracket, the integrated hose mount which will be far more robust than the current design, the dust shoe doesnā€™t collide with any of the other existing machine geometry, thereā€™s a slot in the back to allow you to take the shoe off quite readily from any position, and thereā€™s a viewing window :slightly_smiling_face:

The window idea is still waiting to be solidified since weā€™re still not sure on the material we want to use for these or where weā€™re going to get them manufactured, but overall Iā€™d say Iā€™m happy with the design :+1:

The idea is that the shoe will be attached using two new pickup points on the gantry and secured using M5 bolts. The steel bracket is made to align to the linear rail so that if you donā€™t have the current version LongMill it can be used as a drilling guide to drill out the mounting holes needed :slight_smile:

What do you guys think?

4 Likes
31

Itā€™s a definite improvement. I would recommend some discussion around hose tension and torque. It may have been a weak print but my exstrusion that the hose slides over snapp off about 1/4 of the distance from the bottom and Iā€™ve jammed my hose over what is left but I still worry about it and Iā€™m losing some suction. Definitely the least happy with the dust boot I have, compared to the overall quality of the rest of the machine.

Magnets are definitely the way to go. I get really irritated trying to slide the shoe up and down to probe and do bit changes, it just really gets in the way. I would prefer not to lose any X distance but I canā€™t see any obvious way to mount if you donā€™t. I would suggest maybe updating the Z axis back plate to give some future area for magnets.

Also, Iā€™ve been pondering whether the Z plate could be modified so that the router mount slips through a slot and over the thickness of the plate and the mounting screws go through from the front - through the router mount, the plate and in to the router mount again (threaded holes). So an inverted U in the router mount that slips over the plate. This would allow the operator to undo the mounting bolts from the front and switch between the upper and lower mounting points/Z options. Right now you have to take the wheels off to get access to the mounting bolts which is a huge PITA.

Since youā€™ve switched to magnets for attachment, Iā€™m not sure moving the hose out front, like Grant has, is a problem now. I quite like the idea of the hose out front and getting the X distance back, and you can easily move it out of the way for bit changes and probingā€¦

Great to see you continuing to improve things!

-Jeff

1 Like