Going to confess my ignorance.

Going to confess my ignorance. I’m a metal routing, laser cutting, milling and turning guy. Wood alludes me completely. If I can cut a straight line with a circular saw I’m pretty tickled with myself. This is after measuring ten times and cutting a 1/2.

I’ve created a dust boot for you guys that can fit on any standard OX. Have files for you to make it on the OX. Even holds a pretty phat laser, one I ordered was just made to go there, and it’s a community thang.
What I don’t understand, due to my ignorance, what vacuum are you guys using? A normal dust collector with a 4" hose is far too big, but the shop vacs are loud! Both are controllable by board and Gcode which is cool, but I can’t listen to that shoo vac yell at 100% duty cycle. Maybe due to the small space the OX is in.

I get ask about this dust boot constantly, what vacuum do you guys want to use?
Let me know, I’ll wrap this thing up.

I use a dust collector and reduce the diameter down to 2" for the section that connects to the dust collector. I can’t handle the noaise of a shopvac either, and most vacs are poor performers . A purpose made dust collector is the way to go.

@funinthefalls what unit do you use? They are saying the 2HP harbor freight dust collector is the best at this, but choking it down reduces negative pressure to almost null as it is designed (squirrel cage) to only move volume.

Set it up with the common 2 1/2" fitting. Adapters can be bought for anything else.

Fein Turbo series or a Festool are relatively quiet, but pricey.

I just let the dust fly and vacuum up the mess when I’m done

I use a 2HP similar to the harbor freight unit and it works OK for me.

I’ve been using a shop vac with a 2 1/2" hose I rigged up into an insulated box where the vac lives. The box has a baffled exhaust and drastically cuts down the noise. I tend not to leave the vac running for longer than I can help due to heat build up. On longer jobs I open the door periodically to flush out the heat. This seems to mostly work but I think I will get a fein turbo when my current vac dies.

I have a lightly modded HFDC and I haven’t had a problem with collection at 2 1/2" (router table, bandsaw, sander).

Festool, pricey but it’s made for this purpose

Thanks guys, this will give me something to look at. The current through-hole is 1.75. Guess I was more thinking pressure than volume. Woks bad ass. May run up to 2.25 since that seems to be the more common.

I haven’t added one to mine yet but I don’t understand the standard logic around CNC dust collection. I’ve watched all of the videos and none of them work well, including 4". They all rely on air from around the collector to catch the debris and pull it into the collector but air velocity at the surface is reduced substantially from drag; not to mention the air that doesn’t go into the groove you just cut so your debris collects there more than it gets vacuumed out.

I think having a small nozzle blower and vacuum system would allow a MUCH smaller vacuum port, better debris agitation, and then the air from the blower and surrounding area would be able to pick up the particles more efficiently.

I’m picturing a cyclone style circular housing with an air port on one side pointed at an angle that blows debris into a scooped vacuum port on the other side.

Thoughts?

I like it, design it I’ll cut it :slight_smile:

Brandon,
I plumbed my shop with 2" PVC that feeds a knockout drum and a home-built centrifugal separator with a shop vac vacuum head. I machined a crossover to the standard vacuum hose. Thus, I just pull a 2" PVC plug out of the ceiling, stick in the hose, walk out to the garage (not optimal, I know), power up the vacuum, and start cleaning. I am looking forward to crossing my system over to the freshly-built OX from your store! I’m still wiring up the end stops the way I want them, and fighting with my DDCSV1.1 controller to figure out feeds and A axis motions, so I’m not actually cutting yet.
I totally agree with the air assist; a SMALL air jet on either the bit area or the laser area should help both functions significantly. I’m planning to make an air assist nozzle that slips onto the knurled focusing ring and attaches with a set screw.
Yes, I would LOVE to get a plan for a dust collector/laser shield! If you want someone to prototype it/test it, let me know! BTW, if you have DXF files I can convert it into 3D printable files and run it out on my printer (since my OX isn’t actually cutting yet).

@Rod_Shampine I’ll catch up with you later this week hopefully. Waiting on some screws to show up.