CNC Update - Dust Collector

I always knew I’d need something to collect the chips and dust the CNC machine was bound to make, but I was thinking that it would be one of the first projects completed after the machine was operational. After the dust settled from the first cut, a case of wooden boogers changed my mind, so now I need a system in place before the next cutting attempt.

Items before being hacked. I put the new shower curtain up and saved the old one for material.

 

A match made in heaven...

A CD spindle cover was on top of my junk box and  a perfect match for the router holder which formed the base for the rest of the project. The next challenge was the difference in height from the bottom of the tool holder to the bottom of the Y-axis carriage and the connection to the shop-vac. Some wandering and staring at products in a big-box home store led to a flexible drain pipe and hose extension kit for a grand total of $25 (I already had the shop-vac). Back home, cutting the CD cover was a pain, but was eventually done and the flexible drain pipe modded slightly as well. At first, the CD cover and drain pipe was fastened with a screw and sealed with silicone, but that ripped apart on the first trial run. Once the silicone was clean off, I liberally applied some JB Weld epoxy, which ended up reinforcing that part of the CD cover as an added bonus. Last, the other two bungee cords from the dollar store three pack were arranged to hold the vacuum  hose off the work surface.

Luckily, all the drippigs inside and out broke off easily after drying.

The epoxy works great when you really glob it on.

I might extend it further down with the shower curtain or some thick plastic bag material and the bottom half of the CD cover. We’ll see how it performs during the next round of cutting and maybe I can get the table surfaced. Right after tearing down the router and giving it a good cleaning.