XXL is onine with dust shoe

someone has graciously donated a Sweepy dust shoe for the XXL which has been installed and the hose run from the dust collector so those that have taken the class can begin using it.
REMINDER: The machine shop committee is allowing ONLY the use of common plastics such as acrylics and plastics that do not normally cause a breathing hazard which can be safely used with a dust shoe. Items that are being scribed and using the diamond bit engraver are also cool to use. anything else has to wait until/IF we get a dust cabinet built.
The dust shoe uses magnets to attach to the base. There is also a brushless shoe available but lets see how the one with the brush works first. Just pull it down when setting your endmill then re-attach when ready. Have fun. Cheers!

For all others interested, I’ll be posting the next class soon. Just need to nail down my date.

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Profile pocket and vcarve. Happy to collaborate on some unified training decks

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well the xxl class does NOT deal with the cad/cam portion. people can use whatever they like so long as it produces gcode that the xxl understands. I do favor vcarve but I’m teaching for machine access only. now that fusion has been castrated by autodesk, we’re trying to figure out what will be the DMS-wide program.

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I did that with carbide’s free software.
inkscape ->carbide create → carbide motion

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I just noticed a tad bit too late that you posted a check-off class for the XXL. Would I be out of line if I just arrived on the scheduled class date as a stand-in in the event that somebody doesn’t show up or if you have enough time and are willing to squeeze me in to get checked off?

You are welcome to join us

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A few observations about this.

  1. The dust shoe is deeper than most 1/8" diameter bits. The dust shoe prevents the small cutters from touching the work piece.

  2. If you haven’t used the DC … the start switch just requires a very firm press.

  3. The hose is heavy.
    a. It gets caught in the two clear plastic containment panels and prevents the gantry from moving. A workaround is to:

  • DO NOT connect the dust hose to the router while you’re still doing rapid positioning.

  • wait to connect the dust hose to the router until you’ve positioned it over the XY home and are ready to start cutting.

    b. It sits on top of the gantry “belt” and also prevents that from moving.
    You have to hold the hose off of the gantry belt while cutting

An alternate workaround (more work) is to move the machine under the ladder racks and use bungee cord to suspend the hose

  1. The duct tape on the hose was ripped of the DC (probably because of item 3a above). I reattached it with some gaffer tape from @skyspook and it seems much better than it was.

  2. The power cord also gets caught on the clear plastic containment panel on the other side.
    a. You have to place the cord atop the plastic panel before you start any machine jogs.
    b. The cord is getting sliced by the plastic panels. I deburred the sharp edges off of the panels, but it looks like we need to put some electrical tape on the cord where it is sliced.

@John_Marlow thank you for your observations. I’ll see what I can resolve when I’m in later this week.

  1. The dust shoe is deeper than most 1/8" diameter bits. The dust >>shoe prevents the small cutters from touching the work piece.
    There is a 2nd shoe that doesn’t have the bristles in the cabinet.
  1. If you haven’t used the DC … the start switch just requires a >>very firm press.
    yep.
  1. The hose is heavy.
    An alternate workaround (more work) is to move the machine >>under the ladder racks and use bungee cord to suspend the hose
    yes this is what I had in mind. rather than moving it, a rod with arm needs to be attached to the table. I’ll be off next week and will see what I can do.
  1. The duct tape on the hose was ripped of the DC (probably >>because of item 3a above). I reattached it with some gaffer tape >>from @skyspook and it seems much better than it was.
    it was a temp solution until better sized couplers can be found. these were just some I had in the garage.
  1. The power cord also gets caught on the clear plastic >>containment panel on the other side.
    a. You have to place the cord atop the plastic panel before >>you start any machine jogs.
    b. The cord is getting sliced by the plastic panels. I deburred the >>sharp edges off of the panels, but it looks like we need to put >>some electrical tape on the cord where it is sliced.

I’ll see what I can do this week. all could be avoided if we had a dust cabinet. Maybe next year.

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Thanks. It wasn’t intended as a complaint. I was glad to use it. Just thought people should know the need to use a workaround.

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@nicksilva was busy today! He added an arm that supports the hose and completely reworked/fixed the DC hose and connection.

In addition, thanks to Britton @SWA (and Electronics, who unknowingly donated about 8" of cable twist wrap armor), the electrical cord is now protected from further damage.

Nick also sorted, organized, and stowed the plastics donation that we received. It’s great acrylic, but it’s reserved for committee use (PIG SIG training).

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@John_Marlow you can now insert your clamps from the front like we discussed. cheers!

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This is an awesome improvement. Thanks mucho señor!