I wanted to create a fixed dust shoe that was easy to adjust the height, give me maximum material clearance, and could attach without drilling holes into the X carriage. So here is my design.
Very nice design! I may have to borrow your design. Thanks for sharing!
That is very clever idea !
I love this idea. I’m going to make this the first real thing I make, my first few random test cuts made it abundantly clear that a dust shoe is a must. What kind/thickness of plastic did you use?
The clear material is 1/4", I believe its acrylic.
Great design Nick. Might I suggest adding a thin plastic piece under the vacuum port to direct suction towards bit. 
as shown on my old post Never ending dust shoe development. I found with mine, that as the port went off the edge of the material, it wouldn’t catch sawdust. Made a ton of difference directing the suction towards bit. Just a thought…
@JeffParish
There is material on the bottom under the vacuum port, it’s made of 1/8" birch ply. It’s hard to tell but it’s there. Here’s a picture with a little more contrast.
Did not see that…PERFECT!
@NickHomrich
Is your fixed dust shoe attached to the x-carriage with the two adjustment butterfly screws at the top only?
Yup, two wings nuts is it. I was going to put another set on the bottom, but the ones on top held so well I didn’t see the point in adding in the lower ones. This setup allows me to adjust my shoe to hover about 1/8" above the work surface. Works incredibly well and captures most all of the dust.
I have not finished my xcarve yet (waiting until I can clear up a home for it before I finish assembly), so I am probably missing something obvious.
It looks like you could in theory get even more clearence than the 2 inches, is that true or not? What prevents you from lifting it up another inch or so in the third pic of the original post? I know you need access to the collet, but this design lets you very easily adjust the shoe on the fly.
Love the design by the way, I think it is my new favorite fixed shoe design, in no small part because it would be a BREEZE to remove.
Also, have you considered adding a skirt that goes along the front and then down a groove in the middle? So the skirt makes a circle around the bottom opening?
Im using the same design and there’s no limit how high the dust shoe can go, the limit is hitting the router. So your clearance would be whatever you can achieve without the dustshoe minus the thickness of the dustshoe (in my case 3/4ply+1/8acrylic)
@Alluvian
Yeah the design can be made so that it will give full clearance, with the only limit being the bottom of the router. I thought about a skirt but found it is not needed for this design, the dust shoe sits about an 1/8" above the material, and it picks up the dust and chips extremely well. I secure my material with double sided tape, so clamps won’t be in the way.
As an option, you could put a skirt on using velcro for the times when you need to raise it up for clearing clamps, etc. Remove it the rest of the time when clamps are not an issue. Best of both worlds.
I’m going to give this design a try, but I was wondering if you carved this out and may still have the files?
I need something that’s nearly foolproof and simple to assemble in order to get started. It’s really stressing me out not having a dust shoe setup yet and I’m hesitant to get started with more work because I’m in an apartment and don’t need the mess everywhere.
Sorry, no files, I made this before I got my X-Carve. Made this the old fashioned way, measured and drawn out on a piece of wood and cut out with my scroll saw.
My replica does not look nearly as polished as yours, but it’s working!
