I just posted a video on YouTube on how to cut a hole for the Festool hose for those of you who bought the SuckIt without a vacuum hose hole…
I’d like to see the clamps and how they work for you.
It has been interesting finding the sweet spot for the level of the bristles. If the machine was rigid enough it wouldn’t matter, but I still have enough flex that if they press too much on my long bumper clamp I get uneven carves. The boot works well enough that even if it is hovering just above the material it sucks up nearly everything, so it isn’t really a problem, but there are some thoughts I have had, which I will post separately.
I’ve been using the SuckIt for a week or so now and I’ve had a few observations and considerations.
First, for me having a dust boot wasn’t just about eliminating dust, which is really an impossibility in my shop as I have several other tools that make massive amounts of dust. I wanted to reduce dust at the machine to help keep the rails and wheels clean, but more importantly I wanted to use straight flute bits instead of spiral bits for two reasons:
- The straight flutes leave a much better finish on the sides and bottoms of cuts whether Outline or Profile.
- Because straight flute bits are half the price, and when you burn through as many bits as I do, this saves a lot of cash. In fact, in a month I will have saved enough on bits to pay for the SuckIt.
The SuckIt achieves this and does so with relative ease, so I am very happy with the purchase and would recommend it.
However, like anything I think it can be improved. Here are my issues and possible solutions.
I use several very short bits, so that the router has to be very close to material, but the thickness of the acrylic boot inhibits this. If there were just a secondary recess in the acrylic that was carved about halfway into the plate, the router could travel lower without taking away much of the rigidity. I could take the bristles out for the the cut and lower the boot, but that might take away a lot of the effectiveness, but I will try it.
Another issue is the deflection caused by the weight of the boot hanging forward from the router. I’ve done the gantry mod, but there is still some deflection. I think there could be a solution that brings the suction line down the back of the gantry. Consider if the boot rather than extending forward went backward under the rail. There is plenty of clearance to do this. This would really be a big improvement for more reasons that just reducing strain on the gantry. It would make it much easier to see your bit when setting up your cut. It would make it much easier to change bits as you wouldn’t have to mess with the vacuum hose. And if the height adjusting rails were set-up at the back of the maker slide one could more easily access and adjust the eccentric nuts.
Last of all and probably more nit-picky. It would be nice to have smoother rails and better hold methods. It can be jerky trying to move the boot up and down and I don’t think the set screws are going to last very long. That’s just because of how much I use the boot.
To finish. I love the SuckIt dust boot. Everyday it brings me joy to see a clean finished cut and to be able to use straight bits. It was well worth the money and I think Mark did a great job designing it. At this point I think it is certainly the best available dust boot for sale.
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Ive being using spiral cutters ever since I got my x carve. I might get the straight flutes to see if the results are better, especially for plywood, thats the only thing that I cut. JosephCompton, can you share where you get yours from if you don’t mind?
Antonio I buy most of my bits off Amazon. I’m not however, a great source for bit info. I’ve bought primarily Amana bits, which run about $30 for the 1/4" up-cut spiral, compared to $15 for the straight flute from the same manufacturer. There are other much cheaper sources for bits, but since I use them a lot I prefer to by something with a longer life. Plus, if you are primarily using them for MDF you don’t want to pay much for it because the MDF just destroys them in no time anyways.
As to the straight over the spiral, the only reason to prefer spiral over straight is because of the chip removal, otherwise the straight bit makes a cleaner top edge (way less fuss) and smoother sides and bottoms. With the spiral bits that have the wings you tend to see circles on the bottom of pockets, but straight bits wont leave these marks.
The only drawback is that a straight bit won’t remove the chips, so the bit will overheat and dull in a matter of minutes if you are doing a deep profile cut. But with a good dust boot and vacuum you can overcome this.
Here is a photo of a cut with a spiral:
This is with a straight, made possible by the SuckIt, and it worked great!
But there are better posts available for bit info. I cut very little mdf if I can help it, so I can’t help you much there, but @Earwigger swears by down-cuts I believe, so I would check out one of his posts, he does quite a bit of MDF.
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Thanks for the info. I don’t cut mdf at all. All I cut is plywood since I get a lot of left overs from work. And yes, theres is a big difference in those pictures. I will look around and get some because I really wanna try them just to see the results. I have a descent dust shoe so I think I will be fine on that part. Thanks again for the information and those 2 pictures Joseph !
Sorry I misread that, but plywood will dull bits pretty quick also.
Amazon, eBay, and Inventables seem like the usual places to purchase bits, I prefer Amazon, because I am a prime member, so I get fast free shipping on most items, but so far Inventables is the only place I have found a 1/8" straight flute with a nearly 1" cutting length. So part of it is finding who has what you need. Good luck!
Downcuts typically seem to leave the best edges on all my cuts, and have the added advantage of pressing the workpiece down against the wasteboard.
Upcuts leave good edges if the first couple cuts are super shallow, and I’ve been considering a duplicate file where the object is identical but .020" deep and I make .010" passes. For some projects, that would save enough time on sanding that it would be worth it. Upcuts can be bad with large workpieces though, since they can dig in like a screw and actually lift the workpiece slightly. That’ll leave you with an ugly finish on the bottom. That can be minimized with a shallow finishing pass though.
I once did test cuts to compare the spiral upcut ball end bits vs. straight flute flat bits. They took almost the same amount of time to remove material, but the upcut ball end could go deep and slow while the straight flat had to go shallow and fast. It was using the original 24V spindle, but I’d guess the feed/speed comparison between the two bits is still about the same with the 611.
So! Finally actually got around to working up my first project with the Suckit. First impression, wow does it ever get the dust! In none of these pictures have I done any clean-up, from the start of the pocketing. The Suckit is attached to my 1hp dust collector, running through a Dust Deputy (which reduces the available air flow, sadly, but does a great job of stripping out the dust.)
Fit and function was excellent, the height adjustment worked easily, and the brushes rode nicely on the surface of the work. Dust collection was near 100% effective, or as close to that as I can expect from anything. At the end of two pieces and ~50 minutes of run, there was only a few scattered chips here and there outside the work. That seemed to be almost entirely when the shoe passed over one of the pockets (particularly a big one on the back that not shown in the photos), with basically no escape at all from the front pocketing or cutout.
The only potential problem I’ve run into with it is that it very sharply limits the vertical movement possible with my router. With the bit extended fully to the longest position that it will fit in the collet and still have the shoe slide on under it, and with the shoe pressed as tightly to the stock as I can without buckling the brushes, it just barely can extend far enough to cut through the 3/4" piece of wood. That leaves about a sixteenth of an inch between the bottom of the router and the top of the shoe, with the nut fully projecting down into the shoe area.
Overall, I am very pleased! It will take some getting used to with regard to setup and depth limits, but the dust collection is far superior to my double-the-price KentCNC boot, and the pocket bottoms come out smoother with the same machine settings, I suspect due to the brush pressure being totally constant, not varying with depth. I’d call this one money well spent.
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Hi Jenn,
Just dropped you a quick mail. Just chasing up my order.
Cheers
Hey Alex,
I have sent you an email with your update, but it is shipping tomorrow. 
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I’ve been using it for several weeks now and I am still very happy with the Suckit boot.
The short bit problem is something I had to deal also. I don’t have an issue with most of my bits for cutting through 13/16" material, it’s when I am using my 1/32" engraving bit and my core box bit, which are both very short.
But I did what @Jennchepurny suggested and cut down an extra set of bristles so that they are about 1/2" and that worked perfectly. I can’t bring the boot right down to the work piece because of my clamps, but it comes close enough that even when I am using the core box bit, which makes a lot of large chips, it sucks up almost everything.
So between the Suckit and the Dust Deputy my workspace is much nicer.
Also, I believe they sell a Duct Cylone specifically for 1hp and higher dust collectors. I was considering it for mine which I have set up at my flap sander and belt sander, but I instead just ran it out the window. This made a huge difference in suction.
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I might have to do that, I have the spare bristle set. I do a lot of cutting through 3/4" material, and the shoe is obviously REALLY on the short side for that, bristle-wise. The clamps would again become an issue, I can’t get toggles much shorter than I’m using now, and I’ve already had to modify them to be even lower by altering the handles.
I’ll probably just live with it, I just have to be very careful setting up my bit extensions. I really should get that larger cyclone as well… It’d be handy!
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That’s Awesome Dan! Jenn and I are SO glad you’re happy with it!
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Extremely so, you guys did a GREAT job with this one. Excellent design, and very well-executed for the price. Good work!
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Hey Joseph,
I’m glad that worked out for you and you are happy with it!
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Thanks a lot!
Is anyone who was in on the Kickstarter campaign still waiting on delivery? I see a 2-3 week delivery time on new orders but still haven’t received mine from the original order.
Hey Cory,
I’m just looking into it right now. I will send you a personal email in a few minutes.
Jenn
Problem solved! Looking forward to giving it a try!
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