Hmm, it’s like we need something about halfway between the bristles and the foam. I wonder if there’s a more suitable craft foam for it? I might try antistatic matting…
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Dan, you turn this into science project. 
Whole World using Bristle brush. What’s wrong with it. Do you mean I’m making mistake. 
Heh, bristle brush would be just fine if we had a bit more torsional stability on the x-gantry. I think our situation here is just a bit unique: We need a material that has two more or less exclusive properties. That material needs to hold its shape against bending to prevent it from being sucked into the vacuum, but flex and conform with a vertical compressive load with as little resistance as possible so that it doesn’t disturb the z-motion.
Even if we could find a “softer” bristle brush that would deform without applying quite so much vertical pressure we might be ok. Fortunately, at least, most of our carvings tend to have total Z moves of under an inch, at least mine do. So the range of motion required is not excessively high.
Here is what I do to have more Rigid X-gantry. Bristle push was changing a micro bit. Now it’s so solid.
This is the post from yesterday.
I had hard plastic sheet, it was perfect thickness. Cut three pieces and used flat head screws. Nice to see someone else found cheaper and easier way to do this. The target is holding two maker slides together. No need for “steel” plate. Good job.
I call this Rigidity without compromising. I didn’t have to take Maker slide off. I removed Cable out, put cable back after finish. No complex procedure. As always I keep it simple, always the winner.
Lazy Engineer.
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nope no problem getting sucked in, telling you carve a new bottom plate with your xcarve that has a 1/4in ring for the bristle, add magnets and order the bristle we are all using from mcmaster and you will be all set. best of both worlds 
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Listen Brian, don’t think too much, go sleep enjoy your life Dan. (That’s what I’m gonna do now. I didn’t sleep last night. Yaawwwn)
If you were talking about when I was using the fun foam, yes some strands sucked in. It didn’t cause much of an issue, but I am using small vacuum tube, not sure about how yours would be with a 2" tube being used.
Hmm, I think I’m just going to have to try it. I’m using a 2" hose, but it’s fitted to a shop vac that originally came with a 1.5" one. Interestingly enough, it seems to work a lot better for dust collection with the larger hose. No great surprise, for dust you need volume not velocity, but still interesting.
I think I’m going to test that this evening. And I’m also going to go ahead and add some stiffeners to my x-gantry, to address the root cause of the problem.
That’s basically my problem as well. Dust collectors for Air transfer - not enough suction if you drop hose diameter. But Shop vacuums are really sucker. Sucking true everything.
Where did you get the sheet and what thickness was it also can you describe the bolts using to hold it together size and so forth? Also what speeds are you cutting at with something like sanded plywood?
I had that sheet, it’s 3/16 thick. You can find it like Home Depot. 1/4 Bolts and nuts. I cut on my table saw. Plastic pieces 1.5" X 5.5" X 0.1875". You can’t find exact size nut and bolt, I found closest 1/4" X 2". I cut the size, cut the nut almost 1/3 off, also shaved bolts square neck you can see on the picture. If don’t shave the neck all the way down it’s better, holds when you’re tiding the nut. That is it.
For what it’s worth (and for those on a budget), I made a reasonable version in about 30 mins using a couple of pieces of ply and a few magnets.
Cut the pieces of ply so you’ll have two matching pieces.
- You’ll need a hole for the DeWalt body
- A hole for your vacuum attachment
- I also cut some holes for a few rare earth magnets
When making the top piece, I cut the holes for the magnets 2mm deeper than they needed to be and on the bottom, the holes are too shallow by 2mm. This way, when the magnets are glued in, they’ll automatically align themselves and the two halves.
The upper half is a tight(ish) fit around the body of the router and It’s held in place with a 4mm nail that fits up though the ply and aligns with the hole on the left side of the router mounting bracket. The head of the nail stops it pulling through the wood and the nail is secured in the hole by screws (the three threaded holes in the aluminium bracket itself).
You may need to ensure you’ve got the router pushed all the way down through the mounting bracket, so you’ve got sufficient room to add the top piece without blocking access to the shaft locking button.
On the lower piece, get some rubber insertion (rubber strip/sheet with fibre strengthening through it) or something similar and cut equally spaced strips into it, stopping about 10mm from the top edge. I alternated the cuts so that every second cut only went about half the distance, just to make them a little heavier. This is then held in place with a simple hose clamp. The rubber works pretty well, but you’d be able to use pretty much anything thats reasonably thick and can be cut into strips = leather would probably work just as well.
The whole thing is pretty basic, but it’s certainly very effective. It’s removable, it traps most of the dust & debris for the vacuum to pick up. The remaining dust that escapes is moving slow enough that it doesn’t leave the work area & fall to the floor - I’ve not had to clean the floor for weeks, even though the DeWalt is still blowing fully onto the work area (within the skirt of course) - I’ve decided to not obstruct this airflow as I kinda like the way it keeps the cut a little clearer.
To attach it, I’ve glued a plastic fitting into the top piece that fits a section of pool filter hose (comes in roughly 1.2 metre lengths). These pool hoses can be bough in most places, they’re pretty cheap, they’re a good diameter and they stack neatly when not in use.
I use a cheap shop vacuum which is run through a Dust Deputy (see picture) - this thing removes 99% of the dust & debris before it gets to the vacuum filter, something I’ve also not had to clean now for months.
There are some very nice devices available, but this set-up is something that can be made out of some scrap and whatever you’ve got laying around.
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My Dust Shoe Upgraded. Now have window to see bit operation, straight to front, 0.6" up/down adjustable.
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How is the top piece attached to the side bracket?
Three screws to Dewalt Mounth’s original screw holes, another three screws on pipe from inside to out. One for adjustment knob, other two for guide up and down movement.And pipe glued to top plate.
Is the plastic to wood glue bond strong enough?
I think so, but this one have no wood. All plastic.
I understand what you mean. If you’re planning to make one with wood, I think Epoxy holds it.
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I ran test this morning with MDF. I don’t know any other wood can make this much dust. Hey, full success.
Even My Harbor Freight Dust collector is working with this tiny hose. I’m grateful with the result.
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Allen,
I love your simple design and improvements! I’m currently in the process of ordering the parts listed on your provided word doc.
Will you be updating your DWP611 Dust Shoe .svg files to include your new and improved acrylic window?
Even better, will you be creating Easel project files to make it ultra easy to create?