Improve Dust Pickup CS43

Discuss Thermwood 3-axis Machinery, Controller, and Software.

Moderators: Jason Susnjara, Larry Epplin, Clint Buechlein, Jim Bullis

Kerry Fullington
Wizard Member
Posts: 4718
Joined: Mon, May 09 2005, 7:33PM
Company Name: Double E Cabinets
Country: UNITED STATES
Location: Amarillo, TX

Re: Improve Dust Pickup CS43

Postby Kerry Fullington » Sun, Nov 04 2012, 12:09PM

I thought I would post an update on this problem.

We replaced the length of 4" flex we were using to go from the spindle with 6" flex (using the shortest length possible) so we are 6" all the way from the spindle to the vacuum trunk line. This was a huge improvement. I also used a variation of Michaels suggestion and I am using a piece of foam garage door strip attached with Velcro on the outside of the existing sweep brush. I left about 3/4" of the brush exposed to allow air draft. Now instead of the pile of dust I show above we just have a little left each sheet that can be blown off with an air hose. Before I had to sweep the table with a broom between each sheet.

Thanks again for all the suggestions.

Sean O' Hare
Junior Member
Posts: 54
Joined: Sun, Aug 28 2005, 6:22AM
Location: Ireland

Re: Improve Dust Pickup CS43

Postby Sean O' Hare » Fri, Nov 09 2012, 6:57AM

Kerry, looking at your pile of dust on the floor, I built a tray 4ft long & 12" wide/deep with 1 long open side facing the table. It sits alongside the table just below the home position of the router. When I blow off the table I do it towards the tray, & the extractor pulls it out.
sean

Will Williamson
Guru Member
Posts: 446
Joined: Thu, Dec 08 2005, 6:10PM
Company Name: Williamson Finewoodwork
Country: UNITED STATES
Location: Capac MI
Contact:

Re: Improve Dust Pickup CS43

Postby Will Williamson » Fri, Nov 09 2012, 8:20AM

Sean
Send us a picture please
Will

http://www.willmade.com

KEG/Intel Core i 7 CPU K875 @ 2.93 GHZ/12G Ram
Dual boot XP PRO/Windows 7 Nvidia Quatro 600 1Gig Ram

Michael Kowalczyk
eCabinets Beta Tester
Posts: 284
Joined: Tue, May 10 2005, 11:35AM
Location: Houston, Texas

Re: Improve Dust Pickup CS43

Postby Michael Kowalczyk » Fri, Nov 09 2012, 2:22PM

Sean,
That would be really cool if you had a gate switch linked so when the CNC spindle is not running then the trough would be on and then switch back when you started the Spindle again. Advanced programming can do it.. just add a dwell so the switch over is fully engaged before the spindle starts cutting. Lets see what you have set up... post a few pics.

I have seen a system setup with a vac trough and a conveyor belt for trash. They had 10+ CNC's in their shop so they could afford the size of the DC system it would take to make up for the loss of leaving them always open.

Thanks,
Michael Kowalczyk, GM

HP-Elite Quad Core Q6700-4 MB ram, Nvidia GeForce 512 MB Dual HP 22" flat panels, Windows 7 ultimate 64bit SP1

Dave Burtchell
Junior Member
Posts: 98
Joined: Thu, Jun 30 2005, 10:04PM

Re: Improve Dust Pickup CS43

Postby Dave Burtchell » Tue, Nov 27 2012, 6:38PM

We finally replaced that clear plastic strip that came with the machine, after 6 years of use. We bought the brush strip that THM sells. It's pretty nice and we can't find it any where else. We also bought some of that flex-lock coolant hose from MC. Mounted a ball valve on the spindle plate and have 4 nozzles aimed at the bit, one on each side. I believe it also helps to cool the bit, but that might be wishful thinking. Anyway, we now measure our dust in tablespoons.

Dave

Michael Kowalczyk
eCabinets Beta Tester
Posts: 284
Joined: Tue, May 10 2005, 11:35AM
Location: Houston, Texas

Re: Improve Dust Pickup CS43

Postby Michael Kowalczyk » Tue, Nov 27 2012, 7:17PM

Hey Dave,
Sounds COOL!!!(pun intended) What is your CNC Model? Do you have an ATC on table or on head? Mine is a C40 with both tooling on table and on the head. How did you get yours to work? Pictures are worth a 1000 words or more. I would be concerned about the nozzles getting moved around by debris it may pick up and then interfering with the ATC. Is it an issue for you?
Thanks
Michael Kowalczyk, GM

HP-Elite Quad Core Q6700-4 MB ram, Nvidia GeForce 512 MB Dual HP 22" flat panels, Windows 7 ultimate 64bit SP1

Dave Burtchell
Junior Member
Posts: 98
Joined: Thu, Jun 30 2005, 10:04PM

Re: Improve Dust Pickup CS43

Postby Dave Burtchell » Wed, Nov 28 2012, 8:28PM

We use a CS40 with ATC on table. So far, no interference from nozzles. Will try to get pics tomorrow.

Dave Burtchell
Junior Member
Posts: 98
Joined: Thu, Jun 30 2005, 10:04PM

Re: Improve Dust Pickup CS43

Postby Dave Burtchell » Thu, Nov 29 2012, 6:30PM

Here are a couple pics of the air nozzles. Our operator says they DO get knocked around by debris, but are easy to realign. We're thinking of making a ring that could be wire tied to the perimeter of the hood with a quick disconnect so the hood can be removed easier.

Any way, it works great for now. keeps the chips air born and the kerf clean.
P1040204a.jpg
P1040207a.jpg

Jason Lacireno
New Member
Posts: 11
Joined: Thu, Mar 14 2013, 7:49AM
Company Name: L-ami Du Bois
Country: CANADA

Re: Improve Dust Pickup CS43

Postby Jason Lacireno » Thu, Mar 14 2013, 9:27AM

I know this is an old post but...

CS-43 Stock dust collector , inefficient , is there another collector i should know about?...just had this machine 2 weeks now.

Or maybe i should make something of my own accord

I still have C-40 that works very well when it comes to (clean-up)
Attachments
2.jpg
1.jpg

Kerry Fullington
Wizard Member
Posts: 4718
Joined: Mon, May 09 2005, 7:33PM
Company Name: Double E Cabinets
Country: UNITED STATES
Location: Amarillo, TX

Re: Improve Dust Pickup CS43

Postby Kerry Fullington » Thu, Mar 14 2013, 5:30PM

Jason,

I hope you come up with some ideas, I am still real disappointed in the dust pickup on our 43. We drag our parts off the table with a rake and all that dust comes with the sheet and ends up on the floor. I sweep up huge piles several times a day.

Michael Kowalczyk
eCabinets Beta Tester
Posts: 284
Joined: Tue, May 10 2005, 11:35AM
Location: Houston, Texas

Re: Improve Dust Pickup CS43

Postby Michael Kowalczyk » Thu, Mar 14 2013, 5:56PM

Kerry,
How big is your DC? We have a Blue Tornado Cyclone (I guess they are out of business now) 3HP and it does fairly well on our C40 and we have one on our C42. Both are dedicated to the CNC. We don't use a brush on the C40 but have 2 on the C42. We used to use the clear vinyl strip on the C40 but found a door weather strip for a few dollars that works better. You just have to have your tooling adjusted to the right height so the bottom of the strip is about a 1/16" away from your material. Sometimes it touches but we try to keep it with some daylight so it won't get caught on an edge or loose part and get torn. We have ATC on spindle and on end of table so it works fine with an ATC.
Michael Kowalczyk, GM

HP-Elite Quad Core Q6700-4 MB ram, Nvidia GeForce 512 MB Dual HP 22" flat panels, Windows 7 ultimate 64bit SP1

Jason Lacireno
New Member
Posts: 11
Joined: Thu, Mar 14 2013, 7:49AM
Company Name: L-ami Du Bois
Country: CANADA

Re: Improve Dust Pickup CS43

Postby Jason Lacireno » Thu, Mar 14 2013, 6:19PM

See...the problem is not Vacuum...the Suction is great when the flex tube is disconnected...its the yellow Bowl itself.... was wrongly made...The bowl itself reduces the diameter, and a slot type opening that is not letting as much volume get through as the Awesome C-40's yellow Dust Pick up Bowl. Im gonna keep thinking on this...as i said before... only been 2 weeks im using my new cs-43

Thanks for reply :)

Kerry Fullington
Wizard Member
Posts: 4718
Joined: Mon, May 09 2005, 7:33PM
Company Name: Double E Cabinets
Country: UNITED STATES
Location: Amarillo, TX

Re: Improve Dust Pickup CS43

Postby Kerry Fullington » Fri, Mar 15 2013, 12:30PM

Michael,

We have a 75 HP bag house and the Thermwood is third in line on the main trunk behind the beam saw and a point to point. The blast gates on those two machines are closed when I run the router.
Part of the problem is the cup brush wears out fairly quickly from the outline tool and chips "rooster tail" out of this spot and does not get picked up. The compression cutter also seems to pack the chips in the grooves. This all rakes off with the parts.
The dust hood on the 45 seems like it would work better than the one on the 43.
I tried a hard foam door sweep and it helped a lot but wore out too fast, not from cutting but from picking up tools.

Michael Kowalczyk
eCabinets Beta Tester
Posts: 284
Joined: Tue, May 10 2005, 11:35AM
Location: Houston, Texas

Re: Improve Dust Pickup CS43

Postby Michael Kowalczyk » Fri, Mar 15 2013, 1:07PM

Kerry,
post a pic of what it looks like at home position and one when it is cutting. And what height are you keeping your bits above the collet nut? Ours are about 1 1/2" above for 3/8" and 1/2" bits but only 1 3/8" above for 1/4" bits.

Are you cutting plywood only or other material? Our C40 is almost exclusively 5/8" MDF Core Melamine while our C42 is 99% 12 mm BB. C42 brushes never rooster tail and still have the same brushes since around 2008.

On the C40 we use a 1/2" PCD up/down shear bit for about 90% of the time and will still get a rooster on some tool-paths.
on the C42 we use Vortex viper 3185 mortise tip bits. We average around 700 to 750 IPM. What is your feed rate? Sometimes the DC can't keep up with the feed speed. Maybe you might want to start using a 1/4" MDF carry board instead of a rake? If you have the room it will most likely improve throughput. A table on casters about a 1/2" lower that your table will make it slide off easy. Roll it out of the way, put other carry board on table, then material, hit the green button and then clean your other sheet. Repeat process. Minimal clean up time ... more run time. We strive to have the minimal amount of time from what we call "Green to Green" because when the CNC isn't running it is costing you.
Michael Kowalczyk, GM

HP-Elite Quad Core Q6700-4 MB ram, Nvidia GeForce 512 MB Dual HP 22" flat panels, Windows 7 ultimate 64bit SP1

Kerry Fullington
Wizard Member
Posts: 4718
Joined: Mon, May 09 2005, 7:33PM
Company Name: Double E Cabinets
Country: UNITED STATES
Location: Amarillo, TX

Re: Improve Dust Pickup CS43

Postby Kerry Fullington » Fri, Mar 15 2013, 4:24PM

Michael,

We cut plywood, melamine, (about 50/50) mdf (for doors) and some HPL sheets. We use the Vortex 3185XP for the outline tool and it is positioned between 1 1/2" and 1 3/4" above the collet. Feed rate is 500 ipm.

I have a cart that rolls up to the edge of the waste board and parts are raked directly on to the cart, another sheet loaded and we label parts on the cart. This is much better than using two waste boards but there is a lot of dust transfered to the cart then to the floor. There isn't much time to clean up as the CNC operator (me) must also edgeband all parts while the router is cutting. We try to have all parts banded when the final sheet is cut.
Maybe I am just getting old. :D


Return to “Thermwood 3-Axis Machinery”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Bing [Bot] and 6 guests