Dust left from cutting

Thom Davies · Post by **Thom Davies** » Fri, Dec 02 2005, 2:38PM

Hey how's it all going?

Just wondering what other users of thermwoods do with the dust left on the cut sheet after you take the parts off. Do you blow the dust off the cut sheet (which goes every where) or do you suck it up with a vacuum? Or do something else with it?

Thanks inadvance

Thom Davies

DanEpps · Post by **DanEpps** » Fri, Dec 02 2005, 3:15PM

I usually inhale most of it

I don't have a router but I do create plenty of sawdust which I sweep off of the part and vacuum from the floor.

Dan

Thom Davies · Post by **Thom Davies** » Fri, Dec 02 2005, 3:25PM

Yeah i inhale some as well so does every body on the floor!!!

But the biggest problem is dust getting on the tool collets and then i get alot of that brown collet burn and also get on the parts i have just cut and some times labels dont like being stuck to dust when i try to put them on the parts!

Thanks
Thom Davies

DanEpps · Post by **DanEpps** » Fri, Dec 02 2005, 4:39PM

Oh the labels love to stick to dust...you just can't get the dust to re-stick to the part after you put a label on it

Not having seen one of the routers I'm not much help. Is there not a dust collection attachment point near the cutter? From the machines I have seen though, it seems like it would be a pretty simple matter to connect a flexible hose to the cutting head.

Dan

DanEpps · Post by **DanEpps** » Fri, Dec 02 2005, 4:44PM

If you caught my thread about dust masks a while back, you can see the reason I inhale so much dust--I couldn't figure out how to wear the mask

Dan

Nick M Singer · Post by **Nick M Singer** » Sat, Dec 03 2005, 12:33AM

What little dust is left over after machining (good primary extraction is the key) is vacuumed up and then finally blowen away with an air duster. with the strength of my extraction system I have almost zero dust on the cut parts so sticking lables is not a problem, the only problem I do have occasionally is that it is so strong that small parts can get lifted off the table during machining, but that is more a factor of a slightly under spec vac pump.

David Hall · Post by **David Hall** » Sat, Dec 03 2005, 2:00PM

Vacuum and then compressed air to blow off.

Forrest Chapman · Post by **Forrest Chapman** » Sat, Dec 03 2005, 2:23PM

We don't use labels anymore so no problem with them sticking. We just write the cab number on the part and our assemblers know where they belong. If this is not an alternative for you we also had a vavumn line that Y'd
off the main line over the center of the table and had a flexible hose with wand attached. Now that we write on the parts we slide the cut parts off the table reload new sheet and mark parts while the machine is running then stack parts on cart and lift sheet up to dump dust on the floor to be swept up at end of day. This keeps our dust collector from filling up to fast.

Forrest

Brian Shannon · Post by **Brian Shannon** » Sat, Dec 03 2005, 5:31PM

I don't have a problem with dust on my parts but do have some on my table after removing the cut parts. I brush the table off with a hand brush then sweep the floor later. My dust collector is a 3 HP Oneida and I am thinking of upgrading to a 5HP. Now I worry about the small parts moving from too much vacuum. I have some troubles with the vacuum brush cup pushing small parts. The stronger vac may make this worse.

Brian

Thom Davies · Post by **Thom Davies** » Sun, Dec 04 2005, 1:14PM

Hey guys

One of the reasons we have dust left on the cut sheet is cos the skirt around the cutter is set up to the smallest cutter we use so when it uses the 4mm cutter the skirt is just touching the board. when it cuts out the parts the skirt is sitting up from the board 13mm. we could make a longer skirt but when it uses the small cutter it might scratch the board because the skirt would be set up for the longest cutter. The extraction on the thermwood is very good as well.

Thanks
Thom Davies

Dale Wills · Post by **Dale Wills** » Wed, Dec 07 2005, 2:57AM

We temporarily have our dust extraction setup through our old extractor. It's not doing too well as its leaves alot behind. We are waiting for a new design from the states which apparantly is the 'bees knees'. It's not constructed for our power set-up here in Australia yet. So at the moment we are just blowing the dust off with an air nozel which sends it everywhere. I've got this kick ass dust mask which looks like something Darth Vader would wear. It looks cumbersome but is a good design and works well. Shortly we will have some help via an industrial vacuum which we are looking at. Plan to suck off all the dust before we place labels on.
Dale

Thom Davies · Post by **Thom Davies** » Wed, Dec 07 2005, 4:28PM

Hey Dale

When you get your new extaction can you put on here what it like? I'll be very keen to hear about it!

Thanks
Thom Davies

Paul Ford · Post by **Paul Ford** » Wed, Dec 07 2005, 5:28PM

We bought a 4 bag dust extractor second hand over a year ago. It has been brilliant! All we do is give the part a little wipe with the back of the hand and stick the sticker on. Once we have emptied the sheet off and clashed everything it is as easy as lifting one side of the sheet and giving it a flick which just puts all the dust on the floor. doesnt seem to leave much dust on the floor at all and certainly no dust in the air to breath in.
We are looking at connecting our big outside extractor up over the christmas break so i will tell you how that goes in the new year.

Thom Davies · Post by **Thom Davies** » Wed, Dec 07 2005, 5:31PM

Hey paul how's it going?

How is your skirt thing around the router set up? how high is it off the board when cutting it out?

Thanks

Thom Davies

Paul Ford · Post by **Paul Ford** » Wed, Dec 07 2005, 5:52PM

Hey Thom,
Most of the time the hood is almost touching the top of the board. If we are cutting 30mm we use the 12mm cutter and it is almost touching then aswell.
Take a look at this (It might be in the same place on your comuter)
I have thought about getting one of these as it would also brush the surface of the board hopefully leaving no dust at all.
C:\\Program Files\\Thermwood\\eCabinet Systems\\store\\Vacuum Brush Cups\\Thermwood