What are everyones thoughts on dust boot mounting? I usually feel like it would be better to have the boot attached to the non-moving portion of the machine, yet still adjustable. This way it can be set for the top surface of whatever one is working on, and will not get jammed into the work as the tool moves deeper into the cut.
Are boots that travel down WITH the spindle more effective in sealing in dust? What say you all?
Thanks!
A dust shoe that stays with the material is better than one that rises and lowers with the router.
I see you’re asking about MPCNC, but my design is for the LowRider. The challenge there is what to mount it to when the whole gantry moves.
I’ve not built an MPCNC — but if there is something to attach to that does not raise and lower with the router, that could be a good thing to aim for.
The gantry on the LowRider has a great advantage over other CNCs, because it gets more rigid as it moves down to the material instead of less rigid. The cost of this benefit is there is no stationary Z item to attach a dust shoe to. That’s the reason why I designed my “Floating-Z Dust Shoe.”
https://www.printables.com/model/625802-new-for-3-makes-of-routers-lowrider-v3-floating-z-
This shoe can raise and lower independently of the gantry, and it uses a printed “bubble” on the bottom to “sled” on the material, keeping at the right height.
Thanks for the reply. This is actually in reference to a non-MPCNC diy machine, but it is definitely configured more like the MPCNC than a low rider. A traditional gantry style design.
@stevempotter has a pretty simple one:
I am working on a slightly more complicated one, but probably will only work on a primo.
So, follow up question: when it comes to dust, what should I focus on first, a dust boot/collector, or an enclosure? My plan is for both, but I’m anxious to get up and running. On the other hand, I just renovated my entire garage/shop and the amount of dust coating everything was absurd. I don’t want to get back into that situation.
An enclosure will be better for your garage, but it will require vacuuming inside after cutting which isn’t too big of a deal.
It seems a stationary would work better but icouldnt find one that worked well and thery ate upmore real estate than they deserved, so i switched to one that moves. I fugure its only make chips when its down anyway so having the shoe lift at the same time doesnt matter.