So i had some wins last night, the LR3 managed to cut the sealing rings.
The LR3 will need to be re-leveled, as the z axis screws are now out of alignment, not to much. Enough to not cut through the last 1 or 2 mm on the bottom.
Other than that the new cut settings i put together after reading the forums were much better that the basic ones i started with. so all in all it was a good night.
Next is to do is adding the new rings and completely changing the design of FrankenVAC, hopefully this is the last set for a while. I have just committed to pulling my yacht out of the water for 2 weeks for some major work (a new bow thruster) and i am going to be using the LR3 to make some templates i need to do that. So this week is the last real spare week to get the thing at least cutting. I am tempted to not touch it now its working, but other than the vac mods and re-levelling the X gantry I am not doing much.
I know at least that I can use it with the settings i used last night. The surface finish on the rebate of the MDF was a little… fluffy, but i suspect that is more the MDF than anything else. I will be using PLY for the templates i need to cut and they don’t have a rebate, lol.
As for the performance of FrankenVAC, i found a few design issues early on, hence the changes and the new sealing rings, but ignoring those and some more mods to the dust skirt last night, i didn’t see any dust in the air, i could not “smell” the MDF and the surface is pretty clean of the dust, I could see the “high pressure” spurt of dust coming off the cutting bit being pulled back into the dust shoe. So that is really good. I found the issue with the first run of FrankenVAC, there was a leak in the collection chamber and that was just pumping all the dust into the motor/s. since then its working better, but still needs these mods.
As for the cut, it is completely chockers with the dust of the cut after the bit though, i was cutting 16mm MDF and after about halfway through, the cut was still full after the dust shoe moved along the cut.
Not the best photo in the world, but you can see the cut full of dust.
the rebate that was cut was 100% cleaned buy the shoe (this is where you could watch the "high pressure dust being ejected of the bit and then being pulled back into the dust shoe), so its defiantly got something to do with the dust shoe, maybe the bit as it is a down cut bit or cut settings.
In terms of the dust shoe, i am 100% hearing the vac “loading up” and “unloading” when i fit the hose into and out of the shoe. I have used a step drill and drilled three BIG holes in the space under where the vac hose is plugged in. I am not sure this has made a difference, but i guess that is a whole other discussion.
I might see if @DougJoseph new dust shoe with the removeable section will fit and beg some time on the brothers printer.
