This has been on my mind for years now. Finally got the f3d skillz and gumption to make it happen.
Slips into your z tubes, and sneaks 3/4" poly tubing down the sides.
No additional hardware, comes apart easily but still a nice secure fit. Iterated a a few times to get the tolerance just right.
I anticipate one or two iterations before I print a final version with some kind of fancy filament, and also need to design the bottom suction plate which will also just slip onto the downtubes.
I’d be happy to upload the f3d files if anyone’s interested.
I saw that one, thanks. Didn’t pay close attention to the bottom portion, but using the z tubes themselves seems like a fool’s errand with the nut traps in there.
On thingiverse, the maker talks about the nut trap:
“Attached is a nut wrench with indicator lines for depth to hold nuts as the MPCNC nut retention design needs to be removed to allow for proper air flow”
It might have made sense for anyone using 25 mm.
At the time I was investigating solutions, I was on 3/4 EMT, and my opinion with that for my tubes, was more in line with Carl, even if I removed the nut trap.
Maybe I was creating bigger chips, than the creator.
Or maybe with the almost 1/4 inch more, I would have been fine.
Either way,
I thought his solution, being similar to Carl’s might have been good a starting point for a dust shoe. Carl has already done the research.
Once I get those nut traps aligned and installed I never want to touch it again.
Currently working on rotating the left tube a bit so it doesn’t interfere with the power switch, adding some support ribs for strength, and slightly altering the geometry so it will print cleaner.
If your shoe is attached to the Z axis, your shoe will be moving up and down along with the tool. That makes for less than great results a lot of times.
Yep. I’m leaving room to make manual height adjustments. For what I usually do, should not be a huge issue. Probably a bigger deal on the LR where more likely to be making deep cuts.
I’m gonna see how far I can get without a floating shoe, although I could totally see doing something like that in future.
The hassle of collecting dust was a factor in me finding other tools to use more than once. Or dragging the machine outside and blowing dust away during the cut. Hopefully this will solve that problem.
