4th axis dust collection

[rcrawford]

Originally Posted by de5

Thanks Keith, I have made a couple of cardboard designs that I abandoned too. This one is the best so far, but to be perfect it needs some sort of tray that extends from the bottom brushes underneath the work piece and then bends upward between the work piece and the table. That would stop any chips that get thrown away from the brushes. The problem is it would have to fit between the head stock and tail stock and be supported by the bed. A longer work piece would require a longer tray. Ideally it would be expandable to different lengths so one tray would fit all, but I haven't worked that out yet. Any ideas are welcome!

Have a support bolted to the underside of the gantry between the bed and the 4th axis, and extend forward to cover where you need it. Split your vacuum so that it goes to the dust boot on both sides of the 4th axis. This way it would move forward and back with the gantry, the same as the one you already have.

[de5]

It would be great to have suction on both sides of the work, but I have 4 extra tools mounted on the back end of the rotary axis. I'm afraid they are going to interfere with something like that, but I'm gonna look at it again tomorrow to see if there's any way to work it out.

[de5]

Russell, unfortunately the extra tools I have mounted on the 4th axis prevent any extra pipe above the bed. I thought about going underneath the bed, but then the front support gets in the way when working close to the chuck. Hopefully your plan will help someone else.