Front loading dust collector insert

The pictures of my front dust collector hook up ..Pics has drawn some interest on the CW site and I am checking out the possibility of having some made through a metal fab shop. Meeting with them on Thursday.

I have attached a poll to get a general idea of who might be interested. By voting no one will be held committed to getting one.

I will post some info when I have more details.

Fell free to add any comments/wants

Well after meeting with 8 different fab shops and heating companies it looks like I am down to 1 possible shop that might be willing to give it a try. I will be meeting with them again next week to actually give it a try. The others either did not have the right kind of equipment, they do heavier plate material and have gotten out of the sheet metal type of work.

One of the fab shops design techs really liked what I had done and thought I had done a good job for a real novice.

The shop I will be meeting with next week did give me a rough quote of around $50.00 per unit. This does not include all of the up front design and set up costs. I would like to get some feedback/input of what you would think a fair price range would be for this type of equipment. I am not looking to get rich with this by any means but was looking at being able to possibly come up with a solution for top dust control. I know how much better it is with my unit and strongly feel it has improved/reduced the amount of dust in my machine..

I've got my 2nd proto type unit at the fab shop today getting it built up. Hope to have pictures for everyone soon along with some prices. Stopped by the Post Office to check out the Priority Mail sized boxes and they look to be to small. The were to busy to ask a bunch of questions plus not having the actual unit in hand it was hard to tell for sure...

Met with the guys that are trying to build/make the front load dust collector. Looking good so far, but did have a few modifications/changes to do.

Looking for little feedback on the 4" connector for the hose. The one they made up has the 90* fitting installed. Thought that maybe just going with the short straight fitting would give the option of how you could hook up the unit. Attach DC hose directly to the straight fitting or add your own 90* fitting.

Any thoughts on this would be welcome!!!

Straight fitting according to your description would use less material I would assume which I would also imagine reduce the cost and then would leave it up to the consumer on how they would like to set it up.

I for one - don't really want a 90 degree on mine. I agree with Badger. I think it is best to leave it up to the end user to decide. I can't wait to get one though. I was working on an MPC file to cut one out of 1/4 inch sheet material - but like allot of other things I haven't gotten there yet. Thank you for taking th steps to get this done, Floyd. It will resolve the issues that are caused by using wider material.

Badger & Jason,

Great feedback!

Glad I asked the question. That was my thinking on this, everyone does not have the same shop system set up and this will give them the option of how they want to set it up. And yes, this should help to keep the cost down.

I could have the 90* as an option for those who want it. I'm sure I can get them from the fab shop cheaper than the box store.

I still need to work out the shipping costs. Of course the size does not fit any of the pre-paid express mail packages from the USPS. They do have a box that I think will work. Will need to take the collector in and do a fit and weight test. I would like to go with a one price shipping cost to keep it simple. I should also talk to my neighbor who works for UPS..

FW,

I totally agree with Jason and Badger. In other words keep it simple, which reduces your "engineering" costs, makes the end product that more readily available to your customer and allows your customer to make some decisions for himself without locking the customer into any one way of dust connection.

I for one would like to see a smaller opening but am not that familiar with the required amount of dust and air removal necessary to get all of the chips off the top of the carving. If you make it a standard 4" exhaust, no worries, as I can always get a reducer of some sort and try various dust collecting units from a shop vac all the way to the big floor and wall mounted units.

Am really looking forward to your photos just to make sure I understand how this is hooked up to the actual CW machine. For some reason I did not see that in the photos that you sent out originally.

Woodchips,

I posted my pictures here: https://cncartguild.forumotion.net/front-loading-dust-collector-insert-f36/my-dust-collection-system-t34.htm. The unit will sit on the upper tray at the door opening. The door will need to cut down about 1".

I will post more pictures of the new unit to show actual size, clearance for the access to the bit changes.

As for your comment on the connection size, yes a shop vac can be hooked up by using a reducer. I have found though that a shop vac works ok, you will get better air movement with a dust collector.

I picked up a 650 CFM Jet dust collector at a "box" store on sale for $100.00. It was very well worth the investment.

fwharris wrote:The door will need to cut down about 1".

Cutting down the door, will that have problems with voiding the warranty at all if you are aware?

but I am lucky enough to have a machine that is out of warranty - so I guess that will be the machine that I do all of my wider carvings on.

Yea Ive got one machine that has been down for almost a year out of warranty and another one that still has 5 years left on it.

Waiting for cooler weather to look at the down machine and try and figure out what I need to get it back together with a new rock. Any good illustration links so I can go bottom to top and see to make sure Ive got every screw and nut in place?


(sorry didnt mean to wander off on another topic)

take a look around and see what I can come up with

Badger wrote:

fwharris wrote:The door will need to cut down about 1".

Cutting down the door, will that have problems with voiding the warranty at all if you are aware?

Badger,

Great question. I re call a post by Digital Al that stated when he sent one of his machines into LHR for some work they wanted to replace his cut down door. He said to leave it as is. They had no problem with it and did the other repairs.

I think Al even mentioned that a work around for those that have the warranty concern would be to buy a replacement door. Cost is around $20.00. It could be swapped out if the machine had to be sent in.

Jason Allen wrote:I picked up a 650 CFM Jet dust collector at a "box" store on sale for $100.00. It was very well worth the investment.

Jason,

That was a great buy! I was able to get a floor model from Lowe's. Delta 650 CFM for around $165.00...

Realized, I forgot about the 2nd machine I had and while its down I could always use the down machine's hood to cut and save the new one if I should ever need to send it in.

Everyone,

Has anyone actually spoken with the LHR front office concerning warranty issues with a modified machine, such as the Rock Chuck and now this dust collector with modifications? I guess we all could keep "spare parts" around for that time when it becomes necessary to send our machines to LHR for warranty work but...... It's really hard for me to believe that LHR would buy off on that. Comments? Should this "thread" be in another area of the forum?

Woodchips,

No I have not asked this question to anyone at LHR about the modification to the door. This is the only change/modification required to make the top load collector fit in the machine. I will send a note off and see what answer I get on this.

I can almost say with out a doubt that the Rock Chuck would void the warranty since it is a direct replacement of a crucial part of the machine.

F.W.H. has taken a large ammount of his time to advance the DC concept. His collector nozzle appears to work well. I saw on in its early prototype. Really sucked the chips. Whats nice is the ease of removal. Which system did you decide to use. Spring clips, magnets or other?? Yes I do want one at $50.00, if it works it's worth it's weight in gold. Just like the Rock Chuck, wonderful upgrade to an already useful machine. More of these user initiated upgrades need to come to the surface. Hoary for American ingenuity. Floyd, you wont get rich selling those, but your name COULD live on. Keep thinking and as they say, LOL!!! See ya', Old Dad

Bradleytavares wrote:F.W.H. has taken a large ammount of his time to advance the DC concept. His collector nozzle appears to work well. I saw on in its early prototype. Really sucked the chips. Whats nice is the ease of removal. Which system did you decide to use. Spring clips, magnets or other?? Yes I do want one at $50.00, if it works it's worth it's weight in gold. Just like the Rock Chuck, wonderful upgrade to an already useful machine. More of these user initiated upgrades need to come to the surface. Hoary for American ingenuity. Floyd, you wont get rich selling those, but your name COULD live on. Keep thinking and as they say, LOL!!! See ya', Old Dad

Brad,

Thanks for the GREAT testimonial!!! Hope to get this finalized this week. I will let you know as soon as I get er done...

Badger wrote:

fwharris wrote:The door will need to cut down about 1".

Cutting down the door, will that have problems with voiding the warranty at all if you are aware?

This is Joe's response to my question on this:

"yes those kinds of modifications will affect your warranty. However, you can get a reconditioned head cover for about $46 to have a spare. That way you always have one unaffected if you need to send in for warranty. The main thing with the covers is it violates our UL certification to allow anyone to do anything to any of the safety features. We can’t endorse it in any way. Hope that helps. "

The head cover mentioned is the complete top with the door attached. I did ask if the door could be purchased by itself and Joe said it could not be.

A little more clarification on the response above. I did let Joe know that my modification was only to the door and did not involve any of the switches. Just about 1" of the door. He said then I could add a statement like they did for "ASKBUD" for his pattern project he is selling through the Pattern Depot.

NOTE: disabling or modifying any safety features on your CarveWright/CompuCarve is not endorsed by LHR Technologies, Inc.

Hope this helps with anyones concerns....

I've been using F.W. Harris's dust collection nozzle for a couple of days now and I'm sold on it. It seems to do a very good job of picking up the chips with my 930 cfm system. I have it split the service to the downdraft port as well as Mr. Harris's front loader and boy does it suck. Almost nothing left in the cabinet to accumulate in those bad places and also the cut motor won't have airborne dust to blow around your shop. I'm quite happy with my model. I suggest anyone that wants to keep it clean should have one. Ol' Dad.

For the great comments! I'm glad to hear that my DC-Insert really sucks for you. It should really help with the dust environment inside of the CW.

I made a little design change to the hold down for the insert. I made a change to a thumb screw to hold the insert in place.