Intermediate Affordable Dust Collection That Works

Machine Type:

OpenBuilds LEAD Machine

Software:

Easel

Electronics:

OpenBuilds BlackBox

Machine Time:

1 year

Building a reasonably priced dust and chip collection system for Openbuilds 1515. I have tried many low cost dust collection systems but my shop was full of dust. My work surface and CNC machine needed vacuuming constantly and I’m not sure what this doing to my lungs. I bought a Harbor Freight 2hp system, replace the dust bag filter with a canister filter and bought cyclone 4” chip separator. I piped my work space with 4” PVC reduced at each dust collection point to 2” dust collection hose and shut off valves (Don’t do this it didn’t work and PVC pipe is the wrong product to use) The volume of air and vacuum drop so much, it did almost nothing. I did a little reading and it appears dust collection systems work best on low pressure and high volume of air flow, so, if you reduce a 4” dust collection system to 2” you don’t get the needed high volume air flow. So, I went looking for 4” dust boot. I had used several 2” dust boots but they all were less then what I would call effective dust and chip collectors using the Harbor Freight or a Shop Vac. I found a 4” dust boot that looked to have many of the features I was looking for, easy height adjustment once mounted on the machine ( makes router bit installation and probing much easier) and (makes adjusting dust boots easier to adjust closer to the work surface), The design also allows the Openbuilds router light to perform. The dust boot was custom built by Keith Moreland @ oneguyinashop on Etsy. Can’t thank him enough. All-in around $1,000 for the entire system.