Printing airlock parts for my dust collector

[awake]

So annoying when unimportant things like having hot water interfere with the important things like hobbies ... as I know all too well!

 

[ddmckee54]

I got the water heater working, it's supplying me with hot water again.

Last night I got a little more accomplished on the dust collector. Mostly what I got done was discovering that I am in dire need of 1/8"x1/8" pop rivets for the sheet matal to sheet metal joints, I only had about 5-6. I'm also in need of the sheet metal screws for the sheet metal to plastic joints. I will take care of those defficiencies on the way home tonight. Last night I also printed out a 4" flange and there's another on the printer now. So I'll either have a finished flange waiting for me when I get home - or a mess if the printer screwed up. Those flanges will allow me to take apart the duct-work when needed - without having to resort to a sawzall.

Don

 

[ddmckee54]

This one is going to get put on the back burner for a while, other stuff to do and I got a new to me toy - a 1976 International Harvestor built Cub Cadet 1000.

Don

 

[ddmckee54]

OK, the mowing season is past and the snowing season is upon us, so I have been doing a little more work on the dust collector in my shop.

I now have the dust collector fan connected to the dust collector discharge. But I don't have any of the joints in the ductwork sealed yet. I couldn't resist firing up the fan, strictly to check the airflow of course - made a HELLUVA racket. I pulled the fan out of the housing, and it turned out that SOMEBODY had left a loose nut in the fan housing - I don't know who did that! Once that was removed and the fan re-installed, it was tested again - ya gotta check for noise and vibration dontchaknow. Even without the final filter, the fan is MUCH quieter than its' predecessor.

I've still got to figure out what I'm going to use for a final filter. Last time I used the air filter for an '89 Aerostar with a 3 liter V-6. When I first built these dust collectors I was driving my less than 5 years old, purchased brand new when I got out of college, 3L V-6 '89 Aerostar - I should probably choose something a little more up to date this time. The way I figure it, a 3L four stroke engine will inhale 3L every 2 revs. The air filter has got to be able to work at the red-line rpm, and if that red-line is 6000 rpm than the engine will inhale 9000 liters per minute at 6000 rpm. Or about 635 cfm if you live on my side of the pond. My DC fan is rated at 600 cfm, so I'll probably get an air filter for at least a 4 or 5 liter engine. That should make things breathe a little easier.

As far as the inlet ducting goes.....
I'm working my way out from the dust collector. I'm currently dodging my way around both a 4" cast iron sewer line, and a 3/4" gas line. Once past those obstructions it'll be mostly clear sailing, until I start coming down the walls to get to the connections for the machines. Once I get some more of the ducting in place I'll take some pictures. Right now it's just a piece of ducting hanging here and there - so I can get some accurate measurements. That's one of the advantages of my day-job, I get to see how the pro's do this stuff so I don't have to re-invent the wheel.

Don

 

[ddmckee54]

Andy:

I just looked back through this thread and saw that I never answered your question about static build-up. Sorry about that!

Yes, I am dealing with static buildup. The majority of my ducting will be 4" snap-lock metal ducting, which will be electrically grounded. Where the metal ducting goes through a plastic fitting, I will electrically bond the two sections together by installing a grounding wire between them. All of the duct sections will be connected to my house ground, so static build-up should be minimal.

From what I have read in the various wood-working mags, if you want to run all plastic ducting they recommend either a grounded bare copper conductor inside the duct, or a grounded insulated conductor just taped to the outside of the duct. In the informal tests that they conducted both methods seemed to work well in preventing static build-up.

Don

 

[ddmckee54]

I managed to snake my way around the sewer and the gas line, but I haven't made the final connections or sealed any of the joints yet. I do have the TEE for the first branch line branch line installed along with the most of the branch line that will be shared by the radial arm saw and the table saw.

I've also got the next section of duct that will go to the second TEE, with one branch for the CNC router, the other branch will split off into 3" lines to the drill press, the band saw and an as yet undecided "spare" branch.

Each branch wll have its' own blast gate. Since I can only use one device at a time, my 600 cfm blower will be more than good enough. This system is in NO WAY designed for optimum air flow, but it will be sufficient for my purposes.

I'll need three 4" blast gates and three 3" blast gates. I've got the 4" blast gates already built, made them when I originally installed the system at my other house years ago. But I'll need to make some 3" gates, I'll probably just make new slides for all the gates. The 4" slides were made out of 1/8" masonite, and one of them got cracked over the years. It still works, but not very well. I think I will need to build at least 5 more hangers for 4" ducting, I started 6 of them last night - never hurts to have a spare.

No pictures yet, but the above ACTUALLY did happen - swear to God.

Don

 

[ddmckee54]

Not much accomplished in the last day or two, I need to print out more of the 4" PVC to 4" Snap-lock bushiings, but my printer crapped out - about a week ago.

My printer is a Wanhao D6 clone with a Monoprice badge, and they are well known for their relay issues. They have a 10A relay that switches the entire 24VDC load. The problem is that when both the bed heater and the hot end heater are on, that load is over 12A. That relay is gonna fail, it's not a matter of IF it'll fail, it's WHEN will it fail. I started getting the heater failure error messages, so I figured it had finally puked.

No problem, about a year ago I was having a similar problem so I got a spare motherboard - which didn't come cheap. At the time it cost me about $125-$150, and that was on Aliexpress - Monoprice wanted double that. Anywho... I carefully, I thought, plugged in the spare board and tried the printer. I had heat so I thought I was golden, I homed the print head and it worked OK. I lowered the build-plate and it went down, just like it was supposed to. When I tried raising the build-plate, IT WENT DOWN - and I got a Z limit stuck error message. Something like "What the fudge?" was heard echoing through my house that night.

About this time the devil on my shoulder pulled the trigger on a new printer, he went bigger. I've got a 300x300x400mm print volume Monoprice MP10 on the way, it'll be here next week.

The idiot on my other shoulder kept asking "Can't we just fix this one?" My first thought was wondering whether or not my Aliexpress Wanhao D6 Clone motherboard was actually any good? At the same time that I got the replacement motherboard, I had also found a replacement for the 10A relay, it's a 20A relay with the same foot-print as that $2 cheap-a** POS 10A relay.

PLAN - B? (Who's counting anyway?)
I decided to replace the relay on my original motherboard and see if I could get my printer moving again. After I had replaced the relay, I decided that I really needed to trace out all the leads to be sure I had them plugged into the correct socket. There was one lead that I had my doubts about, the lead in question was a 2 conductor red/black, siamesed, twin lead that went into a 2 pin JST connector. My options for connecting this guy were a socket clearly labeled GND, or a socket labeled fan. When I first replaced the motherboard this was the last one that I changed, and being the Wylie Coyote type super genius that I am, I didn't take a picture of the original motherboard connections.

For PLAN B I decided to trace out all the leads, everyhing EXCEPT that red/black lead checked out. Go ahead, guess where it went, talk among yourselves - I'll wait.

That particular red/black 2 conductor wire, that at first glance looked like it went to the fan, actually had both leads stripped and crimped into a common eyelet. That eylet was then bolted to the printer's metal frame, under one of the stand-offs for the motherboard - the stand-off is right next to the fan by the way. RED and BLACK, apparently Wanhao isn't real big on following any type of color convention for ground wires.

Oh-well, with the original motherboard repaired, and the offending lead plugged into the correct loacation, I was once again able to get my printer moving - in ALL the right directions. I tried printing a 20mm test cube and got about 1/3 of the way through it before the printer puked with the heater error again.

The most likely suspect now is the power supply. Its' replacement will get here next week - probably about the same time as the new printer.

To add insult to injury, I just got another replacement motherboard and another replacement contol board off Ebay - I only paid 70 bucks for both them.

Don

 

[ddmckee54]

OK, picture time!

This first shot shows the congestion around the dust collector. Not only did the main line to the dust colllector have to duck under a 4" sewer line, it had to miss a 1" gas line, leave room for the 4" duct to the dust collector fan inlet, and do all of that the while keeping enough room to open the door to the shop. I think I've got about 2" of clearance above the door and that's more clearance than I've got anywhere else.

This is what's hiding behind Door #1. I've still got to make a final filter for the fan, but there's PLENTY of room for that below the cabinet and above the fan.

As you can see, the fan inlet duct does tuck behind the dust collector inlet qiuite nicely, it's almose like I planned it that way.

This is the branch that will serve the radial arm saw, the table saw, and probably my sanding cart - that's another work in progress. The radial arm saw will be plumbed in permanently while the table saw and sanding cart will share a 3" connection. When I first installed this system I found some relatively cheap 3" RV sewer quick connections that work remarkably well, and a 3" self storing RV waste line could be had for a LOT less that a 3" dust collection hose. I'm using real live dust collection hose now though - there's a lot less airflow losses over the corrugations in dust collection hose.

The wooden chute I think was a laundry chute at one time. It runs all the way from the attic down to the basement. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it, it'd be more of a hastle to remove than it's worth.

This shows the branch that will eventually go to the CNC router, the drill press, the band saw, and a 1" belt sander.

It's a bad picture, but it's the best I've got - I didn't realize it was that dark. A Tee will be installed about where the corner of the light is at the bottom of the picture. One side of the TEE will go down to the CNC router. Where the 2 hangers are installed will be the branch that goes to the drill press, etc.

I told ya I'd been working on this. Almost everything that you see in these pictures is permanently installed and the joints have been sealed.

Don

 

[awake]

The wooden chute I think was a laundry chute at one time. It runs all the way from the attic down to the basement. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it, it'd be more of a hastle to remove than it's worth.

Seems obvious to me - this is clearly a sign that you need to expand your shop into the upper floors of the house, using that chute to route the dust collection!

 

[ddmckee54]

Seems obvious to me - this is clearly a sign that you need to expand your shop into the upper floors of the house, using that chute to route the dust collection!

I'll keep that in mind, but the "cleaner" side of the shop will be on the other side of Door #1. That'll be the side where the machine tools will live - out of the dust.

That laundry chute was probably the Bees Knees in the 1890's when the house was built.

Don

 

[awake]

1890! Is it timber-framed, by any chance?

 

[ddmckee54]

Timber framed - I should be so lucky.

Nope, it's stick framed with a brick veneer on the 1st floor and stucco on the 2nd floor. (Somebody before me painted the brick, I did NOT commit that sin.) There are 9 foot ceilings on the 1st floor and 8 foot on the 2nd floor. It's got the oddest stairs that I've ever seen. Halfway up there's a landing and the stairs turn 90°. There's a doorway on the landing that leads to a set of winding stairs that go down the the kitchen. Off the kitchen there's a butler's pantry that leads to the dining room through a swinging door.

The house has a LOT of character and just needs a lot of TLC. It'll get there, a little bit at a time.

Don

 

[ddmckee54]

I need to print some more of the 4" PVC Sewer line to 4" Snap-lock duct adapters, but I've got printer problems.

My D6 decided to pitch a fit, shutting down, and kept giving me the heater error message. I've been expecting that to happen and had spare parts on hand. I've detailed those repairs in my Monoprice printer problems thread.

The bottom line is that I bought a new MP10 whch has a slightly larger print volume, 300x300x400mm as opposed to 200x200x175mm for the D6. I'm still getting the print characteristics dialed in for it, but I'm close.

I use Simplify3D as my slicer and they don't have a profile for the MP10. I've found references to several profiles in Simplfy that are supposed to work. However when I tried them it kept printing 20x20x10mm-ish cubes instead of 20mm cubes. I decided to go old school and modify the steps/mm using the M92 command to calibrate the printer. On my last print I was within a couple of hundredths of a mm in X&Y, but only within a couple of tenths of a mm in Z. I'm going to call X&Y "crose enuf". I could spend days/weeks going down that rabbit hole tyring to get them spot on. Z is still too far out for me, but I'm still getting an elephant's foot on the print so I don't have the MP10's Z offset from home dialed in correctly. This would affect the Z dimension of the 20mm cube. It might help if I get out the feeler gages and measure the damned offset, instead of just trying to tweak the offset up or down like I have been.

I also just got the replacement power supply for the D6... yesterday, don't remember. So, when I get a chance to install that I'll be closer to having 2 working printers.

Don

 

[ddmckee54]

Both printers are running, not completely calibrated yet, but running. I've been printing out 4" adapter rings on the D6. I initially had some ring OD size issues with the D6, but I just said screw it and tweaked the CAD model to make them work. I've printed enough adapters that I can get the 4" line on the ceiling installed, and the various branches partway down the walls. By the end of the weekend I should have all of the duct installed at the ceiling level. I've only got 5 more of the 4" adapters to print for the new 4" blast gates that I'm building.

Between the printer issues, and the heating boiler deciding that it was going out on strike, progress on this project has been slow. Negotiations with the boiler were tough, it wanted a new thermostat, a new control board, and 3 new circulating pumps. Management finally talked it down to a new thermostat, a new boiler control board, 1 new pump and rebuilding 2 used pumps for use as spares. Some of this stuff may not actually have NEEDED to be replaced, like the pump for instance, but this is the boiler's 13th year in service, so I figured most of this sutff was due. Luckily, a couple of years ago I had another boiler problem and decided at that time to buy enough spares to be able to almost completely rebuild the boiler. The boiler spares bin took a major hit and needs to be re-stocked,

Don

 

[awake]

Glad to hear that you got the old printer working again, as well as the new. With two printers, you can print twice as fast!

 

[ddmckee54]

With two printers, you can print twice as fast!

Being a firm believer that Murphy was an optimist, it's more likely that I'll print twice as many bad parts in the same length of time. It is nice however to be able to have a long term print running on one printer, while cranking out smaller parts on the other printer.

I got both printers calibrated, at least they're close enough to calibrated, and I started cranking out parts. I was able to print the 4" to 3" offset transition piece for the dust collector branch to the drill press area on the D6 and other parts on the MP10. That transition was a 14 hour print on the D6, and at the same time I printed parts on the MP10 to mount the components inside the dust collector airlock control panel.

I'm getting real close to having a functioning dust collector. The branch to the radial arm/tablesaw is complete down to the blast-gates. The branches to the CNC router and the drill press area are laid out and have their mounting brackets installed on the ceiling. I need to make another 4-6 of the 4" mounting brackets, and make at least 6 of the 3" mounting brackets, then I'll be able to complete those branches down to the blast-gates.

I've gotten started on building the three 4" blast gates that I'll need. But I havent started on the 3" blast gates yet, I'll also need three of them. Once the blast-gates are in place, all of the extra holes on the dust collection system will be plugged and I can actually start using it.

Don

 

[ddmckee54]

Last night I got the last of the 4" mounting brackets made. With luck this weekend I can get the 3" mounting brackets made and maybe even some of the blast gates. Or at least get the branches headed down the walls. I really want to get the dust collection to the saws, even if I have to cover the rest of the openings with 200mph DUCK duct tape. They can really make a mess of the rest of the shop, don't even get me started on the belt sander.

Don

 

[ddmckee54]

I actually did get a fair amount acccomplished this weekend, even if a lot of it was just clearing snow. I also found my laser level and used it to get the main dust collector duct reasonably straight.

This is the dust collector branch that will service the radial arm saw or the table saw, just not both at once. Pay no attention to the kink in the line, that was intentional! It was to miss the laundry chute - that's my story and I'm stickin' to it! With the exception of the TEE, it's all sealed up ready for the blast-gates to be built and installed.

This must have been a HELLUVA house in its' heyday. Who installs plaster ceilings in the basement, let alone in the boiler room? You can tell by the markings on the joists where the lath and plaster were. Even the ceiling in the coal bunker was plastered. The door that used to go into the coal bunker was located about where the DC branch to the CNC router is at now.

This is the main line running to the CNC router, the drill press, the band saw and whatever. (Or at least where the router will be located.)

The main line is all sealed up with the exception of the TEE to the CNC router. The red doo-hickey in the middle of the picture is the 14 hour 3D printed 4" to 3" offset transition. The offset transition keeps the back of the 4" duct, and the back of the 3" duct, the same distance away from the wall.

That invisible duct, the one that should be between the TEE and the ELL at the top of the picture will be the connection to the CNC router which will sit in the lower left corner of the picture. The branch to the drill press/band saw/whatever is just starting to work its' way under the window.

Installing that invisible duct and sealing up those remaining joints will complete the work at the ceiling level. When it's "BABY IT'S COLD OUTSIDE" weather, and you''re working 18" away from a radiant floor heating system, it doesn't take too long to work up a sweat.

Don

 

[awake]

When things start getting kinky with your dust collector, I'm not sure "Baby It's Cold Outside" is the right song ...

 

[ddmckee54]

Yeah, well... Then you're gonna love this one. When I was installing the duct between the TEE and the ELL down to the drill press I came up short, about 1-1/2" short. Somebody, who shall remain nameless to protect the ignorant, measured to the face to the ELL, then forgot to add the 1-1/2" that projects INTO the ELL. I didn't want to waste the duct so I was able to cheat each of the 3 joints involved it this disaster by 1/2" and still have 1" of duct in each of the the fittings. That's all the longer that my adapter rings are, so it really doesn't make any difference support-wise. The duct is supported by mounting brackets, and the joints are all screwed together then sealed with aluminum HVAC tape - so I doubt that anything will move. I won't tell anybody about it if you won't.