Printing airlock parts for my dust collector

[ddmckee54]

ajoeiam:

My shop has NEVER been this organized before, I MIGHT take a picture tonight of what most of the horizontal surfaces in the shop looked like before this little escapade began.

The heating system won't get anything done to it, that it doesn't need to keep running, until April or May when it finally shuts down. I had to replace the boiler controller a month or so ago, it wasn't firing the boiler long enough to get the loop temperaturre over about 105-110°F. Since then I have had the bad controller repaired and it's on the shelf waiting to be called back into service, along with enough spare parts to almost build a spare boiler. I learned my lesson a couple of years ago when a sensor went bad on the boiler and no local suppliers had the parts for it, I ordered a boat-load of spares on-line.

I didn't get too much done in the shop last night. I installed the 3D printed hose adapter for the tablesaw's dust collector connection - no more Redneck Engineering rag stuffed in around the hose to seal the air leak. I'm not sure if re-use that 3D printed adapter in the final connection to the tablesaw or not. The connection to the existing dust port on the saw is a 2.25" shop vac hose. I'd like to build a dust pick-up for the top of the blade, to use when making through cuts. I'll use a 3" hose to the saw and then split that 3" connection between the existing dust port and the connection to the top of the blade. That way I'm not starving either port for air.

I also replaced most of the overly long 6-32 screws, that were bolting the tops and bottoms of the slide gates together, with screws of the correct length. The correct length screws were part of the Monster Bolts order that I just got. Since I moved the radial arm saw I just can't get my hand between the saw's column, the 4" dust collector duct, and the wall enough to get at last the screw. I'll have to move the saw to get to that bolt, but this should be the last time that bolt needs to be touched.

Don

 

[awake]

Don, it is true that if a table saw is connected to DC only from the bottom, certain cuts will generate some sawdust on the top. That said, over many years, I have felt that it was not worth the extra bulk / having to work around a hose to put DC in at the top - most of the time, there is nearly nothing at the top, and the few times that there is, it is easy to suck it up with a hose connected to the DC.

Of course, this is what works for me - as always, YMMV!

 

[ddmckee54]

I need to take a look at the existing dust collection port. My tablesaw seems to blow a lot of sawdust out of the blade tilt adjustment/lock slot. At the time I got the saw, it was the cheapest saw that I could find which would still allow the use of my dado blade set. I was hoping that the top pickup would eliminate that sawdust coming out the front. Maybe the existing dust pickup just needs a little TLC re-design? I'll have to turn the saw over and look at it, see what the existing dust pickup looks like, and see what goes where when the blade height/angle is changed. Just had a Brain-fart and I think I've got a good idea of what's going on - I'll check it out when I get home.

 

[ddmckee54]

I looked at the bottom side of the tablesaw last night, and the existing duct pretty much encloses the blade all the way up to the bottom of the table. I had thought that there might have been a gap where the blade was exposed at the front, allowing the blade to fling crap through the tilt adjustment slot - no such luck. I'll have to think about this for a while.

I've got to do some repair work on a hanging wall cabinet anyway. I heard something rattling in the cabinet as I closed the door and was wondered what fell over. I opened the door to check it out when I heard the noise again, I hadn't heard a sound like that for 60 years. When I was a kid we lived in an old 2 story farm house. Every fall we would gather Hickory nuts and spread them out on the attic floor to dry. One night we heard a noise of something rattling down through the 2nd floor walls. We eventually figured out that we had some very enterprising mice that were getting into the Hickory nuts and rolling them down into the walls. A lot of mouse traps in the attic later, and that crap stopped.

One of the anchors that I installed in the rather soft brick blew out the face of the brick, so the cabinet was starting to peel off the wall. It was chuncks of the brick face rattling down behind the cabinet that I was hearing. I've temporarily got the cabinet braced/screwed to a floor joist to take some of the load off the anchors. Don't need that cabinet collapsing like the Arecibo radio telescope did. A better version of that brace might just become a permanent fixture of the cabinet. Along with a whole bunch of different wall anchors that go deeper into the brick.

 

[awake]

Yikes - glad you caught the problem in time. It would not have been a good day to come in and see your cabinet and all its contents splattered on the floor!

My table saw is a contractor style, so no good way to close off the back, and no ducting up to the blade. The bottom is closed off, and dust collection (4") comes in at the bottom. Somehow it generates enough suction to pull most of the sawdust down for most of the cutting that I do. Not sure how ...

 

[ddmckee54]

My tablesaw is a Kobalt contractor saw. The dust port is sized for a large shop vac hose, I think they are 2.25". Inside the saw both sides, the front, and the back of the blade are enclosed up to the table. As near as I can tell, the blade raises and lowers inside this enclosure. It might be enlightening to take this blade enclosure apart and see how much crap has built up inside of it.

Yup, I think I'll definitely save that light entertainment until sometime AFTER I've got the shop rebuilt/cleaned.

Edit: My dyslexic keyboard had inserted some extra characters, I fixed the boo-boo.

 

[ddmckee54]

I got the cabinet off the wall last night - wasn't too much of an ordeal. I emptied the cabinet out and I've REALLY got stuff piled on every horizontal surface now.

When I installed the cabinet I Rednecked it. I piled crap up until the cabinet would be at about the right height, muscled the cabinet up into place on top of that crap, checked it for level (level enough anyway), then screwed it to the furring strips - it was a PITA. One of the anchors for the top furring strip is what blew out the face of the brick.

I apparently got smarter in the last few months because this time I didn't try muscling that POS down off the wall. I got out a couple of C-clamps to use as lifting points, my 2 ton come-along, rigged the cabinet up as best I could, and lowered it in a semi-controlled manner onto the bench. Because of where the cabinet was located I didn't have a lot of options on how I could rig it to lift the cabinet, a professional rigger would have walked away from my rigging job in disgust. But I'll do better next time. That'll be when I lift the cabinet back in place after I fix the blown out anchor.

There's only one anchor that blew out, but there's probably 6-8 others for this cabinet that were installed in the same way. I'll just replace them all. Once burned forever shy and all that.

(Edit: Spelling boo-boos. Why is it that I can proof-read a post before posting it and everything looks OK, but as soon as I post it I can see all the boo-boos? It's that damned dyslexic keyboard, I know how to spell that crap!)

 

[ddmckee54]

I REALLY didn't get much done last night. I started replacing the existing wall anchors, they were the hard plastic, conical anchors that were about 1" long. Most of the stress on the anchor would have been concentrated on the face of the brick, There were all that I had at the time. I switched to a longer, softer plug that's a little over 2" long. I've used a lot of them on the fastener rack, so I HOPE they work better. I ran out of these plugs and I still need another 5-6 of them, I'll pick up more on my way home tonight. I'll definitely have the cabinet back on the wall by the end of the weekend - barring any other catastrophes.

Don

 

[awake]

Would the furring strips lend themselves to some construction adhesive in addition to the physical fasteners?

 

[ddmckee54]

Would the furring strips lend themselves to some construction adhesive in addition to the physical fasteners?

Easily, and I think I've got at least one tube on the shelf. I've got to stock up on anchors, and another tube of construction adhesive will ALWAYS come in handy - so I'll get some more of that along with the anchors. (I should probably be using it more often.)

I'll take the bottom furring strip down and squirt some adhesive in behind it before I put it back up. I'll add some to the top strip as I put it back in place. Just the one anchor blew out in the top strip and none in the bottom. Probably because I heard it, and took the cabinet down before they could all fail - like opening a zipper. I'll add a couple extra anchors, and some construction adhesive, to the top furring strip before it goes back up. As one of the Stooges might say, "It won't hoit".

 

[ddmckee54]

There was a VERY unusual storm in the Manchester area last week. It was unusual in several ways, its' size, its' location, and its' ferocity. This storm was very small in that it was confined to one residence, and then only a small part of that residence. The storm occurred indoors, in the basement - supposedly one of the safest portions of a house. This was a very fierce storm, as evidenced by this photo taken on site last night after the storm subsided.

What's that, you don't see any storm damage? Well let me edumacate you Bubba, this is what that SW corner of the shop looked like 4 days ago - before the storm.

NOW do you see the storm damage? Despite it's ferocity, there was only one storm related injury - one slightly pinched finger that occurred when taking the cabinet down to repair it.

The storm was EXTREMELY localized, the East side of the shop unfortunately still looks like this.

I am however gaining on it. I found that a lot of the mess on the bench top was left-over pieces of wood and duct that I MIGHT use. Once I got them sorted and stacked elsewhere it freed up a LOT of space. Yes, I just moved the mess to another location, but now it's an organized mess - and its' days are limited. I even got those unruly PEX lines that run across the ceiling under better control.

What's left on the dust collector? I've still got to make the 3" blast-gates & get them installed, wire & install the automatic airlock controls, and make the final filter for the fan outlet. I've got parts on order to convert the airlock from the direct drive that it currently is, into a belt drive that will reduce the airlock speed from 20 RPM down to 3-4 RPM. The last time I was in one of the big box stores, I just HAPPENED to be strolling through the shop vac aisle, and saw some likely candidates for the filter elements. We'll see if I can make them work.

Don

 

[ddmckee54]

The first set of 3" blast gate rings came off the printer this morning, and surprise-surprise they'll even fit. I started the next set this morning before I left for work. Each set is about a 6 hour print, so the 2nd set will be waiting for me when I get home. That or a very large mess will be waiting for me. I'm going to try and get the plywood parts of the blast gates cut out tonight while the 3rd set of rings is printing.

Either I wasn't careful enough when I installed the aluminum tape on some of the PVC to Snaplok joints, or my idea for sealing up the joints isn't going to work. There are several spots where the tape appears to be cut. I'll put a patch over those spots for now and keep an eye on things. I may have to strip the tape off and just caulk the joints.

 

[RM-MN]

The first set of 3" blast gate rings came off the printer this morning, and surprise-surprise they'll even fit. I started the next set this morning before I left for work. Each set is about a 6 hour print, so the 2nd set will be waiting for me when I get home. That or a very large mess will be waiting for me. I'm going to try and get the plywood parts of the blast gates cut out tonight while the 3rd set of rings is printing.

Either I wasn't careful enough when I installed the aluminum tape on some of the PVC to Snaplok joints, or my idea for sealing up the joints isn't going to work. There are several spots where the tape appears to be cut. I'll put a patch over those spots for now and keep an eye on things. I may have to strip the tape off and just caulk the joints.

Look at rubber electrical tape. It comes in widths from 1/2" to 2" and is stretchy and sticky both sides. It might seal up what you want.

 

[ddmckee54]

RM-MN:

I know several friendly electricians that I might be able to talk out of a partial roll of that tape. I was actually thinking about applying a strip of duct tape over the transition area, and then the aluminum tape over that. The duct tape would act as a cushion over any sharp edges, and the fabric in the duct tape would act as a rebar for the soft aluminum tape.

I know the adhesive on the duct tape will dry out and fail over time, but the aluminum tape will hang in there. In the plant where I work there are insulated air conditioning ducts with the joints in the insulation covered with the aluminum tape. These have been in place for years and are still in good condition - even though they go through a heat sterilization cycle every 6 weeks from March to November. (The heat sterilization cycle brings the building temperature up to 140°F for 24 hours - kills the bugs without any chemicals.) Besides, the aluminum tape is OH SO SHINY.

The seal wasn't the problem though, I'm afraid I may have been the problem. I burnished the aluminum tape down with a wooden block - so that I would get a good seal. I think I may have gotten a little over-zealous with the burnishing block at times in the transition area between the PVC fitting and the Snaplok duct. I may have cut through the tape on the sharp edge of the fitting, or more likely caused the aluminum tape to tear as it turned over that same edge. I'll get a picture tonight that'll show one of the problem areas.

Don

 

[ddmckee54]

I didn't have the camera with me last night, mostly because I forgot to take it with me every time I went down to the shop - so no pictures. I did get the last of the 3" rings printed last night, AND I got all of the plywood parts cut out and drilled. Hopefully the holes are even drilled in the right locations. All the time I was cobbling up a drilling jig, so that I could drill the hole on the same location in all 6 parts, I kept thinking "I have got to come up with something better than this". Future project - parts are on order.

I did wind up trashing 3 of the plywood parts. When I set the hole cutter, I made the opening big enough so that the plywood wasn't blocking any of the blast gate opening. I punched the big hole in 3 of the parts before sanity kicked in and I decided to check the position of the hole I had just cut, against the opening in the ring. The rings are only 10mm thick, so there's a fine line between the hole being big enough, as opposed to it being too big. I had definitely crossed over that line. I said "Oh Fudge" a couple of times, or something like that, and cut 3 new plywood parts. I un-embiggened the hole cutter, tried a sample cut, then went to town on the 6 parts.

Tonight I'll put all of the pieces together, and make the actual slides. If I have enough time, I MIGHT even be able to get started on installing one of these blast gates.

The little that I have been able to use the dust collector has shown me that my idea of cycling the airlock on and off will probably not work. I've had to take the airlock off several times because it was full of sawdust, and that crap really packs in hard. When the airlock is not running the sawdust fills the cavity between the vanes just like it's supposed to. However, when I try to empty the cyclone the vane of the airlock doesn't want to shear through the packed sawdust. Since the majority of the airlock's parts are 3D printed, I'm rather hesitant to apply too much force. Nope, I think it'll be safer to let the airlock run all the time, at a slower speed. That way the airlock can take little bites of sawdust, rather than force the airlock to deal with a choke feed condition if it cycles on and off. That's why I'm building the belt reduction for the airlock drive. I got the 16T timing pulley and belt yesterday, still waiting on the 60T pulley. I did start drawing things up to get an idea if my 200mm belt would actually work. I just guessed at a length when I ordered the belt, and it turns out I guessed right. (I was afraid it would be WAY too short.) Now I just have to whomp up some sort of mounting bracket, so I can tighten the belt.

Don

 

[awake]

The little that I have been able to use the dust collector has shown me that my idea of cycling the airlock on and off will probably not work. I've had to take the airlock off several times because it was full of sawdust, and that crap really packs in hard. ...

Nothing beats trial and error - but that is one of the super nice things about 3d printers; you get to dream up an idea, print it out, and see how it works!

 

[ddmckee54]

OK, back to 3D printed dust collector parts. Wednesday night I got all of the 3"blast gates assembled, then I goofed off. Last night I got them installed - TAAA DAAA:

Ladles and Jellyspoons, I'm gonna really butcher the Captain's speech from Cool Hand Luke, but.... (Use your best Southern accent when you read this.)
What we have here is not a failure to communicate, but 3 count em' 3, assembled, installed, and usable 3" blast gates.
They just need to have the joints sealed.

Speaking of which,

As you can see in the picture, this is the joint where the tape failed. So far this is the only fitting where the tape has failed. It's also the only fitting that seems to have nice sharp 90° corners, all the rest seem to have more rounded corners. I think I'll try another layer of aluminum tape, be careful how I burnish it down this time, and keep an eye on it for failure. I'll hold off on sealing the blast gate joints until after I find out if the aluminum tape is REALLY gonna work.

Speaking of failures:

This is the hose adapter for the shop vac hose that I was using on the tablesaw connection. It don't fit no more. Not all 3" Snaplok ducting is created equal and when I installed the blast gate for this guy I noticed that the fit into the fitting above was extremely loose. Apparently the Snaplok section that I measured this time was not the same as the one I measured the first time. I had to recreate the 3D model for the 3" PVC to Snaplok adapter ring because SOMEBODY deleted it - don't know who would do something that stupid. This new adapter ring is about 0.75mm smaller. That's OK, because as you can see I had to ADJUST the fit a little bit to get a snug fit on the hose anyway. I fixed both of the fit problems last night and started printing out 2 copies, it was over an 8 hour print. It only had about 1/2 hour to go when I left for work this morning, it should have finished printing while I was driving into work.

I've got to stop by a Big Box store and pick up a couple of generic shop vac hoses, I'm sure they won't mind sacrificing some of their length for the greater good of the system. That way I can make the permanent connections for the drill press and the band saw.

The light at the end of the tunnel is DEFINITELY not another train.

Don

 

[ajoeiam]

OK, back to 3D printed dust collector parts. Wednesday night I got all of the 3"blast gates assembled, then I goofed off. Last night I got them installed - TAAA DAAA:
View attachment 134763
Ladles and Jellyspoons, I'm gonna really butcher the Captain's speech from Cool Hand Luke, but.... (Use your best Southern accent when you read this.)
What we have here is not a failure to communicate, but 3 count em' 3, assembled, installed, and usable 3" blast gates.
They just need to have the joints sealed.

Speaking of which,
View attachment 134764
As you can see in the picture, this is the joint where the tape failed. So far this is the only fitting where the tape has failed. It's also the only fitting that seems to have nice sharp 90° corners, all the rest seem to have more rounded corners. I think I'll try another layer of aluminum tape, be careful how I burnish it down this time, and keep an eye on it for failure. I'll hold off on sealing the blast gate joints until after I find out if the aluminum tape is REALLY gonna work.

Speaking of failures:
View attachment 134765
This is the hose adapter for the shop vac hose that I was using on the tablesaw connection. It don't fit no more. Not all 3" Snaplok ducting is created equal and when I installed the blast gate for this guy I noticed that the fit into the fitting above was extremely loose. Apparently the Snaplok section that I measured this time was not the same as the one I measured the first time. I had to recreate the 3D model for the 3" PVC to Snaplok adapter ring because SOMEBODY deleted it - don't know who would do something that stupid. This new adapter ring is about 0.75mm smaller. That's OK, because as you can see I had to ADJUST the fit a little bit to get a snug fit on the hose anyway. I fixed both of the fit problems last night and started printing out 2 copies, it was over an 8 hour print. It only had about 1/2 hour to go when I left for work this morning, it should have finished printing while I was driving into work.

I've got to stop by a Big Box store and pick up a couple of generic shop vac hoses, I'm sure they won't mind sacrificing some of their length for the greater good of the system. That way I can make the permanent connections for the drill press and the band saw.

The light at the end of the tunnel is DEFINITELY not another train.

Don

Yee haw - - - - ride the tiger - - cowboy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[ddmckee54]

Friday night I checked at the BIG BOX stores, all 3 of them. I found nuthin at the first store, one 8' shop vac hose at the big orange store, and one 7' hose at the big blue store. Saturday I was able to get the PERMANENT dust collector connection for the band saw installed, and the mostly temporary connection for the tablesaw installed. Using the blast gate this time for the tablesaw connection. I had to get some hose clamps to make up those connections, which required a trip to my local farm store. While there, just for funsies I checked to see if they had any shop vac hoses. Right there, sitting on the shelf were two 7' hoses. For the same price as what I paid at the big box stores - who'd a thunk it?

I took the gearmotor off the airlock, I was going to make and connect the leads to the motor. At least I was until I discovered that one of the motor's connection tabs had broken off flush with the insulation - no fixing that. Oh well, that was a motor that I had laying around for many years, could have happened anytime. Probably a good thing it happened now. When I started checking the parts that I had for the airlock controls, I found that the gearmotor and power supply were 12VDC. EVERYTHING else that I had ordered, or had on hand, were 24VDC. I didn't have enough parts in either voltage to make a functional system.

Ebay to the rescue, I ordered a 24VDC DIN rail power supply, but I won't see it until next month. That's OK, I've got a non-DIN rail power supply that I can make work until then. I was going to order another micro-gearmotor just like the one I had, then I found a N.O.S. Dayton 24VDC 12PRM gearmotor, rated for continuous duty, for about the same price. THAT decision was a no-brainer, and Dayton still makes the same model gearmotor. The new gearmotor is supposed to be here by Friday. The new gearmotor is SLIGHTLY bigger than the old one so I need to re-design my mounting system. I had to do that anyway since I was going to a belt drive instead of the original direct drive.

I spent the rest of the weekend making and installing the grounding connections on the dust collector and the main trunk-line. I'm about 6 connections away from having all the sections of the ducting, along with the cyclone electrically bonded together, and grounded.

I also started to wire the control panel. I dug through my collection of parts that I have scrounged over the years and found a 24VDC illuminated Allen-Bradley mushroom head E-stop button. OF COURSE I had to use it, I feel safer already. I got the controls mounted on the front of the panel, and I got the panel's mounting brackets installed. I've got to cut the openings in the box for the cable glands, and then all of the gizzinza's and goesouta's to the panel will be done. Then I can install the panel enclosure and complete the panel wiring.

Once the control panel wiring and the duct grounding is complete, the LAST major hurdle for the dust collection system will be fabricating and installing the final filter assembly. That light up ahead is getting brighter all the time.

Don

 

[ddmckee54]

OK, I got a bunch of parts delivered to my house in the last few days and last night and I was going through them. Inventorying what I had, and what I still needed to make the airlock go roundy-roundy:
24V power supply - on order, coming from Lithuania - I think it's in Germany now (I've got a temporary workaround power supply on hand)
Control panel - installed but not completely finished (maybe 33% done)
E-stop - installed
DC fan switch - installed
DC airlock switch - installed
DC fan relay - installed
DC airlock relay - installed
Fused terminals - ordered and currently in Portland... SUPPOSED to be delivered Monday
DC airlock - installed
DC airlock motor - got the new motor but it's not installed yet (need to design and print motor bracket yet)
DC airlock 60T pulley - installed
DC airlock GT2 280mm belt - got it but it's not installed (need motor & bracket installed first)
DC airlock motor 20T pulley - UMMMM.... I THOUGHT I ordered it.

Oh well, the pulley is now ordered and shipped, it will be here early next week. By then I should have the motor bracket printed and installed, along with the controls wired, tested, and ready to go. Who knows, I might even print a belt guard - safety first you know. We just won't tell the Health & Safety people how I'm planning on hooking up the temporary 24V power supply.

Don