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Making a CNC Router Dust Shoe

A couple of years ago I constructed my first big machine, a CNC router from a Build Your CNC kit. I recently sold it to make room for a laser cutter that better suits my scale and expertise. Richard bought it and sent me pictures of his first upgrades which are great. Take a look at these images that explain how he made a dust shoe, a method for keeping wood dust from the router contained instead of all over the machine.

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The Laser Cutting in Vancouver FAQ

Here are the most common questions I get asked about my laser cutter.

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My first laser cut projects

A lamp made in about 30 minutes for the Illuminares Lantern Festival. I figured lots of VHS members would be there and this way they could find me.

My first bolted mortise & tenon joint, to be used in many future robot projects.

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Rapid Prototyping a Spray Nozzle for Makelangelo Venti

Two weeks ago I received, installed, and tested a 60 watt laser cutter from G. Weike. Within an hour the laser tube power supply died. Today I received the replacement and installed it in about 30 minutes. I cut my thumb and thought “blood for the lord of light!” Ah, Game of Thrones, the final boss before I quit TV forever…

Tuesday at VHS I used Solidworks to design a spray nozzle for the Makelangelo. When I design things I always ask myself “can you make 50 more of this?” I plan ahead so that every part I can either make or buy. Having a laser cutter in-house means the turnaround time for a design drops from weeks to minutes. It happened when I got the Prusa 3D printer, too.

I tried to print the design on paper, cut it from cardboard, and check the fit. Unfortunately the printer decided that I didn’t need 1:1 size – all the cardboard parts were about 12% too small.

Always bring two pieces of cardboard – the one you are cutting and the one you are putting under your cut. No point wrecking a good table when you don’t have to.

Today the very first thing I cut was a birch copy of the same parts and the fit is perfect. Tonight at VHS I’m going to test the nozzle. After that I’ll probably have to get bigger motors and some kind of timing belt to carry the weight of the can, as well as improve the DrawbotGUI software to handle the new nozzle.

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New Product: 3-arm Delta Robot v2

ROB-0014 3-armed Delta Robot v2 is a vast improvement over the original. with 300% greater range of motion and a stiffer frame for greater repeatable accuracy this is a big step up from the previous model.

Delta robots are used in pick-and-place work like food handling. They’re also very popular right now in 3D printing. Have you seen the Kossel or the Rostock? Same idea.

I’m especially pleased that this version no longer requires the TAMIYA ball joint sets. TAMIYA creates a good product and then sats web-only store like me to order more. The Canadian distributor wouldn’t even talk to me until I had an “established” business. Thanks, grandpa. Mind if I design around you?