4th axis dust collection

[de5]

Anyone who has used the rotary axis knows the problem with dust collection. I have been doing a lot of 4th axis work last year and thought I'd show my setup. I drilled and tapped two holes in the gantry end plate to bolt on a frame that holes the pipes. The attached picture shows a very short piece of Grenadilla (African Blackwood) turned into an 8-ball. It works well on long pieces too since the 4 inch vac opening moves along with the spindle. It sucks in almost all of the chips from small bits. Its worst performance is with a 1" insert bit I use for roughing off the corners of square stock. It throws the chips so hard that the suction doesn't get them all.

[Logan Y]

Nice solution. I never considered the issue with 4th axis dust collection since I don't have one. Hopefully this helps someone out with the same problem.

[William]

Love it. Looks like a great solution.

[drummerjg]

That is just too clever, Charlie! You have me thinking about something similar for my rotary now. Thanks for sharing.

[de5]

Thanks guys.
Joe, I hope it is helpful. I really like the "easy-cut" strip brushes from McMaster:
https://www.mcmaster.com/strip-brush...rip-brushes-6/

The brushes allowed the vacuum to be closer to the work and still allow it to slide past the tailstock when changing tools.

[Jim Becker]

Very kewel setup.

[rcrawford]

Looks great Charlie!

I keep meaning to set something up for my 4th axis. Or rather my lathe. I removed the 4th axis and set my variable speed lathe up beside my Cobra and fastened it to the floor (once I got it aligned correctly). I find it much more useful than a slow indexer (and I can still index every 15 degrees manually in needed). I can turn a french rolling pin in 2 minutes now and it comes out as smooth as using knives.

I'd love to figure out a way to have a lathe AND an indexer with the same set-up, with easy transition back and forth (just pull a lever to engage the indexer or something similar).

[de5]

Thanks Russell, No doubt your lathe setup is the way to go for production.

I haven't worried too much about the slow process of cutting on the 4th axis because I'm not doing heavy production. It sure would be handy to be able to sand right there in place instead of moving to the lathe.

At this point in my life I consider myself semi-retired, so when I start getting too many orders for an instrument I raise the price to bring it back in line with how much I want to work. Unbelievably, last year was my best year ever. I really feel for all the guys who had to sell their machines.

[keithrhyde]

Charlie, great idea and thanks for sharing. I tried mocking one up out of cardboard years ago but I wasn't happy with the design. Thank you Sir.

[de5]

Thanks Keith, I have made a couple of cardboard designs that I abandoned too. This one is the best so far, but to be perfect it needs some sort of tray that extends from the bottom brushes underneath the work piece and then bends upward between the work piece and the table. That would stop any chips that get thrown away from the brushes. The problem is it would have to fit between the head stock and tail stock and be supported by the bed. A longer work piece would require a longer tray. Ideally it would be expandable to different lengths so one tray would fit all, but I haven't worked that out yet. Any ideas are welcome!