Dust evacuation nut
8/11/16
Has anyone purchased one of these impeller nuts for your tool holder? I am curious how well they work. I have also heard that some of them have been recalled because they exploded and threw bits of metal everywhere if something hits them. I would love to improve our dust extraction but don't want to kill any of my employees.
8/11/16 #2: Dust evacuation nut ...
I used the Air Pro and the Prewi bell for nesting plywood and MDf. There are others.
The physics works very effectively and dust was right down to almost zero.
But safety was really unpredictable. Small pieces got stuck in the works and made horrible burn marks and possibly skewed the tool off balance so I don't want to risk using it and damaging the spindle.
All in all it was a couple of thousand dollars experiment and proper solutions to the issues were not forthcoming. The responses I got from the manufacturers are not practical for a real production situation.
We're back to the dusty environment which we reduce somewhat by return onion skinning everything so the dust gets picked up on the second pass. Return onion skin also means you can zoom at top speed on the first pass without parts moving. That helps with getting dust out the kerf too.
8/11/16 #3: Dust evacuation nut ...
I like it, but not on plywood.
8/12/16 #4: Dust evacuation nut ...
Thanks for the replies. Benjamin, that is what I was worried about. I don't like to return onion skin except on small parts. It takes longer and wears the bit faster. I also tend to get a small lip on the edge of the parts. Dropout, why do you not like it on plywood? Which one do you have?
8/12/16 #5: Dust evacuation nut ...
In agreement to the previous repsonse. Better on MDF as the manufacturer recommends. Plywood chips are much bigger and there are more substancial pieces coming off the nest all the time. The manufacturers of the turbine say "avoid that." I thought of using it only for mdf doors and a regular tool for plywood, but that's a limited solution in my mix of materials.
I use Vortex XP compressions. I find the tool life very satisfactory even with the double pass. Worth paying a little more in tooling & machine time while improving health and safety with the double pass.
As said the first pass is fast at 22MPM.
The step on the bottom of the parts can be eliminated with a little tweaking of the stepover on the last pass, and also the thickness of the onion skin. I offset 0.3 mm on the first pass and leave an OS of 0.65 mm.
I cut to 0.2 mm below the spoilboard.
I resurface SB after around 30 sheets.
Cutting a mix of ply and MDF of different thicknesses all with the same mortise comp bit yields 150 sheets approx before resharpening. I soak the bit in a solvent at the end of the day to get the resin off.
8/12/16 #6: Dust evacuation nut ...
We use it on melamine coated particle board and MDF. Works fantastic for these applications.
8/12/16 #7: Dust evacuation nut ...
Wyatt,
BVC has one left in stock. This is for HSK ER40.
Give us a call 909 606-0140
greenbvc.com
http://www.greenbvc.com
8/13/16 #8: Dust evacuation nut ...
Benjamin is correct about the possibility of catching small blocks or chips under the nut. I have burned a few parts that way. He is also correct in that it can, under the right conditions, eliminate nearly all of the dust.
I find them an overall benefit and have kept the two I use daily. I do take care not to leave the possibility for small block to come out of a nest by moving an adjacent part making the block larger, or doing a small pocket and eliminating it. This will not be a viable strategy for everyone, but it works for me.
I also run the nut a bit higher than the manufacturer recommends with good results.
8/15/16 #9: Dust evacuation nut ...
I hadn't thought about a chunk of debris getting stuck between the nut and the panel. The video I watched on the manufacturers website showed them cutting plywood. We mostly cut plywood but we do a fair amount of melamine and mdf as well. Maybe I can have a separate tool for mdf and melamine and just cut the plywood without the nut. The salesman that I buy my machinery through has advised against using these but is going to look into other options at the show in Atlanta. I guess I'll wait to see what he finds out and go from there. Thanks for all the responses and great information!
8/16/16 #10: Dust evacuation nut ...
Check this out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ly_sniAshj8
The first part of the video cutting mdf shows it plowing through in a single pass and all the dust goes upwards as it should.
The second part shows it cutting "a thick plywood" but if you notice closely it doesn't show it cutting deep into the material. The video only shows the final pass and all the potentially dangerous chunks have been preremoved for the occasion.
8/17/16 #11: Dust evacuation nut ...
I have been thinking about this since I first read the post. We were discussing sweeping up the other day and how to do it in a way that isn't time consuming. Irealized we should not be looking at ways to improve sweeping but ways to eliminate it.the onion skin leaves the table clean and would reduce the overall process time of cleaing it for the next sheet and reduce the amount of dust put onto the floor and the air when blown off. Ill run a test to see what actual times are and report back