Of vacuum shoes and coat hangers

So in the build up to the first run I decided I needed to attach a vacuum and get the wiring out of harms way.  To solve the first issue I decided to build a dust shoe that would clamp to the bottom of the router.  Since I am not skilled in 3D modeling yet, I decided to build a cardboard model of the shoe using old boxes and scissors, it was crud but effective in my opinion.

From this I was able to quickly to a use CadStd to create the cad file and use Cut2D to create the G-Code for cutting.  I then proceeded to cut the pieces out from 1/2″ and 1/8″ MDF.

Gluing and clamping ensued.

A very light sanding and sealing with water thinned wood glue was quickly followed by painting.

And that is the end of the story…  actually I have done the first cuts with the new and machine and I was impressed with the amount of dust the new router and the 1/4″ bit kicked up, and disappointed that the dust shoe failed to catch most of it, so I added a shroud to the bottom.  Nothing fancy, just got some vinyl carpet runner and a pipe clamp and threw it together in about 20 minutes.

I have not cut anything since installing this, but I will report back on how it does (or doesn’t).

To address the wire handling I used only the finest coat hangers and zip ties to move the wires away from the screws and router path.

I then move my existing vacuum set up from the Model D over to new machine.   I ended up using a painters pole zip tied to the shower chair I had been using and yet another coat hanger to suspend the hose above the machine table, worked like a charm.

I ran my first cuts a day later, however since I doubt anyone want to watch 30 minutes of  video, I am still editing the video down to something that is small and interesting and hopefully I will post it in the next day or so.