New vac boot design for shark pro

[Barguy]

Hey everyone I have designed an aweome new boot for my shark cnc pro. I just thought I would share. Here is photo attached. Tried to do video but forum wouldnt let me attach.

The front section / attachment for hose was a vacuum port attachment available at rockler.com for 13 dollars
http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page ... ter%20dust

Since we make and sell acrylic peaces I machined the rear section housing from 3/16" acrylic and formed it with solvent.

Whats great is that the front head (Whirlwind port section) still removes with 4 small set screws. This allows changing the bits to be simple.

I also added some thin cushion to the underside lip all the way around to help with air tolerance and protection etc...

The arm is using a 36" high support from table surface. Just leave a bit of slack in hose and your good.

We have a vortex cyclone tub mounted to our little 5.5 hp vac. This is worth it's weight in gold for the cnc.

Hope this helps someone.

This things works perfect.

However, it's perfect for me. I could see several limitations that would make this not for everyone.
A. It would not work well if your still using the factory clamp system on the table that comes with it. The edges of the boot may run into your clamps often on many cuts. We set our peaces with screws directly to our spoil boards so this doesnt matter to us.
B. Once complete the z height from surface to vac boot lip is 1' roughly, depending on the bit etc... For us this is fine as most of our cuts are in 3/8 or 1/2 inch material. You could actually still get an extra 1/4 of more height out of this boot but I opted to stay where it's at for better suction.

If you want instruction email me and I"ll tell you how to make it if you have the tools to work with acrylic. I can make you one if you don't have the stuff. I have the stuff to do it right if needed. Don't want to go into business making these but I will for a nice steak dinner lol...

[Barguy]

Oh and in the picture there is debree everywhere, but this was done with vacuum off. It actually picks up most everything. I took the photo when I was just installing and experimenting with it in different formations, levels, etc...

Also, I did make some minor changes by shaving off the outside ring to give greater clearance on the entire boot surround.

Here are more updated photos

[Barguy]

Here is a whole set - up photo as well.

Table we made with some bench legs from Northern Tool. I like that you can easily size any table with them, so this made getting a good size for the cnc easy. The upper vac support is 36 high. We used a smooth black hose ring up top that allows the vac hose to move nicely. A few hooks take care of the router wire on arm as well. Adding the second shelf is perfect height for control box as well. We oversized the table to be 30x30 and find this is way more productive when doing volume peaces on this machine. Not sure why they made the table so small with space to spare under the gantry. Seems like they would max it out, but maybe there is a reason. The we totally redrilled. It just wasnt level and was not set-up to be leveled to be honest.

I think the guys at next wave can make a few .25 cent adjustments and great improve this. Instead of putting 3 screw holes in the table that are oversized, you should have slotted screw holes that allow easier up and down correction and the problem is solved. By putting bevel holes it forces it back down. Big pain.

Also up the number from 3 to maybe 4 or 5.

If anyone needs help with one of these boots you can email me at sales@barchefs.com