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Rick Devine
01-16-2007, 01:41 PM
After trying several small projects just to get the experience, I tried an "official" project. A sign 11.5 x 14.5. I read about the fellow who had the phone listening to the machine to tell when it was finished so I thought - turn it on, let it do its thing. I checked it about an hour into the 3 hour project. Looked okay, but generating a lot of sawdust. So I stopped the machine and vacuumed it out and started it back up. 1 1/2 hours lated I went to check. The accumulation of sawdust had built up so much that it had raised the rollers and the last one inch of the sign was trashed!! I tried recutting the same sign again, but the angle at the end was too great! Now I stop the machine every 1/2 hour or so and clean it out. Is this normal? How are some of the "experienced" carvers dealing with the accumulation of sawdust? Signs looked good for a "rookie!" Then again I'm biased.

Julie Coffey
01-16-2007, 02:49 PM
Though I don't have my hands on one yet- a few questions came to mind and might make it easier for those who know more then me to help you. I'm sure some of these are basic but had been left out of your original post. Just for sake of a 'baseline', nothing more.

1. What sort of vacuum system do you have for your machine? (I'm interested as I am still looking into what would work best for myself).
2. What sort of wood were you cutting, did it differ from the wood used on the first 'sign'? Did you find any one wood worse at this then others?
3. Did you get any error messages when you discovered this had happened?

Do you have photos of the first piece and your subsequent finished one?

Thanks much.

Julie

Kurtsara
01-16-2007, 04:08 PM
Though I don't have my hands on one yet- a few questions came to mind and might make it easier for those who know more then me to help you. I'm sure some of these are basic but had been left out of your original post. Just for sake of a 'baseline', nothing more.

1. What sort of vacuum system do you have for your machine? (I'm interested as I am still looking into what would work best for myself).
2. What sort of wood were you cutting, did it differ from the wood used on the first 'sign'? Did you find any one wood worse at this then others?
3. Did you get any error messages when you discovered this had happened?

Do you have photos of the first piece and your subsequent finished one?

Thanks much.

Julie

I'm not Rick but what I did was build a table and cut a groove under the machine and built a box with a 4" bust port and use it as a downdraft table

The thing I found on a 14" piece, I've only done one that wide, is the dust collector under it does very little, I think Pkunk cut one into the rear of the machine as well as a downdraft.

RobertP
01-16-2007, 04:24 PM
I always clean mine out several times during a project, usually at each 25% mark. Sometimes if it is a longer project I will clean it more than that. For me it just makes it easier to clean up end the end.

Julie Coffey
01-16-2007, 04:25 PM
The thing I found on a 14" piece, I've only done one that wide, is the dust collector under it does very little, I think Pkunk cut one into the rear of the machine as well as a downdraft.

Kurt that is very interesting do you have photos of this somewhere on the boards here that I just haven't seen? Also and I'm sure pkunk will be seeing this- would adding anything to the physical machine void the warranty?

Julie

pkunk
01-16-2007, 05:49 PM
I won't advocate cutting into your machine. Use your shop vac and/or build a DC table. With sucking underneath you'll need lots of CFM, ie large dust collector. Mine is a 3hp Grizzly cyclone at about 1800CFM.

http://www.carvewright.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=350&highlight=dust+collection