I want to share with everyone a little device I built for my dust collector connected to the CW that has made carving more convenient. This article may be a little long but please bear with it.

The truth is you need some sort of dust collecting system connected to your CW either it be a Jet, Grizzly, Harbor Freight or a Shop-Vac, that keeps the CW dust free and clean while carving. I have found that the CW performs better and the spindle bearings and bit will run cooler as air is drawn through the machine. Then you need some sort of an attachment hood or vent between the CW and the DC in order to suck out the dust. There are many designs that can be mounted in front of the CW, on top, side, bottom or a combination of both front and bottom as I have configured. They are all good attachments; it’s a personal preference as far as I’m concerned.

So, how do you turn on your dust collector?

Do you manually flip the switch when the CW starts carving?

Do you use a remote control?

Do you leave your DC running all the time even when there is nothing to collect?

Do you often leave the CW unattended as I do just to come back and find it stopped half an hour earlier perhaps with a “Check Cut Motor” fault?

What if you didn’t have to do anything with the DC and it would automatically start as your project begins carving and stops after the CW stops.


The little device I built for my DC connected to the CW, I named it the, “IamDave DC Controller”, or DCC for short,is an Automatic Start and Stop Controller that requires no user interaction. There may be something similar to my design for the CW on the market but I have not checked and if so, I am reinventing the wheel. And by the way I have built electronic gadgets since I was in high school so I have decades of parts on hand and I only had to purchase a few special components to build this one and the most expensive part was of all things; the enclosure. The DCC has no microcontroller in it; the control circuit is just a few simple inexpensive electronic components. There are numerous ways to electronically accomplish this but the circuit I designed and have used for some time now has performed flawless for me.

The attached picture is the actual prototype of my, “IamDave DC Controller”. There are no special wiring connections needed like tapping into the CW internal electronics or cut motor circuit.(However, this would have been the easiest way but perhaps LHR would not see it that way.) Simply plug the DCC into a 120VAC 20amp outlet, mine is a GFIC for safety as should be used with any power tool. Plug the CW into the CW 120VAC receptacle and the DC into the DC 120VAC receptacle. That’s it! That is all the connections needed to Automatically Start and Stop the DC. No tapping into the CW electronics. Prior to use there is a simple one time calibration procedure performed that takes only a few minutes and once set I have never adjusted it again.

When carving a project I often leave my CW unattended. (Do this at your own risk according to the Forums.) I normally do not have a lot of free time so I often design a project at night and set the machine up the next day after I get home from work. While the CW is carving I will move on to other things that need to be done around the house. Now I can do projects much faster by not second guessing or continuously checking if the CW has stopped for a bit change or has completed the carving project. Now I know for sure when the CW and DC are both quiet, attention is required. A remote pager device could easily be added to the DCC to notify you when the CW has finished or is waiting to change a bit. In the past it was often hard for me to distinguish if the CW had stopped while the DC was still running.

Thank you CarveWright community for letting me share my DCC project. Like I said earlier there may be something similar to my design for the CW on the market and if so, I am reinventing the wheel. It would be really neat if perhaps in the future LHR would simply program this in the controller code and have an external output relay contact available to do the same thing. The simple thing about my, “IamDave DC Controller” is that it will work with existing CarveWright machines in use today with no modifications to the machine.
Click image for larger version.  Name: IamDave DCC.jpg  Views: 96  Size: 87.3 KB  ID: 65637

DCC Sequence of Operation:

· Plug DCC into power 120VAC outlet.
· Plug CW into receptacle.
· Plug DC into receptacle and set DC power switch to ON position.
· (Once all are plugged in there is no need to unplug them from the DCC.)

· Load your CW project.
· DC will not start when bits are loaded and the cut motor briefly turns on.
· Project starts, cut motor running, the DC automatically turns on 15 seconds later.
· CW cut motor stops for a bit change or the project is complete, the DC stops after 25 seconds.

Some might be thinking I should spend more time carving and little less time tinkering with the machine. I can’t help it. I like to see how things work.


Thanks,
IamDave
Tuscaloosa, AL