I've been playing with my little home brew CNC router cutting some plastic enclosures and have noticed my eyes are a little sore/gritty afterwards.
I think the enclosures I've been machining are either polystyrene or polycarbonate, I'm using a straight sided 2 flute 2mm router bit in a Dremel at about 10,000RPM. The cuts are pretty clean with no melting or burning that I can see.
Has anyone any experience with this? Perhaps I just need more ventillation?
Or a little bit of water spray to control the dust?
Joe Gwinn
Hi Joe - water spray (even a fine mist) isn't really an option at the moment as some of the machine components are made from MDF. I've fitted a vacuum cleaner "shoe" that picks up a lot of the debris.
thanks
You might extend the vacuum cleaner exhaust to vent outside the building. There may be clouds of particles getting through the filter paper, or what ever the vacuum cleaner uses.
Paul
A primer coat of shellac followed by a few coats of oil-based spar varnish will seal the MDF, which will help a lot.
That'll help. I would use a shop vac and a brush curtain around the cutter, to make escape difficult.
If you are using this at hobby levels, the dust is mainly an annoyance. But if you are doing this a lot, in production to make money, the bigger danger is breathing too much fine dust. The most dangerous dust is too fine to bother the eye, and the effect is cumulative, so it's worthwhile to keep the dust under control.
Joe Gwinn
Thats a good point Paul, easily done too.
Just a hobby at the moment, maybe beer money soon.....
It sounds like a cheap wood working dust system night be worthwhile.
thanks
By the way, the plastic cutting dust may be electrostatically charged, which will cause the particles to float in the air (rather than clump and fall out of the air). If this is a problem, blowing very humid air into the cutting zone will help a lot.
That'l work for sure, and be a lot quieter than a shop vac.
The key is in the design of the "shoe". A 10,000 rpm blade throws cuttings in all directions with considerable force, so large airflow (possibly plus physical stops to intercept flying cuttings) is helpful.
A stream of compressed air blowing cuttings into the shoe can help too, and may improve surface finish by preventing recutting of chips.
At least Dremel tools are not all that large.
Joe Gwinn
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