If you've ever used a CNC router, you know that they create a ton of dust and wood chips - so much so that they are really unusable for long before you need to address the mess and safety hazard they pose. I designed this dust shoe to attach to the spindle of my router and connect to my dust collection system. It splits the 6" line from my main branch into two 4" ports. Here's how I made it...

I found inspiration for this on YouTube, but wanted to tweak a few things about the ports (the green parts). I wanted the ports to be angled inwards towards the router bit and I wanted them to be 3D printable. I fired up xDesign and designed the ports at a 22.5 degree angle, keeping in mind my aim of 3D Printing them. I'm happy to report that when printed 'upside-down', with the cylinder growing up from the printer bed, and the flange flaring upward towards the sky, I could print them with zero supports! I just love the challenge of designing for 3D Printing :)

I generated an STL of the ports from xDesign, and then opened the design in 3DEXPERIENCE SOLIDWORKS to generate a DXF of all the wooden parts I needed to cut. Once this was done, I could cut the parts!

You can already see the mess that just a few parts generates and the reason this project is so important!

After freeing the parts from the sheet, I inserted my flush trim bit into the spindle (something I'd normally do with my handheld router) and proceeded to trim away the tabs that once held the pieces in place.

Then I could turn my attention to assembly! I press fit the magnets into the upper frame, and the metal dowel pins into the lower frame...

...followed by press fitting the dust brush into the groove on the under side of the lower frame, and then adding the nut and bolt to the upper frame that will be used to clamp the whole assembly onto the spindle.

The last bit of assembly involved attaching the two dust ports to the upper frame using 4 screws each.

I could finally mount the assembly to the spindle! Here's what it looks like before and after adding 4" flex hose from each port to the 6x4x4 Wye, and then 6" flex hose from the Wye to the main branch of my dust collection system.

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Dust-free projects... here we go!!!