# Dust hose adaptor problems - be gone!



## Farmer Giles (9 Oct 2020)

Like most people on here, getting the various bits of machinery to mate up with vacuums and dust extraction systems can be a real pain.

Adapters cost a fortune and rarely work, although some vendors kit does share similar hose sizes, not all do, and the flexible stepped adapters don't always stay put or fit.

So, now having the use of a 3D printer, I thought I would have a look what is already designed and out there in Thingiverse, this is a where most people post their designs for 3D models for 3D printing..

I found a useful post here, however most of the 1545 remixes of the original design were named after the machines they are used on, some very obscure, at least over here. These are "stl" file that you can load into a slicer to create gcode that you can print from.

However the original design is a SCAD file, named after OpenSCAD, which I believe stands for Solid CAD, for modelling solid objects, ideal for 3D printing. I knew nothing about Open SCAD but evidently it comes with a Customizer so if the model has parameters, you can change them, and the original modeller had enabled this.

So I downloaded OpenSCAD, its not a big program, opened the SCAD file and et voila, you can change ID and OD of both ends of the adapter, and add retaining rings and specify wall thickness. If you look below on the right you can see that I wanted an adapter with 47mm ID on one end and 43mm ID at the other. You can change Inside to Outside if you wish. I set the wall thickness to 1.8mm then hit Design -> Render, wait for it to finish then File -> Export to an STL file.







Once you have the STL file, if you have a 3D printer then its pretty standard, just open the slicer of your choice to create the gcode, load it to your printer and print.

Here it is in progress






finished product, took about 3 hours and took 28g of PLA filament, its about £20 a kilo so only about 60p worth.






And in place on the Bosch mitre saw. I made this an external fit as I wanted to maximise airflow, they are not known for their dust extraction ability at the best of times so every little helps.






Now I will go through my botched adapters and create better ones, when I get chance. And no, I am not doing requests! But if you know somebody with a printer, its relatively easy.

Cheers
Andy


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## DBT85 (9 Oct 2020)

I've done the same Andy for my Makita mitre saw though I drew that from scratch and even managed to add the hole for the screws. In fact it was part of the reason I dropped the £200 on the Ender 3 Pro. The variance in all the tools is absurd.

I've also seen young Marius Hornberger print whole parts for his DX system like a moveable hose for use around things like drill presses. He also made a whole Y piece. Also did a bunch of other bits for all sorts of things. 


The power is there to make some useful things, its just that so many don;t have the time to learn the software. Without that knowledge a 3D printer is a nice ornament for many!


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## Farmer Giles (9 Oct 2020)

I keep intending to learn CAD fully but never seem to get around to it. I've modified a few designs but not created my own designs, yet.....

However my two daughters, 11 and 14, are picking up CAD quickly so maybe I'll just outsource design to them


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## Fidget (9 Oct 2020)

This is my pet peeve at the moment

I too have 3D printed some adaptors, some of which I designed myself using the free version of Fusion 360, it's not too difficult once you get your head round it

I have also printed a couple from the Thingiverse, one of them for my Kapex saw which works very well

I also saw an adaptor designed by ScaredyCat there who might just be the same ScaredyCat who is a member here (I don't believe in coincidence)


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## gregmcateer (10 Oct 2020)

That's a lovely adapter!
I'm jealous as hell. And also know I'll never learn enough about CAD to justify a printer


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## clogs (10 Oct 2020)

as gregmcateer says, but for me I'm just to old....
have made a couple of attempts with some cad stuff, just drawing but in the end the RED mist came down....hahaha...
so for my special adaptors are bit's of ply and cut up and glued sealant tubes and what ever else is laying around...they aint pretty but the do the job....
tend to keep em on the shelf in one place, people that visit think I'm storing rubbish......hahaha....


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## HamsterJam (10 Oct 2020)

Been 3D printing extraction adapters for a while now. Made some to use an ex-Dyson cyclone in line with my shop vac to save bags


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## pe2dave (10 Oct 2020)

I feel sure there's a small business opportunity here, dust (and other?) connectors
with a fair profit margin. 
Thanks @Farmer Giles


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## DBT85 (10 Oct 2020)

There are people that will print to your specs but I think charge £10-15 per adapter.


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## Lons (10 Oct 2020)

Farmer Giles said:


> However my two daughters, 11 and 14, are picking up CAD quickly so maybe I'll just outsource design to them


Clever girls but they might quickly recognise an opportunity and it could become expensive.


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## pe2dave (11 Oct 2020)

Lons said:


> Clever girls but they might quickly recognise an opportunity and it could become expensive.


 It could become a good career, it's a niche programming world with good pay, interesting work and growing.


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## transatlantic (11 Oct 2020)

I've done the same. You can also get flexible material that gives you a little play to account for minor measurement inaccuracies. Although I tend to introduce a slight narrowing between diameters which also does the same job.


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## robgul (11 Oct 2020)

My adapter frustration was eased by my brother and his 3D printer - making a complete set for all my machines and tools with dust extraction ports. He found some existing files to tweak but we did have to make a few prototypes for fine tuning.

... and I made blast gates to fit my waste-pipe ducting.


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## segovia (12 Oct 2020)

I can feel the purchase of a 3D printer coming on , any recommendations that won't break the bank ?


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## Farmer Giles (12 Oct 2020)

Mine is a Creality Ender 3 Pro, cost just me just over 200 quid with the glass bed cover and 2kg of PLA filament delivered from Germany. I believe they are in the process of upgrading the boards to 32 bit and upgrading the stepper motor drivers so check which model it is. I thing the Ender 3 now has a v2 and has the new board and drivers. Not too sure about the Pro version yet, but there's not much difference. I ended up buying an after market 32 bit main board for mine main board, about 30 quid, but if your not into messing with tech I would get the v2 one so you don't have to. Mine is much quieter now and I don't suffer from lack of memory when adding accessories.

There are others but I only have experience of the Ender 3 Pro.

Cheers
Andy


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## pe2dave (12 Oct 2020)

Yes, very tempting @segovia - I looked over them.
Buy Ender-3 DIY 3D Printer for House/Home/Cosplay | Creality – Creality3D Store® Official Store for Creality 3D Printers and Accessories seem to get very good reviews.


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## DBT85 (12 Oct 2020)

My ender 3 pro cost me £195 from banggood, but was a UK location so was here in 2 days unlike most stuff which comes from China. Had to buy filament with that. Excellent results without faffing with anything. I've got some mounts for the motors to redduce the noice a bit but enver got around to fitting them (requires removing the press fit pinion).

The most important thing is that you have the time or patience to learn something like Fusion or another applicable application to a basic level. There are lots of things to print on thingiverse, but unless you can create your own, you'll find it limiting.


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## pe2dave (12 Oct 2020)

DBT85 said:


> The most important thing is that you have the time or patience to learn something like Fusion or another applicable application to a basic level. There are lots of things to print on thingiverse, but unless you can create your own, you'll find it limiting.



Is it a case of learning to use the application, or is there a CNC class of programming language to learn please?


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## pcb1962 (12 Oct 2020)

pe2dave said:


> Is it a case of learning to use the application, or is there a CNC class of programming language to learn please?


You don't need to learn a language, but it helps to understand a few elements of GCode. After the CAD program you use another bit of software called a Slicer to convert your model file to the GCode which drives the printer. In the slicer you can tweak things as much or as little as you like to vary the GCode that is produced, but you shouldn't need to do that initially, only once you're up and running and you want to fine tune things.


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## DBT85 (12 Oct 2020)

I've printed a fair bit and never even looked at any gcode. Download or make a model, import to Cura, slice it into layers and export that gcode to the sdcard.

If you only want to be able to print simple adapters I or Andy could upload (assuming there isn't one) a file that can be very easily modified to your specific dimensions in something like fusion. You literally type in the diameters and lengths you want and hit export. The parametric nature of the software updates the model to the parameters you input.

Little use if you need an extra flange or screw hole or something though.


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## pcb1962 (12 Oct 2020)

DBT85 said:


> I've printed a fair bit and never even looked at any gcode.


I've had endless problems with curling and poor adhesion, which has led me deep into the world of auto bed levelling where getting your hands dirty with a bit of GCode is a necessity. If you've managed to avoid that then you're a luckier man than me.


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## Farmer Giles (12 Oct 2020)

I've added a raspberry pi for octoprint and time lapse photography, a new main board, BL touch for auto bed levelling and swapped out the hot end and the extruder for different ones.

None of them have been essential, I would say incremental improvements in quality, ability or convenience but some are marginal. But I enjoy doing it. It has meant getting into a bit of gcode and a lot of Marlin compilation, and lots of tinkering. I'm just wrestling with a filament run/out sensor now, its not behaving itself, but I have a kitchen to build and machinery to renovate so that may take a while longer.

With PLA, I was having warping issues, where I got the best improvement from was reducing bed temp to 45c and using some bed glue.


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## Ollie78 (12 Oct 2020)

I have an Ender 3, it is good but I had terrible trouble with it gumming up the nozzle and blobbing. 
Spoke to a friend with the same machine and some others he said that it is VERY important that you get good quality filament (he uses Prusa only now after trying many) . The issue comes from poor quality control when its extruded and any small variation in filament thickness can cause the blobbing. 
I was using Amazon basic. Ordereing prusa stuff and will try again soon.

Ollie


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## Farmer Giles (12 Oct 2020)

I had some issues with filament, turns out on some of the Ender 3 printers, the extruder had too strong a spring meaning the filament was being squashed so it was wider in one direction, beyond the tolerances recommended by the tubing manufacturer. Loads of youtube videos show you how to increase extruder spring pressure to improve filament feeding, I wonder how many have followed these instructions only to make it worse.

I do notice differences between PLA makes, but not enough to stop me using it. Main differences is finding the sweet spot in terms of bed and nozzle temp for that PLA. I always keep my PLA in a sealed bag after use, its hygroscopic and water changes its characteristics, I haven't resorted to sticking it in the over on a low heat yet....


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## DBT85 (13 Oct 2020)

I have been exceedingly fortunate by the sound of things. I just manually bed level with a post it and have never had any issues with blobbing or stringing or adhesion. It's white AMZ3D PLA I got from Amazon that just stays on the machine when not in use.

The only mods I've done is to print parts for the machine to cover the cables, add trays etc. As I said, not even got around to fitting the dampers yet! I just keep the bed (stock magnetic pad) at 60 and hot end at 200.

I thought I'd get into the bed levelling, anew board, a new bed, teflon feeder tube and all sorts but frankly it just hasn't felt necessary.

The only issue I've had was my hose adapter printing out 0.3mm narrower than designed. I printed a test cube and it was something like 19.97, 20.03, 19.96 mm all around, so I just increased my models by the 0.3mm.

Eventually I may use it to make the parts for a cnc.

Literaly the first thing i printed









Spoiler: 2 more pics









An adapter for my brothers hot tub.


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## rwillett (13 Oct 2020)

I have an Ender 3 Pro, the main difference between the Pro and the non-pro is the use of a magnetic bed and a magnetic sheet that goes over it. The sheet provides good adhesion and so I have never used any of the tips and tricks with tape and hair spray. There are different magentic covers that all look the same from Amazon. Some are too adhesive and I have ended up wrecking two as the models stuck so hard to the sheet, it pulled the cover off.

The difference in 32 bit boards is negligable. The later one is quieter than the earlier one, but unless you are updating the firmware (which isn't that difficult), I wouldn't be too bothered which one to get. I've had both and its made no difference to me.

The key things to remember about the Ender 3 and 3d printing is to get all the axis's at right angles, use a decent steel ruler and a square, and getting the bed levelling correct. As a previous poster has stated, they use a post it note to check the thickness. Heat the bed and the nozzle to the right temperature (you do this as the metal expands), slip a thin piece of paper and adjust the four screws underneath the bed until the paper is just catching on the nozzle. However as you get one part right, it puts the others out of alignment, so you need to go round it a few times. My Ender 3 bed is slightly concave in the middle, (0.1mm?), but thats enough to stop the filament sticking in some cases. This sounds a lot more difficult than it is, and after a few attempts it's second nature. 

I do have a BLTouch but the firmware that comes with the Ender 3 Pro (on my version) doesn't support it, so I had to build my own firmware. I build software for a living so this holds no fear, but I could not get the BLTouch V3 to work with Marlin V2.x.x.x. I probably spent six weeks and compiled 50-60 versions and had a lot of discussions with serious developers. We put it down to the version of BLTouch and the version of the motherboard. However other people have stated they got it working first time, so YMMV.

Decent PLA+ is a must. I only buy eSun as I have got that working very well indeed AND it comes in a clear reel so I can actually see how much filament I have left. I have used other filament as well with few problems to be fair. I print at 205C for the nozzle and 45 for the bed and that works for me. 

I also use Octoprint on a raspberry pi 3 which is connected via wifi. This basically acts as a print server and web based control model. Can't recommend Octoprint highly enough. I even subscribe a few pounds a month to the developer. 

I brought my Ender 3 Pro to build a CNC machine. You can see it here (New build in Clapham, North Yorkshire, UK). 

Would I buy an Ender 3 again? No, I'd buy two  The issue you will find is that things take a long time to print, the CNC machine took over 250 elapsed hours to print, so I ran the printer non stop (as much as I could) for nearly a month. I still think I may buy a second one to do things in parallel. A more expensive printer won't necessarily be much faster BUT might print larger objects. Mine does circa 200x200x200 and thats fine for me. Anything bigger than that is going to take days to print.

I use Fusion 360 (the free edition). As of Oct 1st Autodesk removed some features from the free edition but it's not affected me at all. I don't use the machine part of F360 but simply export STL models to my Mac and use PrusaSlicer to slice and dice the model and then send it to the Ender 3 via Octoprint. Quick and easy and no messing around with SD cards.

I had no idea about F360 until probably June this year and have now graduated to quite complex models. I am not a designer (though you can probably guess that). here's the modular dust shoe I'm designing for my CNC. It's modular as it needs to adapt to different heights quickly and easily.






If you want a simple dust hose adaptor, hand draw a simple sketch showing the interior and exterior dimensions, anything that connects to anything else MUST be as accurate as you can make it and sent it to me. I'll knock it up in F360 and print it out for free (assuming its not 200x200x200mm) and post it to you.

I made a number of dust connectors for my Henry vac and dust cyclone.

Here's a screw threaded adaptor






and a rotating hose clamp for a Henry hose






Most of these are pretty simple, but the important things is to get the dimensions right.

The offer to print is there, it will be in Fireengine red as thats the filament on the Ender 3 at the moment.

Rob


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## Farmer Giles (13 Oct 2020)

Nice one Rob, I'm jealous of your CAD ability.

I use the BigTreeTech v2 32 bit board, I had a few issues compiling the code for the BLtouch as I am using the Marlin Bugfix branch rather than BigTreeTech's version of Marlin but didn't take too long. The other problem was the wiring for the BLTouch, the colours are not standard depending on which one you bought. I had to put a cross in the cable with jumpers to get it to work.

Here's what I sussed in terms of colour codes for the different sources of BL touch cabling. 

 BTT SKR Mini E3 socket
 BTT SKR Mini E3 label
 AntClabs BL touch wiring
 BTT Bltouch wire harness colours
 Creality BLTouch for v1 mainboard wire harness colours
 Z-probe
 PC14
 

 

 

 

 GND
 

 

 

 

 PA1
 Orange or yellow
 Green
 Yellow
 

 +5v
 Red
 Yellow
 Red
 

 GND
 Brown
 Orange
 Blue
 Z-stop
 GND
 Black
 Blue
 Black
 

 PC2
 White
 Black
 White



The main benefit of the board was the lack of stepper motor noise, its a vast improvement. The printer is in the same room as my work office so couldn't use it when I was on conference calls before, now the PSU fan is the loudest part but I can live with that, for now. I have a bigger quieter fan to fit but that will have to wait. The proper bootloader and additional memory are icing on the cake.

Cheers
Andy


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## rwillett (13 Oct 2020)

The F360 stuff just comes along. I struggled to draw a simple square and extrude it to a cube. You just keep trying. F360 has a lot of capabilities but sometimes there are quirks like cutting, copying and pasting. I just keep looking things up and working through it. The dust show system is on V41 of which I have printed around 10 of them. My issue is that my CNC machine is optimised to cut 60mm foam, so it has high legs. Normally this is a no-no and you want the legs to be as short as possible as the leverage (or something) goes up by the square of the height. Foam is easy to cut so this isn't an issue. However I also want to engrave wood and do some cutting in which case I need to lower the router or lift up the spoil board. I then need to adjust the height of the dust show as it should be a few mm (at most) above the cutting surface. This is why it's modular. I needed to learn F360 to get my CNC built. I also had to learn about 3d printing along the way. I don't regret buying the Ender 3 for a second. Its a great workhorse. The only changes I've made are a new extrusion spring and arm, a new extruder (as I messed up the old one), new tubes as I blew the old ones out (probably through running too hot for PETG), a new control board as I dropped a metal ruler on the old one by mistake whilst it was powered up (doh) and new magnetic print mats. Mmm... thats quite a lot now I think about it, but most of the stuff is cheap.

We think the problem with my BLtouch is a 5v vs 3.3v issue and the MB. I wasn't going to cut any capacitors on any MB to test it to prove or disprove this.

My Ender 3 sits in the same home office, but I'm kind of used to the noise as I have a fileserver and an ESXI server and a large printer. 

Anyway, we're going off topic. Happy to print an adaptor and can recommend the Ender 3 Pro (regardless of motherboard version).

Rob


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## DBT85 (13 Oct 2020)

See all of this faffing with boards or BL Touches would get right on my thrupennys. I'm only 35 but after years of being the go to IT guy for people I am now in a period of "Just work damnit". My time is limited enough without wanting to allocate more of it to fixing something that wasn't broken by adding a new bit that is supposed to be better! I'm lucky my experience was so good I think


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## rwillett (13 Oct 2020)

I was the go to IT guy as well, I now tell people I'm an accountant and oddly enough, they never come back. I tried with my family but that failed miserably.


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## rwillett (13 Oct 2020)

Some people have reported immediate success with BLtouch. 

Mine was a real one, the version is somewhat vague which I suspect is the problem, I can level my bed just as fast as auto bed levelling so I don't care any more. The Bltouch is sitting the shelf.


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## pcb1962 (13 Oct 2020)

rwillett said:


> I can level my bed just as fast as auto bed levelling so I don't care any more.


You probably know this, but BLTouch (with UBL) doesn't just level your bed corner to corner like you do manually, it also compensates for any undulations in your build plate which can make a huge difference to the adhesion of your 0.1mm layer if there's a 0.2mm dip somewhere on the plate.


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## rwillett (13 Oct 2020)

@pcb1962 

Yes I was aware it builds a mesh of points and their depths up and down relative to a plane. I realise it will compensate for undulations and not just for a simple dip or elevation in one place.

I spent a long time trying to debug the Marlin code to fix the issue with my Bltouch. I'd set it up for a 3x3 grid and it would do the first two rows correctly and then on the third row it looked as if the values for Z had been changed to positive (or negative) and would just launch itself upwards into the Z axis and never come down to the plate. It looked like some value got flipped, I suspect a memory leak or pointer going astray, but I couldn't find it so gave up. Other people had the same issue. It could also be a hardware incompatibility. Could be aliens as well 

I'm pretty careful with manual bed levelling now and I don't use rafts at all. Just doing a six hour print job for a new frame for my dust shoe. The holes really take time to print as they need lots of work from the printer.






Rob


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## Bodone (24 Oct 2020)

Ender 3 pro here. Printed lots of feather boards, clamps, etc, now experimenting with dogs. All adaptions from thingiverse 

For bed levelling, buy a glass bed or mirror tile, much more level and consistent, then do the paper trick. Takes two minutes, once every few days. I’ve a bl touch, that I’ve not installed, probably won’t as the paper thing is so easy with the glass.

Replace stock springs under bed with ‘yellow’ firmer ones. Helps with keeping bed level once you’ve levelled it.

For curling part 1. I’ve put 5 70x70mm thermal pads between the heated bed and glass build plate. Placed in dice ‘5 dot‘ pattern. This gives an even distribution and helps prevent curling as well as sticking builds.

For curling part 2. Always clean the glass bed between builds with a mixture of 10% alcohol 90% water. Spray it on and wipe down with a lint free cloth. This is very important.

Releasing built parts from bed that may be stuck. Squirt your ‘cleaning’ solution onto the finished model after the temp has dropped a little. You’ll actually here the part ‘crack’ as it comes away from the glass bed.

Replace stock filament feeder with an aluminium one, more robust and as pointed out, the tension seems much better.

If noise is an issue and you don’t want to replace the board, place printer on a paving stone with some sort of damping material under it, some sliced foam packaging etc. Works wonders. Failing that, print off the damping feet on thingiverse.

I only use pla plus and have slightly raised my temps to 60 and 210, this works for me and stops stringing and bed adhesion fails.

All above are from other peoples tips that I’ve used, they work for me, may be worth a look.

I avoid CAD and try and stick with thingiverse only going bespoke if required. Not averse to CAD, I started in the 80’s with it and it’s likely paid off my mortgage one way or another, but it gets to be a pain.

For slicing, I’m on a Mac so use Cura with my adapted material profiles, pop it onto the octoprint server and off it goes. My only thing is I wish it was quicker.

Maybe if people are averse to CAD, those who are enjoying it could provide some sort of bureau service by emailing STL files of models they’ve created or hosting it somewhere. I’m sure between us all we could quickly build up a library. Anyone any thoughts on this? Maybe running off a load of parametric adapters and dropping them into a shared collection in thingiverse or drop box.


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## XH558 (26 Oct 2020)

Wow,

Is there any user here who would produce some adaptors with sensible pricing + p&p?

Would like a couple of adapters and a Y piece for my Router table?

Anyone consider it?


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## DBT85 (27 Oct 2020)

If you give some dimensions we can draw some up, unless you've done that bit already. Cost of the print itself isn't really much of a factor. Electricity and filament brings one adapter to probably 50p. Posting it will naturally cost more. The further issue is you tell me 58mm internal, I print 58mm internal and its actually meant to be 58.1mm internal. Having the printer on hand means you can check that stuff before doing a whole print.

Draw what you want and give dimensions and I'll draw it up and we can see what occurs. Need things like length, inner diameter, outer diameter (or just the important one and a thickness if you prefer).

Can't promise owt as I've not much filament and the only time I get spare to draw much is when I'm working


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## pe2dave (28 Oct 2020)

@DBT85 I'll take you up please.
Cyclone output 50mm int
Shopvac input 36mm external. 

Straight coupler wanted please?


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## DBT85 (28 Oct 2020)

pe2dave said:


> @DBT85 I'll take you up please.
> Cyclone output 50mm int
> Shopvac input 36mm external.
> 
> Straight coupler wanted please?


If I get a chance at work tomorrow night I'll draw something and you can double check it.


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## DBT85 (29 Oct 2020)

Dave, forgive me for maybe not seeing clearly but can you clear up the ambiguity in your dimensions.

"Cyclone output 50mm internal" Is the 50mm the internal diameter of the 3d printed coupler (to go outside the cyclone) or is 50mm the external diameter of the coupler (to go inside the cyclone)

Similarly, "Shopvac 36mm external". Is the 36mm the external diameter of the 3d printed coupler (to go inside the vac) or is 36mm the internal diameter of the coupler (to go outside the vac).

This is how I have it drawn at the moment. Please note the 36mm diameter is the OUTER and the 50mm diameter is the INNER.


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## pe2dave (29 Oct 2020)

DBT85 said:


> Dave, forgive me for maybe not seeing clearly but can you clear up the ambiguity in your dimensions.
> 
> "Cyclone output 50mm internal" Is the 50mm the internal diameter of the 3d printed coupler (to go outside the cyclone) or is 50mm the external diameter of the coupler (to go inside the cyclone)
> 
> ...


No problem - trying to buy hoses and couplers is quite .. annoying. 
50mm is the internal diameter of the connection on the cyclone.
So the coupler would need to go inside this (ext dimension is 56 mm if you wanted to go over it).
The other end of the coupler (I think) should go over the vac input. That is 34.5mm
So (my view): Coupler narrow end, internal should be 34.5 (say 35, for vac to go inside)
Wide end, 56+ to go over the cyclone output.
<grin/> Tricky terminology !

Does that make sense?


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## DBT85 (30 Oct 2020)

That all makes sense, this is why we have to be very specific! 







I've no idea how I'd sell you this as I'm fairly sure the forum don't allow it. Maybe @Angie or @MikeK can clarify.


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## pe2dave (30 Oct 2020)

Agree - so the vac goes inside the narrow end, the adapter goes over the cyclone end!
Is it worth leaving a tolerance at that end? Say 56.5 or even 57 - that end will be permanently
connected so even if loose, tape won't hurt? I'll leave that to you!
Thanks.


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## DBT85 (30 Oct 2020)

pe2dave said:


> Agree - so the vac goes inside the narrow end, the adapter goes over the cyclone end!
> Is it worth leaving a tolerance at that end? Say 56.5 or even 57 - that end will be permanently
> connected so even if loose, tape won't hurt? I'll leave that to you!
> Thanks.


Oh no, I will make it to the dimensions asked for! A 2mm difference in diameter is asking to be clogged up with dust even if most of it ends up in the cyclone bucket. As with all adapters you could heat it up to persuade it to fit. Its heated to 200c to melt the filament anyway so warming it up to make it pliable if needed shouldn't be a problem.

I've some more filament arriving and some larger nozzles as the standard 0.4mm one only allows layer thickness' upto about 0.31mm and for things like a dust connector a larger thickness should be fine as we don't need fine details. Let me get that working and try some test prints. I have to make a new fan for my table saw motor and that'll be something I need to make to a specific diameter to go over the shaft so I can see how accurate it prints to a very specific size.

What I don't want to to start taking money from people for prints that end up 0.3mm too small and all the hassle I could end up with.


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## pe2dave (30 Oct 2020)

DBT85 said:


> Oh no, I will make it to the dimensions asked for! A 2mm difference in diameter is asking to be clogged up with dust even if most of it ends up in the cyclone bucket. As with all adapters you could heat it up to persuade it to fit. Its heated to 200c to melt the filament anyway so warming it up to make it pliable if needed shouldn't be a problem.
> 
> I've some more filament arriving and some larger nozzles as the standard 0.4mm one only allows layer thickness' upto about 0.31mm and for things like a dust connector a larger thickness should be fine as we don't need fine details. Let me get that working and try some test prints. I have to make a new fan for my table saw motor and that'll be something I need to make to a specific diameter to go over the shaft so I can see how accurate it prints to a very specific size.
> 
> What I don't want to to start taking money from people for prints that end up 0.3mm too small and all the hassle I could end up with.


Thanks. I’ll bow to your experience


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## DBT85 (5 Nov 2020)

Since this is still the most recent 3d printing thread (maybe we just need a thread all about it?)

my new (old) tablesaw needed a new motor fan. So I drew one up and printed it off. Quite pleased with this one.


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## HamsterJam (5 Dec 2020)

DBT85 said:


> Since this is still the most recent 3d printing thread (maybe we just need a thread all about it?)
> 
> my new (old) tablesaw needed a new motor fan. So I drew one up and printed it off. Quite pleased with this one.



What design software do you use? I use Tinkercad for simple stuff and RS Designspark Mechanical for more complex shapes.


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## DBT85 (5 Dec 2020)

HamsterJam said:


> What design software do you use? I use Tinkercad for simple stuff and RS Designspark Mechanical for more complex shapes.


ONly ever used Sketchup and then I gave Fusion a try and have been on it since. My brother who could never understand sketchup tried fusion last week and picked it up in ni time at all. No idea why one worked in his head and the other didn't!


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## paulrbarnard (6 Dec 2020)

My printer is running right now. I'm printing a set of quick release heads for the printer . I'm expecting a laser head for Christmas (I ordered it but it has been confiscated till Christmas) and want to be ready to be able to swap the printer and laser heads out.
I inherited mine from my Dad. I bought it as a kit for him about 5 years ago. He used it for quite some time and started doing 3D prints for the company i work for. They upgraded him with a dual head professional unit so i go the one I gave him. 
I use it all the time. Many adaptors and repairs have been enabled by the 3D printer. I have a few things on thingverse. I use TurboCAD on the Mac for all the drawing. It's a full on professional package but provided by work as I often draw up the mounts and things we use in test cars to hold cameras and other sensors. With any package there is an initial learning curve but they are pretty straight forward once you get the basics.
My Dad has been retired for years but has a thriving turnover of parts for the model train (live steam) club that he belongs to. You can even print with material that melts ouy of a mold for casting. Brilliant things.


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## DBT85 (7 Dec 2020)

I've not looked at whether the ender 3 pro can deal with a laser too. Not that I have had th etime yet to do some of the prints I want let alone start burning things!


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## Roberto Flintofski (4 Jan 2021)

DBT85 said:


> Since this is still the most recent 3d printing thread (maybe we just need a thread all about it?)
> 
> my new (old) tablesaw needed a new motor fan. So I drew one up and printed it off. Quite pleased with this one.





Awesome!!!


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