CNC Shark Forum

Here is my encloser for the mako shark.

Tony

Thanks Tony it looks great!

Looks Great Tony, Very nicely Built

Wow, that is really beautiful Tony. Your workmanship is terrific!! Ed

Tony,

A very nice enclosure - I have had my MAKO for about a month now and think I now understand why people are building shark enclosures. When I first got it I installed the dust boot and hooked a hose from my dust collector to it from above. I was less than satisfied with the quality of the work especially when V-carving lettering or shallow embelishments. Width of the V-carve would vary across the project and was not repeatable from project to project. I first started with following all of the good advice on leveling and strengthening the table bed. Added MDF slats that were machined flat and results were the same. First improvement came when I realized that thin (1/4 inch) material deforms if not clamped very carefully. I then started testing on some thick material that would not deform when clamped.

I ended up with less variation but still ended up with some. I then tried to do some raised lettering in a pocket and had a very uneven bottom of the pocket. However now it was almost reproducible - I could see the endmill pattern on the bottom of the pocket with 3 to as much as 10 mils of end mill traces on the bottom. I then notice that the texture was deeper when the dust boot went over a clamp.

Removed the boot, unhooked the vacuum hose and almost a perfect pocket bottom. I like the access I get with the dust boot but I'm not sure if the extraneous forces problems can be solved.

Does this sound about right? If nobody has solved it then I guess I will be another person building a shark tank.

Tom

Tom,
Your experience mimics mine. When I first got my Shark I went to work and made a dust boot. Tried the brushes, didn't work well. Tried plastic strips, same problem. The gantry isn't stiff enough to keep it from interfering with the Z axis. If it isn't set to the right height it effects the operation and if it's too high it just collects dust and the chips fly around. It was easier to build a tank and let the chips fly where they want and still collect the dust, plus it's much quieter and I can still see what I'm carving. Trying to do a finish cut on 3D was next to impossible with the brush. On larger machines doing a lot of flat cutting it may help, but the size of the Shark doesn't lend itself very well to using the brush. One more thing, it was cheaper to build my enclosure than it was to buy the brush.

Just now seeing this - we built nearly identical enclosures, Tony!

Tom - same thing here. We put in a complete dust system but the boot caused so many problems that we eventually abandoned it.
We kept the DC hose hooked up for awhile but that just picked up the dust and let the heavier stuff fly.
Finally built the enclosure and beefed up the DC system but found we had to cut 3 1.5" holes to relieve the vacuum. First time it about sucked the windows out!
STILL -- it didn't pick up the dust like we wanted. It was great for sound however. We could finally have a conversation without yelling and could hear the radio.
We eventually dropped the 3" flex hose down from the top, reinstalled the boot and it's been great since. A total of 9 cuts this weekend and we didn't have to get the shop vac out once.
If I were building it again I'd add an access door to the back. Not a full door like on the front but big enough that I could get in the back without struggling.
Oh and don't forget a light inside!

KarenW wrote:Just now seeing this - we built nearly identical enclosures, Tony!

Tom - same thing here. We put in a complete dust system but the boot caused so many problems that we eventually abandoned it.
We kept the DC hose hooked up for awhile but that just picked up the dust and let the heavier stuff fly.
Finally built the enclosure and beefed up the DC system but found we had to cut 3 1.5" holes to relieve the vacuum. First time it about sucked the windows out!
STILL -- it didn't pick up the dust like we wanted. It was great for sound however. We could finally have a conversation without yelling and could hear the radio.
We eventually dropped the 3" flex hose down from the top, reinstalled the boot and it's been great since. A total of 9 cuts this weekend and we didn't have to get the shop vac out once.
If I were building it again I'd add an access door to the back. Not a full door like on the front but big enough that I could get in the back without struggling.
Oh and don't forget a light inside!

I have a light at both ends an a 14 inch lift up door in the back. run a 2hp dust collector with remote. no dust