Dust Boot Issues

[rkingery]

I recently purchased the dust boot, using a 1.5 HP dust collector to help keep the shop clean. When I tried making test cuts with the dust collector hooked up I was getting uneven cuts. The designs were unrecognizable and the cuts that were being made were not as deep as they should have been. I ran the shark without the dust boot and d/c on and everything cut fine. After reading on the forum about static issues with d/c systems, I tried running a test with only the vacuum hose hooked up, no dust boot on, and the d/c running. My tests were fine. So, I came to the conclusion that there was too much stiffness with the brushes on the dust boot. I haven't read about anyone else experiencing this with their dust boots.

This morning I went to Lowe's and purchased a roll of vinyl floor covering some people use in entry ways and hallways to protect their carpeting. I cut the bristles off the dust boot and used 4" strips of this vinyl material to replace the bristles that were originally attached to the dust boot. I ran the shark with this modification to the dust boot with the d/c running and everything ran perfectly. All the sawdust was collected and the cuts were perfect.

I just wanted to post my information in case anybody else has experienced this. It seemed that the bristles on the dust boot were so stiff that the router was not making good enough contact with the wood to produce quality cuts. I did read on the paper that came with the dust boot that you should bend the bristles outward, but that still did not work for me. I may have been installing my bits too far up in the router. I noticed that with some bits, I could see the tip of the bit with the dust boot on, and with others I could not see the bit at all with the boot on.

Anyway, with the vinyl flooring material everything is working fine. Just wanted to provide the forum with some information that I thought others may find useful. Now I'm ready to get back to work in the shop!

[hdtheater]

That is a good idea, I have been running my boot without anything for a while now. Are the 4" strips working out? Would you think longer or shorter strips would improve anything I ask because I a going to steal hise idea.

Thanks,

-Eric

[rungemach]

The non HD models of the shark are very prone to flexing, so it may be the combination of stiff bristles and a weak machine.

Curiously, in the past Tim recommended against dust boots on those machines due to the flexing issues, and now they sell a stiff bristle boot for it. Go figure...

I use the Kent dust shoe, and their bristles are quite flexible. They do sell just the "bristles" as a repair part , so they may be worth a look as a refit.
I did extensively rebuild my machine though , due to flex problems. Any small forces on the z axis would affect the accuracy and quality of the cuts.

Personally, I feel that the NWA boot has too small of a hose connection to allow enough flow to collect dust well. If I reduce the 4" hose on my dust collector to a smaller hose size, I lose a lot of flow to the extent of being almost unusable for a cnc dust collector.

The "stiff bristles" issue seems to pop up from time to time, but usually on the non-HD machines.

I hope the strip solution works well for you, the Non-HD machines are quite touchy regarding forces on the z axis from hoses etc.

[ohiococonut]

I did the same thing when I bought my Shark Pro Plus HD. Rather than buy a dust boot I made one out of similar material. Initially it worked fine then I ran into problems, the weather.
Long story short, if your workshop doesn't maintain a fairly constant temperature, the material will change stiffness during the change of the seasons and you may encounter problems. Don't like the weather in Ohio, wait a week, it'll change