My Small Parts Trap fix for DC

Doug Shepard

In Memorium
Messages
772
Location
Waterford, MI
I've been doing some fret saw and filing work on abalone (pretty nasty stuff) at the drill press table so I can take advantage of the DC there. So after about 15 minutes of work on one of the pieces I bobbled it and watched it go sailing merrily up the DC intake:eek: Grrrr.
So this morning I hit the hardware store and a couple bucks later I've got a small parts trap fitting. I'm sure I'm not the first schmo to think of this but thought I'd post a couple pics. I cut a 4" piece of PVC and bought a coupler fitting and a piece of Pet Screen. It's pretty tough but still flexible. I cut darts to take the pucker out of the screen stretched taught over the PVC end. Then slowly started tapping the coupler over it (it's tight) until it was all the way in the coupler, then trimmed off the excess screen on the bottom edge. I can stick this on the end of my DP or sanding center intakes for working small stuff without worrying about watching my work go up the drain. It can be hooked to either a fitting or a straight PVC piece. Doesn't seem to be adversely affecting the dust pickup
SmallPartsTrap04.jpgSmallPartsTrap03.jpg
 
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the cross hatchng is for grip right for the removal from said hookups???

Yes - it's an intentional design feature:D

Either that or it's just the deep utility knife score marks from holding the screen tight and cutting the darts into it.

I like your idea better.
 
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My method is a little more of a barnyard type. I just wraped some metal mess over the pipe and duct taped it into place. Yours looks much nicer.
 
I'd have just turned the cyclone off, taken the top off the chip barrel, and retrieved the piece I lost.:wave: :D
Better yet, why not make a blast gate, where the gate is sandwiched with the mesh material across a hole, another hole for normal use, and a middle section that is solid to close it off. Nothing to take off and put on? Version 2 maybe? :thumb: Jim.
 
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Not bad ideas Jim except I dont have any gates now down at the machine level. They're all up overhead in the rafters. Adding them down at the DP would make it tough to tuck the 4" hose around the frame to aim it near the quill. I dont plan on having to use this very often plus it's cheap and I can plug it on more than one machine port pretty easily. This has already stoped 3 more abalone pieces from going up the chute and still sucks off the toxic abalone dust. One step in my current mini-project involves cutting round discs from the shell glued to wood. Once the plug cutter gets past the shell into the wood and starts making wood chips, those will start collecting on the screen. I have to unplug it and turn it around to suck the chips up the chute every couple of plugs but a light twist slips the trap on/off the fitting pretty easy. Definitely low-tech but it works. And stirring up shell dust hunting down a small piece in the chip bin sounds a bit risky. The stuff is supposed to be very nasty.
 
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