Written by Graham

I am using this on my 3020-PRO MAX, It’s not so much a dust shoe for the 3020-PRO MAX, but a dust shoe for a 52mm diameter spindle motor, it really makes no difference on what machine your motor is mounted on, if it’s a 52mm diameter this should fit!

What you get

4 pieces:

• - 1x Top plate with mounting bracket and hose mount.
• - 1x Middle bit (there must be a better name? I will call it the shroud).
• - 1x Bottom plate with 40mm bristles.
• - 1x Bottom plate with 20mm bristles.

All the pieces are connected by magnets, simple and easy to take off and re-attach, but they are surprisingly strong magnets so will not detach in use. I had some problems with taking the photo as the pieces tried to magically attach themselves if they were too close.

Mounting

The aluminium clamping collar on the top plate slides over the motor, you will need the motor to stick down from the motor mount by 20mm, and two grub screws are tightened to hold it in place. The grub screws on this clamp actually push a spring steel collar into position rather than just boring into the motor surface, even better and firmer!

Before tightening rotate the motor in the mount to position the dust shoe. If your router has side plates fitted the vacuum attachment should be to the front to avoid the X axis movement fouling the side plates. If not, then it can be fitted with the hose mounted at the front, left or right or anything in between.

Versatility

There is already a dust shoe for the standard 775 motor, it fits a 44mm diameter motor with two mounting holes at the bottom, unfortunately the 44mm Brushless motor does not have mounting holes. This is the same dust shoe, but with a 52mm mounting bracket fitted. This can be unscrewed and the dust shoe would then fit a standard 775 motor. Useful if you have both.

When the 3018 dust shoe was introduced there were some complaints that the bristles on the were too long and depending on the bit and the cut being made could get tangled up in the cut.

Well, SainSmart listens, this one comes with 2 sets of bristles, one 40mm long and one 20mm long allowing you to select the length most suitable to your bit and cut parameters.

The 20mm bristle is also sold separately and will fit this dust shoe and the 3018 Dust Shoe.

Attaching a vacuum

You are going to need a vacuum, this can be anything from a domestic vacuum cleaner with a hose attachment to a dedicated shop vac.

The mounting for the hose is designed for a 38mm Inside Diameter hose over the top or a 32mm outside diameter hose slid inside. My vacuum hose is 35mm Inside Diameter so an adapter is needed, in my case the tool attachment part that came with the vac fits perfectly. If this is not the case you will need an adapter to suit your hose, these are freely available both for sale and as 3D Printed models. A UDTA can always be used, (Universal Duct Tape Adapter).

Mounting the hose

It is sensible to secure the hose to the router to keep it out of the way of the bed. I have attached mine to the outside of the left hand Gantry upright using a UETA (Universal Electrical Tape Adapter, the duct tape was too wide!) I will probably get round to designing and making a clip so it can be removed more easily. This keeps it out of the way of the bed as it moves backwards and will allow stock to overlap the bed. It also stops the dust shoe and spindle assembly from having to support the weight of the hose all the way to the floor. Make sure there is sufficient flexibility and length of hose left to allow free movement of the spindle at the limits of the Y and Z directions.

Mounting a bit

To mount a bit first remove the bristles and shroud sections to give access to the spindle and collet nuts. Depending on the bit select the 40mm bristles or the 20mm bristles as appropriate.

Mount the bit as normal, ideally the tip of the bit should be mounted to be level with the bottom of the bristles when they are refitted. When mounted like this the ends of the bristles will just be touching the top of the stock at Z zero. This is a bit stickout (bit tip distance from the bottom of the collet) of about 31 mm if using the 40mm bristle bottom plate or 11mm for the 20mm bristle bottom plate. The picture shown has the bit about 2mm too low using the 40mm bristles so you can see it, but that position would still work well.

If the bit is mounted too high then the bristles will be compressed against the top of the stock as it starts a cut. It is best to avoid this, if possible, especially if you are using larger bits or cutting deep pockets, as the bristles may be caught on the sides of the pockets and get dragged into the path of the bit depending on the way the path is cut. This shouldn’t interfere with the cut but you might lose some bristles.

If this is a problem then I recommend leaving off the bottom of the dust shoe, even with the bristles removed a lot, if not all, of the dust and debris will still be removed, depending on the power of the vacuum attached of course.

Setting Zero positions

Remove the bristles section of the dust shoe for visibility. Set the X, Y and Z zero positions as normal, once set jog the bit up to give about a 7mm clearance between the bit and the stock and refit the bristles section of the dust shoe before starting a cut.

Using as a Dust extractor

I am currently surfacing slate coasters using a 50mm diameter sanding disk. Obviously the bottom part of the dust shoe cannot be fitted when using a 50mm diameter bit, however it works very well as a dust extractor even without the bristles fitted.

My Overall Rating

5 stars! Fits easily, well designed and works well.