Which vacuum cleaner (Karcher MV2?)

[komatias]

You need a wet & dry vacuum then. There is a Henry type that is industrial.

[JAZZCNC]

If you want wet dry then you'll need George not Henry.

I sell George and Henry machines to Motor trade for valeting. They run all day none stop and they are tuff little buggers has well getting crushed by numpty valetors with vehicles all the time and still carry on working.
Plus they have good spares Backup and you can buy just about any part for Nuematic machines. They will last years if treated nicely even when running for extended periods.

[cropwell]

If you are cutting wet aluminium, why do you need dust extraction ? Surely some shielding round the cutter and a drip tray would be enough. I don't think wet ali shavings would be best for a cyclone either.

I have the feeling that Earlex have stopped production. There may be the odd stockist that wants to get rid of them, but they seem to be obsolete.

[d4cnc]

Ah yes the George looks good although a fair bit dearer.. How much liquid do you think will make it to the hoover do you think? I' was thinking more of little bursts of lubricant rather than fully flowing or water...


The reason I want dust extraction is to collect at the source as I'm not going to be working in the biggest space so can't have shards everywhere..


My plan was to attach a suction hose and clear flexible plastic skirt around the cutter so nothing escapes out and is collected at the source.. Then attach perspex sheets around the machine to stop anything else making a mess..


This should work for my wood projects etc.. but I don't think it'll be sufficient for cutting aluminium. So I was thinking of attaching another hose to the hood so that it can blow air to release swarfs or some liquid for lubrication.. not 100% sure yet..

Does that sound plausable? Or am I on the wrong track? Will the dust cyclone not like metal shards?

[cropwell]

I bought one of these recently
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Saving-Mis...item4198a99ef0

I have yet to try it out on a machine, but it sprays water quite well. I thought it was worth a punt for a fiver. My only concern is that there may be a lot of mist droplets floating in the workshop air. Water isn't so bad (for my lungs) as sudsoil mist, but unless you ventilate the shop properly I would expect rust on any exposed metal. I seem to remember a discussion about (low fog) misters.

If you are using a dust commander then droplets of coolant are likely to be separated by centrifugal action, but a more dedicated device such as a knock-out drum, where there is enough space to allow gravity to separate the drops in a vessel large enough to slow the airflow, would be better.

For cutting wood or MDF then the dust commander would be better, but I can see that the cyclone effect would be easily buggered up by wet oily deposits in the cone, when the dust sticks to it.

To me it really looks like you need two separate systems for ali and wood, I don't believe you could make one that would do both properly.

Cheers,

Rob

[d4cnc]

Ah yes I was eyeing up one of those too.. I saw someone mentioned using it with a pump like this..


Do you use something similar?


Is it possible that I might not need lubricant? Would blasting air do what I need perhaps?


To give an idea of what size aluminium.. it's going to be 1.5mm to 3mm I'll be working with. Probably shy away from 1050 & try something like 5251 grade..


Then generally it's going to be cutting things like panels for enclosures.. so holes/ outside cut out.. maybe the odd inside cutout..


So any way I can get away without lubricating do you think? Maybe by using only TiAIN coated bits? That way I could keep the same setup for any wood based stuff..


Or is there a different kind of lubricant that could work in this case perhaps?

[cropwell]

I use these bits for ali http://www.sorotec.de/shop/Cutting-T...s/2-Flute-ALU/ (if the page comes up in german there is an option to change to english). They are open geometry to allow chips to clear. You can probably get them direct from China, but I haven't particularly looked.

On my small machine (which I must get working again) I have a larger version, 70W, of that pump* and it clears the cutting area OK, but I also use an air blow gun on a LIDL airbrush compressor. I just use WD40 to help cutting.

*3 years ago, I paid £35 for it from an eBay shop, called something like PondLife and you can still get them around that price It is the Hailea ACO388D.

I also have a smaller air pump but I don't know the wattage, I will try it with the mister nozzle and see if it is powerful enough (I suspect not). It was not good enough for chip clearing.

I just connect the vac up directly for ali as there is so little WD used that it doesn't matter.

BTW I just have a Wickes vac http://www.wickes.co.uk/Wickes-Wet+D...lower/p/215735 and I have taken the handle and the castors off, so it fitted under my bench.