r/cncwoodworking

I'm just curious... Anyone else out there purchase airweights vacuum table systems and absolutely regret wasting their money? I hate this system, I've wasted so much time trying to make things work (while emailing and having phone calls with AW) and it's just costing me production time and ruined parts.

While I have a 5x10 CNC, I've been using just the 4x4 size or as a 2x8 size at times. Now I'm researching pumps I can support in my shop (single phase) to just do a proper table.

Hello.
I have an Altmill 4x4. It is in a dedicated 10’ x 24’ room with 8’ ceiling.

I am researching methods to control dust and have a few questions for various methods.

1. Is a shop vac/cyclone adequate for the Altmill or do I need to go full blown dust extraction?

2. How much is noise a concern with 1 1/2 hp units? I was thinking that I would like to find one that is as quiet as possible, but when I’m using the cnc to cut 3/4” ply, it is quite loud on its own. So does a quiet-ish dust collector really make that much difference?

3. To save space (and some noise), I was wondering if it would be beneficial to mount the collector on the other side of the wall so it would be in the garage. Remove and reroute the filter so it is in the cnc room. I was thinking that would prevent the collector from sucking out all of my heat or air conditioning.

Any other ideas to save space and/or noise levels?

I could also start small with the StealthSonic shop vac / cyclone then move up to an actual collector as my needs grow.

Thanks for any thoughts and input.

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