Official Luthiers Forum!

There you go folks, at the request of my great Pals Ron, Hesh and Billy, here are the pics of what i built, it's made of melamine slides for the dust chute, the grid or screen? is a recycled thing i scrounged somewhere around here, the holes are ~ 1/8" or less in size so they might be too small for an efficient vacuuming effect, i'd really love to hear thoughts and experience on that!TIA






a view from underneath, i think i screwed up there!



In this pic, you can see that i added some plastic blue sheets to help the dust find it's way to the vacuum hose, it also has 2 melamine planks or boards disposed in a "V" in there as well, under the plastic sheets, if i make any sense! here it is:



Thanks for watching

Serge

It's my understanding brother Hesh that a downdraft table should be hooked up to a powerfull enough DC with sufficient CFM (most I would think will require 500-700 cfm, for a small home use one that is) and that they should suck down all of the dust.

This is just my understanding from what I've read. I don't have one, but it would be nice one day.

Of course, take a read over at Bill Penz's site on downdraft tables, it has a very good chart for CFM requirements per table size.

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"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

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Ha....too funny Hesh....

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My Facebook Guitar Page

"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

Thanks Hesh, will give that a read tomorrow since it's getting late for me tonight, thanks bro!

I forgot to check how many CFMs my shop vac does, will check the specs tomorrow also, and thanks for the pad advice!

Good night Hesh and Rod, sweet dreams guys!

Serge

Looks awesome mon ami
Boy do need one!!!

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Andy Z.
http://www.lazydogguitars.com

Merci Andy mon copain de la lutherie Californienne! , maybe we should all take a look at the link Hesh and Rod posted last night, my DT looks cute but might not be efficient enough tho, will read those texts today and see what adjustments i must make if any!

SergeSerge Poirier39041.2978472222

Thanks guys for the info. I should deffinatly build one of these! Serge,I think our shop vacs aren't enough.I have been looking at some of Grizzlys DC's.
LinkDaveAndy39041.4057523148

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

I have no experience with a downdraft table but when I toured Santa Cruz Guitar Co. I was surprised by how big the holes were in their downdraft table (don't remember exaactly about 3/4" to 1") so I asked about it. They told me that they use to have a top w/ smaller holes but it didn't have enough suction so they went to the bigger holes and that increased the suction.

Thanks for the link Dave , will look into that, i think Reno-depot sells this DC in Gatineau, will check that up! Thanks!

Great input Roy, will take that into account, thanks to you as well!

Serge

I like the idea of an auxilary fan right under the table, that should increase CFM substantially! By using a squirrel cage do you have to clean the cage very much from dust?

Good idea Serge without any windows air quality is important!

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Billy Dean Thomas
Covina, CA

"Multi famam, conscientiam, pauci verentur."
(Many fear their reputation, few their conscience)

That looks really nice, Serge. Let us know how well it performs. Thanks for posting the photos.

Ron

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OLD MAN formerly (and formally) known as:

Ron Wisdom

Somewhere in the middle of Arkansas......

Thanks Billy and Ron, i will probably save money and buy me a DC to go along with it and enlarge the cavities, sounds like the way to go after reading what Hesh has posted.

Thanks Hesh, a pic is worth a 1000 words, now that i see it, i remember where i can purchase that stuff, thanks bro!

Hesh...I read somewhere (can't remember where) that the rubberized padding that you show is manufactured using a silicone release agent to assist in its removal from the mold/belt. If so, this can confound bonding and finishing. The article or post cited the stuff they use to line tool box drawers.

While I can't confirm this, I would consider it problematic until proven benign.

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

There was a thread about this in the last couple of months. Someone was having problems with their finish. Their sanding pad turned out to be the culprit. But if I remember correctly, they were using it as a pad to work off of on their bench. Mario went on to suggest using towels from the dollar store as a pad on the bench.

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Aoibeann

Thanks for the memory jog, Lillian.

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

Thanks folks, Are there any rubber pads with holes out there that do not contain any silicon?

FWIW...I'm certain those pads are not made from silicone...it's the silicone mold release (a silicone oil that's sprayed on the mold) that's often used when processing elastomeric products. This is the culprit that can cause us problems. The rubber used is normally a low cost synthetic rubber and usually has a foam-like feel.

Heating blankets are coated with silicone elastomer...a silicone polymer that has high heat resistance. This is a much different animal from the free oil I'm describing. I would be surprised if that elastomeric coating were causing oils to bleed out since the polymer matrix is crosslinked.

If such a pad has an oily feel to it I wouldn't use it...it's probably silicone.

Hesh, yours may be the exception in that it may have been made with a non-silicone mold release.

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

No Hesh, it's ok, we all learn from this, thanks guys, really informative stuff!