“Necessity is the Mother of Invention”
The first CNC I ever owned was made of 3D printed parts, skateboard bearings, and EMT conduit. It was about as rigid as a wet noodle, and closer to a glorified 3D printer. In fact, it used 3D printer motors, 3D printer belts, a 3D printer mainboard, and even 3D printer firmware. Yet the biggest issue I had with this machine was not the motion system nor the electronics. The biggest issue was the dust.
Dust. Everywhere.
I hated using my machine because of the mess it created. I don’t want to admit how many jobs where I sat and held a vacuum hose, tediously following the slow, wobbly bit. My wet noodle CNC wasn’t even rigid enough to support a dust boot and its hose, so I sat there, wasting my time, invalidating the entire point of having an autonomous shop robot. When I finally exchanged my old machine for a Onefinity, I knew this had to change.
Impetus: A sea of “meh”
My first task after deciding on a Onefinity Machine was to find a satisfactory dust boot. I wanted something powerful, easy to use, and inexpensive (after all, I’d just blown several grand on a CNC.) Now there were plenty of options. Fixed height, spindle mount, front mount, rear mount, 3D printed, injection molded. But they all had a bit of “meh” to them. A lot were simply too expensive for what they were. Some had coffee-straw sized flow paths. Others made bit-changes seem as enjoyable as a root canal.
I read reviews, scoured forum posts, watched youtube videos, but nothing ever stood out as the definitive choice. At last, it was time to admit something:
I’m a picky [redacted].
Time to put that Mechanical Engineering degree to use
After much soul searching, I realized that the problem wasn’t with the currently available dust boots. The problem was with me. I had very specific requirements and I would not be satisfied with something that I didn’t create myself. So, I embarked on the thrilling journey of designing my own dust boot.
It started with the design requirements. The ideal dust boot would:
- Be inexpensive (~$30 total materials)
- Be manufacturable with common materials and tools
- Have unrestricted flow from the bit to the vacuum
- Allow for ultrafast and painless manual bit changes
- Not require bit-specific adapter plates
The Pillars of the Design
As I created my first eleven design prototypes, I found some pillars to stand on. You can see the progression below:
Front mount fixed height seemed to be the most versatile. (Don’t laugh, it had to start somewhere.)
A magnetic hose attachment and removable shoe provide some design flexibility and modularity.
Tilting the hose attachment to 45 degrees allows for easy printability and some visibility.
With a 45 degree angle, we can aesthetically sweep the mounting arms back.
Dovetail slides allow the shoe to be easily removed for bit changes.
“Does it come in black?”
Upon these pillars, I would build my Pantheon.
Finishing Touches
Alright, let’s shoot the engineer and show it to the world.
Just let me change a few things real fast. Add some finger holds, remove that gap, shift the shoe…
And I should probably give it a name.
Huh. Those kinda look like wings.
And it’s a dust shoe.
A winged shoe.
Like the shoes worn by…
HERMES
The Hermes Dust Boot is a dust boot unlike any other.
This is the highest complement I can pay it: I have forgotten about it. I do not think about it when I am using it. I set the height, remove the shoe, insert my bit, replace the shoe, and everything feels organic. During a cut, it doesn’t move with the spindle and so I don’t worry that it will crash into the workpiece or clamps. After a cut, there’s little to no cleanup and I move on to the next thing.
As far as I can tell, it’s an entirely novel approach to use the body of the CNC spindle to improve the suction performance. That philosophy works hand-in-hand with making it a fixed-height dust boot. Because of those two features, you cannot crash your spindle into the Hermes Dust Boot. Due to this, I believe the Hermes to be a game-changing design when it comes to fixed-height dust boots.
A lot of dust boots use a magnetic hose attachment system. Hermes, however uses the WDM7557 open source connection standard that is genderless and has eightfold symmetry. This allows for the addition of inline modules like the Hermes View Tube. With its integrated glare shield, the Hermes View Tube lets you see the cut in action and lets you watch the chips fly into your vacuum.
Hermes Dust Boot Beta Testers
I get by with a little help from my friends. These friends, specifically, who were willing to test out an unfinished product and gave bucketfuls of helpful feedback.
- Avacado
- Sylthecru
- Hubert H
- Bill Edwards
They ensured that it would work on a variety of setups, and they were the ones that suggested the indicator notches, view tube, spindle cable management, and many such vital features.
I cannot thank them enough for their support and contributions!