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NLA: DeWalt DW708 Mitre Saw "Dust Extactor"

In which the awesome power of 3D printing resurrects an obsolete part

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My father-in-law is a very talented artist and maker, building elaborate stage sets for his local community and school theaters, among other projects. He has a lovely, enviable workspace a few steps outside his door, stocked with a full wood shop.

He recently contacted me and asked if I could reproduce the Dust Extractor nozzle for his beloved DeWalt DW708. The part is somewhat fragile, and having been knocked a few times, repaired a few times, he discovered, to his irritation, that DeWalt had discontinued the part, classifying it as "obsolete". There is no replacement option.

He lives a ways away, and I couldn't 'pop round' to examine the saw, so we used the mail to send the parts back and forth. I made detailed measurements of the original and then replicated the general shape in Tinkercad.

IF YOU NEED THIS PART, YOU CAN PURCHASE AN EXCELLENT 3DPRINT FROM SHAPEWAYS VIA THE LINK IN THE "DETAILS" SECTION, BELOW!

IF YOU NEED THIS PART, YOU CAN PURCHASE AN EXCELLENT 3DPRINT FROM SHAPEWAYS: 

https://www.shapeways.com/product/BRRZD74UJ/dewalt-dw708-mitre-saw-quot-dust-extactor-quot-nozzle?

Tinkercad is NOT the best tool for industrial design, but I am very familiar with its capabilities (and the price is right). I increased the dimensions of the mounting flange, requiring mounting bolts that are 5 mm longer than the original. Not realizing that the overall length is a critical dimension, my first iteration was too long to fit without binding. After some feedback on how version 1 fit, I also made some subtle changes to the the mounting face.

Version 2 reportedly mates to the saw "better than the original"

Print Settings

Printer Brand:

LulzBot

Printer:

TAZ 4

Rafts:

No

Supports:

No

Resolution:

0.20 mm layer height

Infill:

50% for strength

Notes:

The overall form factor lends itself well to 3D printing without support. I stuck a brim on the bottom to keep it stuck on the bed. I also designed some integral support for overhangs at the mounting face. Lastly, there are removable support vanes inside the bolt slots and under a curved overhang.

Post-Printing

The part needs a little clean-up before use. Remove the brim: Snap it off with a pliers and file smooth as desired. Pluck the supports from inside the bolt slots, trim remnants with Xacto blade Other supports: There are three vanes that support a convex overhang where one of the mounting bolts must go. A deft swipe with an Xacto blade removes these easily enough.

Good enough is good enough, but I lavished a bit of obsessive trim work on the clean-up, just to make it look nice.

How I Designed This

As mentioned, I used Tinkercad to design this. I made a detailed sketch of the pat and then measured critical dimensions with a digital caliper. I took liberty with the dimensions of the mounting tabs and the length of the part. The mounting tab was a win, but the greater length caused clearance issues for the first iteration.

There are a lot of "union" and "difference" operations in building out this part. I find that constructing subassemblies, saving them as discreet STLs and then putting them all together at the end avoids a lot of manifold error problems. Finally, I used Microsoft's Netfabb STL repair tool, and converted the fixed file from 3mf format back to STL's in MeshLab.

The part printed in about 3 hours.

DeWaltSawVac.stl

Dust Extractor nozzle for DeWalt DW708

Standard Tesselated Geometry - 1.10 MB - 01/30/2018 at 21:49

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  • 2 × 5 mm longer bolts, M5

  • Hack Life

    theschlem01/30/2018 at 22:32 0 comments

    One of the lessons I took from this project was to check your assumptions / know the context in which a part functions.  I didn't understand how the part fit into the entire saw assembly and assumed that I could make it longer for the sake of my design convenience.  A longer part allowed me to smoosh two assemblies together, optimizing air (and sawdust) flow through the part.  The first version of the part was - surprise, surprise - too long.  It hit the motor on top of the saw, effectively negating all the nice work I'd gone to, to make it fit well.  

    I only revised the part once, but when given the opportunity, I decided to tune up a few minor details that bugged me, making me happier with the final product. 

    Lesson: Look not just at the part you need to make, but how it fits into the entire assembly. Expect iteration, but don't sabotage yourself!  

    Corollary: If you think it's perfect in V1.0, it probably ain't.

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  • 1
    Print, trim, use

    No tricks.  Nothing to see here.

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