Project Information
My old Jet DC-650 works just fine for me, with a few notable exceptions. The caster system on this old unit is worthless. Very difficult to move around. The stand itself has allowed the motor/impeller unit to sag on the mount. Lastly it is a pain in the @$$ to empty the filter bag. So, I decided to dismantle this baby and remount the motor/impeller in a new wood housing riding on a cart that also carried a trash can cyclone pre-filter. This new unit is shown in the pics above.
I was interested in something on casters BUT not movable when I didn't want it to move. I designed some feet that will swing up out of the way when the unit is pushed in one direction. However when it is pushed in the opposite direction the front edge of the feet catch the floor and swing down lifting the casters up off the floor about 0.25". At which point the unit is immobile. I like this design. It seems to work well. What I really found useful is I prototyped this "whole thing in Sketchup. I was able to very accurately determine the proper dimensions on the feet and related parts by simply playing around with size and rotation in Sketchup. A very powerful tool. No actual prototyping needed.
Then it was simply a matter of elevating the base frame with shims to reflect the height above the floor I wanted it, attaching he hinges to the feet, positioning the feet/hinge on the frame so the extended feet were touching the floor (table top) and lastly screwing the hinges onto the frame.
As well the fit off the motor/impeller unit in the frame is almost perfect. VERY TIGHT with no possibility of vibration working something loose. I designed a sliding mount setup so it is easy to remove the DC unit, should that become necessary for any reason. Again after taking numerous measurements off of the actual unit and transferring those to a Sketchup component, the resulting Sketchup design was spot on. I LOVE SKETCHUP!
This is all held together with pocket holes joints.
The trashcan cyclone lid I used is one from Woodcraft. I've seen this product referenced in a number of places here on LJ. This works GREAT. I ran a few boards thru my thickness planer and NOTHING showed up in the DC-650 bag. Emptying the trash can will be loads easier.
I was interested in something on casters BUT not movable when I didn't want it to move. I designed some feet that will swing up out of the way when the unit is pushed in one direction. However when it is pushed in the opposite direction the front edge of the feet catch the floor and swing down lifting the casters up off the floor about 0.25". At which point the unit is immobile. I like this design. It seems to work well. What I really found useful is I prototyped this "whole thing in Sketchup. I was able to very accurately determine the proper dimensions on the feet and related parts by simply playing around with size and rotation in Sketchup. A very powerful tool. No actual prototyping needed.
Then it was simply a matter of elevating the base frame with shims to reflect the height above the floor I wanted it, attaching he hinges to the feet, positioning the feet/hinge on the frame so the extended feet were touching the floor (table top) and lastly screwing the hinges onto the frame.
As well the fit off the motor/impeller unit in the frame is almost perfect. VERY TIGHT with no possibility of vibration working something loose. I designed a sliding mount setup so it is easy to remove the DC unit, should that become necessary for any reason. Again after taking numerous measurements off of the actual unit and transferring those to a Sketchup component, the resulting Sketchup design was spot on. I LOVE SKETCHUP!
This is all held together with pocket holes joints.
The trashcan cyclone lid I used is one from Woodcraft. I've seen this product referenced in a number of places here on LJ. This works GREAT. I ran a few boards thru my thickness planer and NOTHING showed up in the DC-650 bag. Emptying the trash can will be loads easier.