"Joe AutoDrill" wrote in message
news:tlrBf.1278$Yi5.1238@trndny02...
| Building a system for a customer... They are working with a material that
| is hazardous but not flammable. They are looking to provide suction at
the
| tool rather than the typical coolant and want to do something a bit more
| professional than a simple wet vac system. Anything you folks know of
like
| this? We would provide either a pneumatic or electrical signal to cycle
the
| suction.
|
| Regards,
| Joe Agro, Jr.

I recall Boeing's R&D working on a chip vacuum for their "small" and
hand drill motors. They tried like crazy, but the chips jammed and clogged
like crazy. There needed to be a chip breaker that wouldn't clog, and a
transport system that would remove the chips without clogging and going to
hell so easily. They gave up, and just insisted that we vacuum up when
done.
If your customer's materials don't create any long chips, a short
sleeve, spring loaded to the surface of the material, sized slightly larger
than the drill bit to prevent clogging but allow cuttings to roll out, and a
vacuum body just above that will draw the chips away from the cutting
surface where they can be drawn away. You'll need a high vacuum to avoid
clogging and keep the vacuum working all around the drill bit, but obviously
not a high flow. This I seem to recall was the idea with Boeing's thinking,
but aluminum and sharp drill bits creates hardened continuous chips, and
their chip breakers weren't up to the task.