Howdy folks. I’ve been scrubbing around the topics here and on several other forums but can’t seem to find consensus on the pros/cons of a fixed dust boot vs a static dust boot. I’m planning on using the machine for a diverse set of tasks that include sheet goods, 3D carvings, and inlay work, and when I look on different threads, I see conflicting opinions. I also can’t find a thread that’s dedicated to just the pros/cons of the options, so I figured I’d begin one. If a person was looking for the best option, knowing there’s no “perfect” option, for a multitude of tasks for their CNC, what do you think the best route to go would be? As always, y’all’s feedback is greatly appreciated!
I find I need both, depending on the project, I use the 1F suckit and the Nighthawk.
Pat
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Hey Jake,
this dust boot moves indepently.
I find @adamfenn28’s Big Suck dust boot interesting (see also Big Suck comparison test), but also @RexH 's dust boot. Recently he wrote he wanted to make one for 80 mm spindles.
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Thanks @Aiph5u, I had read your excellent post before and Ugly Dog’s video. Maybe Marius will one day market something that I’d be capable of implementing, but his engineering abilities are far beyond my ken ;). Rex’s looks interesting, but I don’t have a 3D printer, so whatever I go with, I’ll need to buy something off the shelf for now. Thanks for the input!
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After years of having my dust boot crash into things as z position decreases, I don’t think I will ever go back to a dust boot moves with the router or spindle. But who knows, times change 
-Tom
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I’ve been using my onefinity machinist without any dust collection for a couple of years now. But I’m kindof a savage like that. I blow off the dust occasionally with compressed air if it’s a long job. Eventually I’ll get around to adding dust collection but not any time soon.
Yeah that’s definitely not my style ;). I’ve got this in my basement shop so I’m hypervigilant about dust collection. I’ve got a 2500cfm dust collection system down there and a few air scrubbers/filters as well. The filter stack on my dust collector is down to 0.5uM as I don’t want to foul the air in the rest of the house. I’ve actually observed an improvement in the particulate matter in the rest of my house from what it was when I had the shop in the garage which is nice. I want that shiz clean!
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I agree with you, I use both. They’re usually pretty easy to interchange, and depending on the project I’m doing the fixed collector may be my one to go to. Especially for projects that are reasonably low profile.
For one project I recently completed, I removed the fixed mount unit and installed the static unit. So I had plenty of clearance doing a very deep carve on a live edge cut off. I feel both are necessary.
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I have both and use the best one for the job at hand. When doing guitars I use the one that stays at a set height so it doesn’t mash or crash into the job when doing the deep pocket cuts. When doing jobs that don’t have a lot of Z range I’ll use the one that attaches to the spindle because it hugs the surface nicely. Mostly I use the one that stays at a fixed height above the table as its easy to set it up to avoid clamps and such and the bristles don’t get mashed all up.
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