I have been thinking about making a dust collection system. I find the traditional cyclone design too big and ugly, so I chose to go with a ‘thien’ baffle design.

First of all, I designed a fixture that I will 3D print, in order to connect the vacuum hose to the dust collection system. It should be as airtight as possible,obviously.

From an accessory piece depicted above, I took some basic dimensions with my micrometer just to have a starting point, but I knew I probably wouldn’t get a perfect fit on the first try.

Sure enough, the tolerances on the first piece were too tight, so I printed a second one slightly larger. Also I solved the ‘overhang’ issue by adding some struts in the hole sections. They were easily cut away after the print was done. Printing took about 90 minutes.

As you can see the second attempt fits like a glove. I would never have thought I would have this little trouble getting the parts to interlock the way they do.