possible to control solenoid for air blast w/ arduino?

[dlinderm]

Hi all.  Made my first test cut last night, and i'm in love.  ran the test file with a plain end mill, and it came out great.

I can most definitely see the need for air blast for chip clearing.  can anyone give some pointers on the best way to set this up?  Can the Arduino power a solenoid to control the air blasts?

also, what do you guys use to keep the vacuum hose, air hose, router cable untangled when the machine is in use?  I was thinking a spring mounted above the machine that will support the hoses- sort of what you see at the self serve car wash- ideas?

thanks,

dave

[Bruce]

Congrats on your first cut. I think one of my first projects will be to make a dust shoe of some kind. A flexible rod support for the vacuum hose is a good idea.

[aforww]

You can take a look at my setup. I covered my air/cutting fluid setup and you can see the way I dealt with vac hoses as well.