For non-boomers like myself, I rigged up some bungie cord screwed into a rafter that held the hose and power cord off of the work surface. Worked great and kept my vac mobile. Its no boom arm but between having the hose and power cord drag on the ground and getting a full blown boom arm, this solution improved the operator experience 100% IMHO. Have to try the boom arm next time I'm at the Woodcraft in Hawaii.

      Great idea Matthew! Perhaps this should be expanded to include CT hose and pipe set ups , boom or no-boom? When I get my set up done I will post it.

Seth Semenza

Hi,

    This is the set up I just finished putting together.  The gray pipe is 2" conduit. I used conduit because of the smooth curves and bell end connections for a good air flow. It does not swing, but the location  allows the hose to reach both my work bench and cutting table for all the Festool use. I have only tested it out. But will soon use it for a job. I suspect that it wil be changed again, but I will have to do some real work to find out for sure. If anyone has questions or wants details  I will be happy to reply.

Seth Semenza


UPDATE:    I have been using this for close to a year now. And it has worked out very well.  I have not yet found anything that I would change.   The fact that it does not swing does not seem to matter in my set up. Just tha fact that it comes from above keps it from dragging or coiling in the way / under foot.   When Iset this up I did spend some experimental time figuring out the right height and distance from the cutting table  (  http://festoolownersgroup.com/index.php?topic=3318.0  )  .  For sanding, to make the hose truly free swinging and to adjust the length just right , I put it through a bungie cord hanging from  the ceiling in addition. I think that I would probably do this even if the arm did swing.

Have you tried running copper wire inside & outside the pipe to complete the antistatic connection?  Might not be too hard to install on your setup -- I'm not sure this would work, but I would try placing a Festool AS fitting at either end of your pipe, run the wires and connect to the AS fittings.  Just a thought.

Very nice setup!  Looks like this will work well for you. 

Corwin

Nice, very nice. Has that clean install I think we're always going for.

Hi,

    The sleeve material is techflex. Originally suggested to me by programmergeek . It is an expanable , flexable nylon mesh tube. Available in any length and several diameter ranges.  It does cover the ribs and hold the cord to the hose. The ribs don't catch at all on the rail deflector, or most table edges. It does tend to snag  (almost worse) on saw kerfs along the edge of my cut table.  I am not 100% sure I am going to like it for my set up. It seems to be somwhat situational.  I tried it with a sander and it seemed to be real good for that. Allowing the hose and cord to slide back and forth over the edge of my bench with no catching. How good it works will depend on what it is skiding across.    A 15' length of 1 1/4" diameter is just right for the D27 x 11.5' standard hose and cord if you want to do the entire length.  You need a little more than the actaul length because it shorten as it is expnaded in diameter.

Seth

bijeshj ,
  Thats a good looking boom! How is it attached to the vac? Does it pivot?
Mike

Thanks Guys.

I already had a 1" PVC pipe. Used threaded couplers to join the pieces together to make it easy to dismantle for storage if I need to. It pivots on one of the bottom threaded joint. Got the brackets from the electrical section in HD, makes it easy to remove the hose. It is attached to the vac by a couple of brackets (not drilled to the container)

It was not very expensive, Approx. cost $20.00.

Regards
Bijesh

Resistance to the air flow is cumulative and bends in the hose also greatly increase resistance so it might be better to not use the boom except in some rudimentary form at the tool end of the line. The bigger the hose the better. You also want to use the biggest hose at the vac end of the run. To save money the big hose could be non-AS and you could bypass it with a wire to maintain the AS characteristic of the hose at the tool.

This should easily be sufficient for sanding and probably sawing but probably not good enough for routing. I sometimes do this with my Fein shop vac (which hangs from the ceiling so isn't too portable) via that inexpensive orange hose sold by several of the WW suppliers and it works.

If I remember correctly, the one of the dryer engineers at work told me every 90 degree bend in a dryer hose results in a 20% reduction in air flow.  I assume the same is true of a vacuum as opposed to a blower but I'll try to remember to ask at work tomorrow.

Fred

  Hi,

        While I am sure this is accurate for the dryer pipe. I think there are quite a few variables involved- pipe diameter, material, and tightness of the bend, etc. The three 90 curves in my set up would result in a total of about 50% reduction of flow at 20% each. And there is no way it has been reduced that much. I am sure there is some reduction but it is not enough for me to even perceive when using it. Not knocking your info, I just got thinking about it in relation to my pipe run. 

Seth

Sorry about the quick pictures, but this is my poor mans CT with boom (Actually a very elderly shop-vac and some pvc pipe on a janitors cart)
I had the shop vac (lo, these many years), the cart was from (gasp!) Harbor Freight ($50.00) PVC from Home depot, and switching (auto on and off with delay just like the real thing courtesy of a switch box from Woodcraft (About $35.00 I think)

Total investment under $100 - it works, and I get a bonus couple of shelves and a trash bag.

I'm also curious about static.  I'm running about 12 ' of PVC in my shop attic to create a built - in boom.  I'm thinking that I may want to wrap it in copper wire before enclosing the space and insulating.   Any thoughts?

Dan

I just hate all the extras saw dust that sticks to the hoses and PVC. Do you get that? Worst case run a grounding wire with a vac grounding kit sold by many places, Grizzly sell  one if you think you need it.

I used PVC in the past and I switched to metal piping. I don't think it will go boom. There are many articles that show PVC up to 3" or 4" in a home shop is safe.

After going to the festool anti-static I will not go back to the other hoses though.

Steve I get it. With six kids and two x-wives and the economy crunch I am hurting financially. I sold 47 old tools on ebay in the last week(some are still listed) and made 5250.00. I used every penny and then some to purchase all the latest Festools. I am glad I purchased good tools to begin with and on some I actually broke even or even made a profit!

Your set up is sweet! I see no reason to run get a Festool at all!

nickao