Homemade Articulating Wall Mounted Boom Arm - 16' + reach in 270 degree arc

[musserwood]

[attachimg=4][attachimg=5][attachimg=6][attachimg=3][attachimg=4][attachimg=5]We had been struggling with our Festool hoses at our shop for sometime.  We had the boom arm that attaches to the dust extractor but the stabilizers and the extractor always seemed to be in the way.  Sanding without a boom, we constantly were running into issues with the hose dragging on the edge of the workpiece or bench.  Ideally we do most of our work on two parallel 4x8' moveable benches  and wanted the availability of the extraction hose at any point on those two benches.    The Festool, ASA 5000 boom arm looked like the solution until we saw the price, and basically lack of availability in the US, so ended up building our own out of scrap material.    The result has worked very well for our situation.  It is mounted on the corner of our shop office and we can comfortably work with a tool hooked to the extractor anywhere within a 16' arc, probably closer to 18'.  The boom is easy to move and pivot and by having two articulating arms, things can always be positioned to exactly where you need them and where the hose is at an out of the way angle from your work.    As a bonus we were able to pivot 270 degrees and cover a third table in our finishing area if we need to sand back there.  The arm is built from 3/4" pre-finished maple plywood (what we mostly use)  We used wood from the pile of scraps left over from the CNC.  The pivots are steel 1" piping (available from any home center) with PVC pipe as spacers.    Basically just interlocking plywood pieces with holes drilled in them for the pipe.  The action is much smoother than I ever expected and it's easy to reposition the arm from just tugging on the hose a bit.    The arm is mounted to a light gauge steel stud wall with screws and a plywood plate on top as an extra brace.    I bought a second green Festool hose and used a 12 gauge extension cord to extend everything to the CT26 extractor.  Works great, and unlike with the Festool boom, the extractor is well out of the way against a wall.  We use this rig for our sanders, domino, and saw  [attachimg=2]

 

[Dane]

[eek]holy crap, dude.  That thing is awesome!

 

[Bob D.]

Very nice. That should keep you from having to worry
about tripping on cords and hoses.

It seems that a number of your photos did not upload
as I see [Specified attachment not available] where I
suspect there should be more photos.

 

[Poindexter]

I like that a lot!

 

[Rob-GB]

That makes my plastic pipe affair I made a while back look insignificant...is there such a thing as "Boom envy" ?  [big grin]
Very nice and useful project  [thumbs up] thanks for sharing.
Rob.

 

[HarveyWildes]

You have created the King of the boom arms!

 

[ben_r_]

Awesome! Well done, that thing is a beast!

 

[icecactus]

Awesome! I have plans do to something very similar. I was concerned about the wall though. Thanks for being the guinea pig  [big grin]

 

[Svar]

I have plans do to something very similar. I was concerned about the wall though.

You can make it lighter by going with I-beam design.

 

[rizzoa13]

On the wall at the bottom left of your boom arm, what am I seeing ?

 

[Bob D.]

I have plans do to something very similar. I was concerned about the wall though.

You can make it lighter by going with I-beam design.

It see you used 3/4 plywood for the majority of the construction.

Did you try or consider using thinner materials, maybe on the sides?

 

[musserwood]

We primarily use 3/4" pre finished maple ply so I had a lot of CNC scraps around to use.  It is overkill for sure as is the size of the arms.  If I did it again I would use 1/2" or even lighter and the arms would have smaller cross sections .    But what I have works and it's stayed completely level with no sagging at all with about 2 months of heavy use. 

 

[musserwood]

you could use an I-beam type construction too.  I went with the box so I could stick my hose and cord inside.  Connecting to the wall - use plenty of screws is all I can say.  My wall is lightweight metal framing so not as idea by a long shot as wood studs.  I used a fair number of screws but also have a deadman on the top that connects to the top of the steel framing.  This helps to counteract the plate from pulling out.  If you were building for a standard home shop or garage you should be fine shooting some lags into a wood stud to hold it.  If you are concerned I would lag a few 2x12s across 3 studs and then bolt the arm to them.  Lighten the arm with smaller cross section and lighter plywood and don't hang on end and things should be fine. 

 

[majeztic]

Thank you, musserwood. I was able to build my own version of the boom arm using the photos and description in your post.

I realize this is a really old thread but I wanted to express my appreciation for the op's contribution.