jonny round boy
Member
- Joined
- Jul 21, 2007
- Messages
- 3,227
Some images of my home-made boom arm. I wanted something which could easily be attached to my vac (CT Mini), and would allow a wide working area.
I made a temporary first version to test the idea, and I'm glad I did because it didn't work too well!!! I thought I'd taken some pictures of that, but for some reason I can't find them now so you'll have to make do with mark II...
[attachimg=1]
It's constructed from solvent-weld waste pipe, widely available in the UK (don't know about anywhere else!) in two main sizes, nominally 30mm & 40mm diameter.
As it happens, the 30mm pipe is actually 36mm OD with a 1.8mm wall thickness. The 40mm is 43mm OD with 1.9 wall. The 30mm fits nicely inside the 40mm, leaving about 1.5mm all round. I used this to hold the boom upright but still allow it to turn. At the bottom of the boom is a 30 to 40mm adaptor collar, which is glued to the boom but NOT into the 40mm bend at the bottom. This is just a push-fit, and forms a good pivot for the boom:
[attachimg=2]
My vac has a 27mm hose, and also has a plug-it cord permanently attached to it. In the first version of the boom I didn't use the hose, and had to remove the hose completely to use the vac. I decided that this arrangement was too cumbersome, so on the mark II I decided to connect the hose end into the bottom of the boom. Luckily, the hose end is a good fit into the 40mm pipe!
This left a problem of how to connect the power via the plug-it. What I needed was a plug-it extension cord, but they don't exist. Luckily, we in the UK have access to plug-it pigtails, so I ran one of these into a socket. From there, all that was needed was a spare plug-it cord which is run up the boom.
[attachimg=3]
And with the hose connected
[attachimg=4]
This arrangement means that there is a conveniently placed socket if I need to use a tool which isn't fitted with a plug-it. Of course, because it's powered by a plug-it, it doesn't have an earth connection. I'm thinking of just running a separate earth to it anyway, but haven't done it yet.
[attachimg=5]
When I first built this MkII a few weeks ago I used a non-festool hose, but have since bought an extra 27mm hose & replaced it. The Festool hose is simply pushed into the 30mm pipe - it's a very tight fit, so I'm not concerned about it coming out again!
Note - with the non-festool hose, I did notice with sanding that the hose would attract the hairs on my arms due to static build up. Never got a shock, though! Now I've got the Festool hose on, I was thinking that when I run an earth to the socket (see above) I could also run one up the boom & clamp it to the top end of the hose...
The boom arm folds back flat against the wall when not in use.
[attachimg=6]
The first version just had an upright & a horizontal, and sagged a lot, so I put a diagonal brace in this one.
I've used it quite a bit over the past few weeks, and it makes things SO much easier! If I need to use the vac elsewhere it's really easy to just disconnect the plug-it, pull the hose end out, an go!!!
I've seen discussions on here regarding hose diameters and loss of suction with the smaller ones, but TBH I haven't noticed any problems with the 27mm hose/30mm pipe combination, despite the fact that the total length of the air path is around 8 or 9 metres.
I made a temporary first version to test the idea, and I'm glad I did because it didn't work too well!!! I thought I'd taken some pictures of that, but for some reason I can't find them now so you'll have to make do with mark II...
[attachimg=1]
It's constructed from solvent-weld waste pipe, widely available in the UK (don't know about anywhere else!) in two main sizes, nominally 30mm & 40mm diameter.
As it happens, the 30mm pipe is actually 36mm OD with a 1.8mm wall thickness. The 40mm is 43mm OD with 1.9 wall. The 30mm fits nicely inside the 40mm, leaving about 1.5mm all round. I used this to hold the boom upright but still allow it to turn. At the bottom of the boom is a 30 to 40mm adaptor collar, which is glued to the boom but NOT into the 40mm bend at the bottom. This is just a push-fit, and forms a good pivot for the boom:
[attachimg=2]
My vac has a 27mm hose, and also has a plug-it cord permanently attached to it. In the first version of the boom I didn't use the hose, and had to remove the hose completely to use the vac. I decided that this arrangement was too cumbersome, so on the mark II I decided to connect the hose end into the bottom of the boom. Luckily, the hose end is a good fit into the 40mm pipe!
This left a problem of how to connect the power via the plug-it. What I needed was a plug-it extension cord, but they don't exist. Luckily, we in the UK have access to plug-it pigtails, so I ran one of these into a socket. From there, all that was needed was a spare plug-it cord which is run up the boom.
[attachimg=3]
And with the hose connected
[attachimg=4]
This arrangement means that there is a conveniently placed socket if I need to use a tool which isn't fitted with a plug-it. Of course, because it's powered by a plug-it, it doesn't have an earth connection. I'm thinking of just running a separate earth to it anyway, but haven't done it yet.
[attachimg=5]
When I first built this MkII a few weeks ago I used a non-festool hose, but have since bought an extra 27mm hose & replaced it. The Festool hose is simply pushed into the 30mm pipe - it's a very tight fit, so I'm not concerned about it coming out again!
Note - with the non-festool hose, I did notice with sanding that the hose would attract the hairs on my arms due to static build up. Never got a shock, though! Now I've got the Festool hose on, I was thinking that when I run an earth to the socket (see above) I could also run one up the boom & clamp it to the top end of the hose...
The boom arm folds back flat against the wall when not in use.
[attachimg=6]
The first version just had an upright & a horizontal, and sagged a lot, so I put a diagonal brace in this one.
I've used it quite a bit over the past few weeks, and it makes things SO much easier! If I need to use the vac elsewhere it's really easy to just disconnect the plug-it, pull the hose end out, an go!!!
I've seen discussions on here regarding hose diameters and loss of suction with the smaller ones, but TBH I haven't noticed any problems with the 27mm hose/30mm pipe combination, despite the fact that the total length of the air path is around 8 or 9 metres.
