Hey Folks, Thank you for the kind words, concerns and keen observations. I'm considering posting a movie of it in action but that won't be until tomorrow night at the earliest. In the mean time, I thought I would respond to a few of the comments. I'll do it in chronological order.
Wuffles- I had considered making the boom arm part of the suction apparatus. At the time, The boom arm had legs which you can kind of see in the photo with my full set up. It's the second to last photo I believe. It was fairly top heavy and it didn't swivel so i filled the legs with concrete to lower the center of gravity. It worked but it really wasn't a very elegant solution. Also If you look closely, each pvc member has holes drilled in it to receive 7 inch bolts. I insert the bolts in the holes in order to help in twisting and pulling the pieces apart to put back in my sys-5. None of those solutions to my problems boded well for running the suction through the arm itself. Since then I have come to realize that I rather like being able to change the length of hose coming off the top of the arm. When processing pavers I don't need a lot of hose but if I am processing sheet goods I need a lot more length. This is less of an issue now that the arm swivels nicely. Still, I like being able to modulate the length for the task at hand. Having the hose plug into the top would mean I would need several different lengths of hose for different tasks which doesn't seem feasible for the things I use my track saw for. I mostly use it for wood pavers but I'm hoping to get more into cabinets, built-ins and furniture. I hope that makes sense.
thedude306- Astute observation! The picture with my full set up was before I made the mount. As I described to Wuffles, the initial design had legs and was free standing. It was made before I owned an MFT. It was cumbersome, didn't swivel, and needed three times as many pieces of pvc which took time to attach and break down as well as making it annoying to fit back into my sys-5. A few people have asked about deflection in the track from pulling on the hose. This was a concern for me. Hopefully I can respond to many of the other related comments and questions regarding this topic here.
The mount is made of 1/4'' flat steel. That combined with the Ipe (also not light), and the fact that the majority of the mount hangs below the table means that you would have to yank unnaturally on the hose to get it to deflect enough to where it would become an issue. I guess time will tell. That being said, because of my previous set up which was prone to tipping, I have always been cognizant as to how much pull I place on the hose when using a tool. I always let out the right amount of hose from the top so I'm not pulling on the arm itself. My larger concern has been that over time, the bolt heads will begin to mar and disfigure the inside of the track. If I do anything more to ameliorate this issue, it would be to make a plastic or aluminum "washer" that spans the two t-track bolts and makes for a more displaced pressure on the inside of the track. I would hope this would also help to prevent deflection of the mount and be less harmful to the track. I hope someone else makes their own version of this and can either disagree or confirm my findings. Different people treat their tools differently, I happen to be very delicate with all my tools(especially the green ones [wink]) minus rough framing hand tools.
Svar- I hope aspects of your concerns were addressed in my response above. I had initially intended to build a groove for fitting in the v-groove as well as a plate for the underside of the track. I still may do it but ultimately I wanted to spark imaginations for people who may not have the MFT profile and maybe just have a basic T-track like Timothy Wilmots MFT-C or other people who have used an 80-20 extrusion. Ultimately I'm not sure if I need anything more. I'll know more when I get to use it in the field for a few months. Eventually, I plan to build my own MFT tables with an 80-20 perimeter and didn't want to have to make a new mount to fit a different profile. I think it's more universal and simpler this way. It's definitely a legitimate concern.
Again, thank you all for your engagement and comments. I truly enjoy these discussions.
