RTS Engineering 8-Foot Articulated Boom Arm

[RJNeal]

Congratulations Rick on your new product. Looks great.
I would order one up in a heart beat if I still had a shop.
I moved a year and half ago. My shop consists of a 20’ container for storage.
Rick.

 

[jdm5]

Likely in for one and possibly even two depending on mounting options!

 

[Rick Christopherson]

Likely in for one and possibly even two depending on mounting options!

I've done the calculations, and the mounting requirements are way lower that I originally expected. That's because I based my original assumptions on the huge white elephant that Festool offers that weighs over 200 pounds. Theirs could never be mounted to a wooden wall...mine can. It only weighs 30 pounds (calculated). I think a couple of brackets and sistering some studs, is probably about all anyone my need. (of course, you must consult a structural engineer to ensure your installation is safe.)

The forces on the wall are pretty typical, but I need to double check them before publishing any numbers.

[attachimg=1]

 

[RKA]

Wow, that's really awesome (and light)!!  Love the name!

 

[zapdafish]

Will you have a version that doesn't articulate? 

 

[jellyroll]

Rick,
I’m interested for the shop I’m redesigning for our local theater where I join a group of volunteers building the sets. As a retired mechanical engineer... kudos for following good engineering design principles and for design elegance. Long term, it might be interesting to have an option of a vertical member on the wall to spread the load and if it had a “track”, to allow for height adjustment.

 

[Rick Christopherson]

Will you have a version that doesn't articulate?

I don't anticipate doing that, because without the articulation, you are no better off than buying a Festool vac-mounted boom arm with its limited reach of just a couple of feet. The articulation gives you the ability to cover EVERYTHING from zero to 8-feet. If it was fixed-length, you'd be stuck with a single radius. Prometheus will permit you to have infinite positioning from zero to 8-foot radius.

 

[Rick Christopherson]

The website is finally active for taking your orders for the Prometheus articulated vacuum boom arm.
www.rts-engineering.com

The articulated boom arm uses a 2-tube design, giving you dust extraction through the upper tube, and any number of other energy types through the lower tube, such as electrical power, compressed air, VacSys vacuum air, etc.

The boom arm is available in lengths of 6, 8, and 10 feet.

Oh, I forgot to mention.....
Free Shipping for introductory purchases. Limited Time offer.

 

[rmwarren]

[member=191]Rick Christopherson[/member] looks awesome!

In my use case the 10'er could be used to deliver "beer energy" from a tap out to the smoker... now if I can only figure out a project to justify that tool purchase to the boss. [scratch chin]

Best of luck with this, looks like you have a real winner here.

RMW

The website is finally active for taking your orders for the Prometheus articulated vacuum boom arm.
www.rts-engineering.com

The articulated boom arm uses a 2-tube design, giving you dust extraction through the upper tube, and any number of other energy types through the lower tube, such as electrical power, compressed air, VacSys vacuum air, etc.

The boom arm is available in lengths of 6, 8, and 10 feet.

Oh, I forgot to mention.....
Free Shipping for introductory purchases. Limited Time offer.

 

[zapdafish]

Ah, ok, figured there was something I didn't understand.

Will you have a version that doesn't articulate?

I don't anticipate doing that, because without the articulation, you are no better off than buying a Festool vac-mounted boom arm with its limited reach of just a couple of feet. The articulation gives you the ability to cover EVERYTHING from zero to 8-feet. If it was fixed-length, you'd be stuck with a single radius. Prometheus will permit you to have infinite positioning from zero to 8-foot radius.

 

[Michael Kellough]

I’d like to see a picture of the contiguous path of the vacuum hose from vac to tool.

 

[Rick Christopherson]

I’d like to see a picture of the contiguous path of the vacuum hose from vac to tool.

Not sure what you're expecting to see with a "contiguous" picture, but the flexible hose in the main knuckle is high-grade rubber, wire reinforced hose. This is far more flexible (and expensive) than a plastic hose.

I don't cut corners on materials!

[attachimg=1]

Oh, both upper and lower tubes are connected by this hose, even though the upper tube is the only one needing a vacuum seal. Your wires and hoses are not exposed when they pass through the main knuckle joint. (is that what you were wondering?)

[attachimg=2]

 

[broseiden]

Looks like a wonderful solution. I've toyed with a couple different shop-built boom arm designs, but they've all been lacking... I'd like to order an 8 or 10 footer in the not-too-distant future. Any idea what shipping to Canada would cost? (I can contact you privately if preferred, just thinking others may be interested as well)

 

[Rick Christopherson]

Looks like a wonderful solution. I've toyed with a couple different shop-built boom arm designs, but they've all been lacking... I'd like to order an 8 or 10 footer in the not-too-distant future. Any idea what shipping to Canada would cost? (I can contact you privately if preferred, just thinking others may be interested as well)

Full Blown Motorsports is graciously allowing me to shirttail on their UPS shipping rates. (They do a very high volume of shipping, so their rates are very low.) I'll know better once we start shipping. That's the reason why I am giving free shipping on initial orders.

 

[broseiden]

Nice! Thanks Rick.

 

[Michael Kellough]

I’d like to see a picture of the contiguous path of the vacuum hose from vac to tool.

Not sure what you're expecting to see with a "contiguous" picture, but the flexible hose in the main knuckle is high-grade rubber, wire reinforced hose. This is far more flexible (and expensive) than a plastic hose.

I don't cut corners on materials!

[attachimg=1]

Oh, both upper and lower tubes are connected by this hose, even though the upper tube is the only one needing a vacuum seal. Your wires and hoses are not exposed when they pass through the main knuckle joint. (is that what you were wondering?)

[attachimg=2]

That helps! Also, I failed to notice the elbow hidden in the mount pivot.

I prefer the dust/debris stream to pass from a hose/pipe into a larger hose pipe as it flows to the vacuum. In this case the hose from the tool would fit into Prometheus’s snout and the hose from the vac would fit over the elbow in the wall pivot. So unless the hose ends differ the elbow diameters should differ (in my ideal world).

 

[James Biddle]

Rick, can you show a pic with the vacuum hoses attached and a few other services in the other tube?  It's probably the angle of the pic you have, but it looks like an air hose would be kinked by the vacuum hose elbow. 

 

[Rick Christopherson]

This might answer both of your questions. Here is the actual elbow that is used for both supply and tool drop-down connections. The bead gets cut off on the side that gets welded into the aluminum tube. However, that bead is what permits a Festool suction hose to be clamped on the other end, very securely.

It is just dumb-luck, but this is an elbow that my welder keeps in high volume, and it fits perfectly for what I needed. Literally, the whole design was based around this elbow.

No, your hoses will not be kinked under the elbow. That is something that I was VERY aware of from the beginning, because Festool's ASA5000 boom arm had less space under the elbow than I do. That is exactly why I based the whole design around this particular elbow.
[attachimg=1]

 

[jeh]

Looks like a wonderful solution. I've toyed with a couple different shop-built boom arm designs, but they've all been lacking... I'd like to order an 8 or 10 footer in the not-too-distant future. Any idea what shipping to Canada would cost? (I can contact you privately if preferred, just thinking others may be interested as well)

Full Blown Motorsports is graciously allowing me to shirttail on their UPS shipping rates. (They do a very high volume of shipping, so their rates are very low.) I'll know better once we start shipping. That's the reason why I am giving free shipping on initial orders.

Well done effort on this whole project and a big thanks to Full Blown for assisting.

 

[Rick Christopherson]

Full Blown just left, after dropping off the load of aluminum stock. We decided to drop it at my shop, because Kapex will cut it faster than their metal-cutting band saw. 24-foot long sticks. I'll be a little busy this weekend. We'll start the mad welding on Monday.