Something Wicked This Way Comes....

Alex said:
Well, since you replaced the word blooms with booms ....
Click to expand...

I have to give you a lot of credit for spotting this tiny little missing "L". Peter Franks also deciphered the changes in the poem, but being a poor yank, didn't know what an ASA5000 was, so he just guessed a "big boom arm" from the other changes.

I've got a lot of things I need to figure out. I don't have the energy box (don't need it) so I am not sure how things normally terminate at the end. It is really nice to discover that it is already plumbed for electrical and pneumatic lines. I really had no idea what I was getting. The only information I had is what is shown in the International catalog, and that is pretty slim.

[attachimg=#]
 
index.php
Click to expand...

I know that Rick likes to take things apart to have a look inside to see how it all works.  So, now it looks like he knows how a Boom Box works, too.   [smile]
 
Shortly after I took the previous picture, my dad stopped by for a quick visit.......I put him to work.....hehehe

We carried the ASA 5000 down to the workshop, but I really haven't had the chance to take stock of it all. Before actually getting it in my hands, I didn't have anyone to ask questions about it. So I really had no idea what I was about to get besides the little bit of information in the International catalog. So there are some minor surprises, but nothing I can't easily work around.

It appears to be specifically designed for use with an Energy Box, but I thought that was just an optional accessory, and don't really want one. The round tube is both the vacuum line and the hanger for the energy box. It is intended to be cut to length depending on the height that the boom arm is mounted above the floor. I'll cut it short and attach a standard vac hose to it instead of the energy box. The 3 lines are power, compressed air, and some sort of control wire (presumably for the energy box).

[attachimg=#1]

The main pivot joint is amazing. It's made from 1/2" thick steel. The plastic gears mesh to control the center of the 2-point pivot. The 2-point pivot prevents the hoses from getting kinked. One hose is vacuum, and the other hose carries the compressed air and electrical lines.

[attachimg=#2]

It also has a Panduit-type duct to mount the vacuum line to the wall and down to the CT-vac. This too needs to be cut to length for the height of the mounting.

[attachimg=#3]

You can't just mount this to any old wall. It weighs 270 pounds and extends out 16-feet. It would topple a standard 2x4 house wall. However, my basement extends under the garage with a spancrete deck and 12-inch thick poured concrete walls. The gray beam shown below is supporting the spancrete deck of the garage. I think the best place to mount this is at the corner where the garage deck meets with the rest of the house. It's also the central part of the shop and where I already keep my CT-22.

I'll have to open up the wall to take a look at what/how I can mount this. At first I thought there was a 6x6 post supporting that beam, but I now realize that this end of the beam is probably sitting in a pocket in the concrete wall. It is the other end of the beam that has a support post. So if this is correct, mounting this to the concrete wall will be a little more complicated than just lagging it to a support beam.

[attachimg=#4]
 
Well, you've got an I-beam not doing much in the picture. :)

Would love to have your problem! ha ha  Congratulations, Mr Nania
 
I went to the Axminster Festool store in Nuneaton yesterday, and saw one of these 'in the flesh' for the first time.

Honestly, the pics don't do justice to the sheer size of these boom arms! They really are massive.
 
Yeah, it kind of caught me off guard how big it was too.

I haven't updated this thread because there didn't seem to be much interest in the boom arm, but I'll copy some of the pictures from the other forum.

I mounted the boom arm to the concrete wall that supports the floor of my garage, which is above the "machine room" of my workshop/basement.

5648d1305402574-something-wicked-way-comes-installed1.jpg


It can sweep out an arc that reaches across the whole assembly room and a few feet into my machine room too.

5650d1305403068-something-wicked-way-comes-installed3.jpg


I removed the rigid downtube that normally supports an energy box and installed my plug-it/vac hose. I also added a quad-box pendant outlet with one side for unswitched power and the other side for vac-power (triggers the CT vac). I'm going to mount a couple of hangers on the side of the arm (not shown) to hang an air hose and small extension cord. I also picked up a tool balancer to pull the loose end of the vac hose up off the floor when not being used.

WithHose.jpg
 
Justin,

You are in luck!  According to the Festool AU site they are available!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top