Same here but I found a way around it. I used a hose off of a yard sale find Bissell vacuum cleaner that has steel wire to make it flex a lot without sagging so I can move my XXL all the way to the opposite corner without the hose ever touching down.
Two caveats…
- This hose is only about 1.4" ID so it does restrict air flow down to around 80-100 CFM when using my shop vac. However, that’s enough flow to collect most of the shavings under most conditions. There are probably larger diameter versions of this spring steel coil hose available. That spring steel coil really makes the hose solution MUCH simpler.
- It doesn’t pull very hard on the z axis mount but it does pull some. I ran some measurements and found that the hose is enough to cause around 0.003" (maybe a little more, I didn’t write it down) deflection at the tip of the endmill when its at its full travel (40+" diagonal). That deflection would be much less for a normal size part so its not a concern for me.