Actually, I’ve got a length of that in my Amazon basket! I just need to know if it’s as flexible as it looks, given the low height of my enclosure. I’ll need to work out how to connect it to the Sweepy, though.
I was in a dilemma between using 50mm hose with an adaptor to fit the Sweepy, or a narrower hose with an adapter into the ducting, but I’m leaning towards bigger hose as I’m using 63mm ducting with this.
I don’t mind spending the money, as long as I can get it to work!
How flexible do you need it to be? I can go measure / bend / test a length and see for you tomorrow if you like.
I would suggest sticking to the biggest bore flex hose you can, the reduction in flow as you go to smaller hose diameter is quite significant, especially with this spiral profile type hose. Making the hose longer as you plumb stuff in also adds to flow loss.
If you have a 3D printer I have the Fusion 360 files I used for those screw on / screw in hose ends if you want to adapt them to Sweepy.
I’d be interested to ‘hear’ how noisy / quiet that vac unit is when you get it running too.
Using the 50mm hose would be my preferred option too, if it’s flexible enough. The problem for my setup, is the connection to the trunking is the ceiling of the enclosure, but not quite in the middle of the cutting area. With the Sweepy directly below the port, there is a horizontal travel distance of 480mm to the back left, 470mm to the back right, 790mm to the front left and 765mm to the front right (when moved bty hand, so cutting area would be less). The port is 385mm above the top of the Sweepy when they’re in line (i.e. the shortest distance). To be flexible enough, it would need it to cover all those points without tangling or fighting back and causing extra ‘stress’ on the router. To be honest, I didn’t realise the ceiling port was so off-centre until I measured it today (the Shapeoko was moved from it’s original position) so I could relocate the port to be more central to the movement of the Sweepy, rather than the wasteboard - a schoolboy error! I’ve already re-designed the installation so often, doing so would be almost predictable!
The PU antistatic is definitely not going to be sufficient on it’s own between that top port and the sweepy, if there’s enough length to not pull out in the corners there’s enough to get tangled up when sweepy is toward the middle. Mine is hung from a ceiling over a meter above the machine and I still tie the hose back across the Z motor to ensure it can’t get in front of the carriage.
There’s quite a few threads on here where people have made various forms of hinged arm or runner track to support the hose above their machine to assist in keeping the hose out of the way of the machine without creating too much tension. You’d probably end up moving the port to one side or a corner with that sort of setup.
I’ve has some dust extraction success with smaller (but stiffer) hose, but the flexibility was rubbish, so maybe I’ll try the Rockler and see how it goes. It is supposed to retract, unlike the stuff I’m using, so maybe that would help.
Or, maybe just take the top off altogether and suspend the hose from the shed roof. I do like the storage up there though
The issue with stretching out the retractable hose is that you’re asking the Sweepy to take the tension of stretching out the hose which may not work very well.
Talking to Rockler, they seem to think the 1:4 ratio of ‘stretchiness’ would be fine if I cut the hose to 12" compressed as the maximum length would only be about 36"
I was thinking of securing a section of the hose to the Z stepper motor with a cable tie (or clamp) so that part is supported. The rise height of the Z axis shouldn’t be an issue.
I think it would only need to be a figure of eight with a square part to fit over the motor and a round bit to fit the hose through. Hmm, I’ve got a Shapeoko that could do that!
Hi, when you say had to print your own, did you design the 3d printable parts or are they available online?
I have the identical hose from Amazon but have yet to connect it up because I have not had chance to draw up fittings. If these are already online then that would save me a heap of time.
Thank you for the offer,
They would be much appreciated Liam as it will save having to redraw / design something that exists. Happy for either Fusion360 or STL files.
The Rockler hose and fittings arrived today and I have to say the flexibilty and retraction of the hose is awesome (at least when it’s new) but, for my installation, not so much for the fittings. They’re quite long, reducing the ‘flexible’ gap between the Sweepy and the ceiling port by 280mm - i.e. leaving me 100mm to play with.
Most of the models are parameterised to some extent to assist in tweaking things to the right ID or OD for the hose and pipe fittings you’re trying to adapt to.
Seriously the Rockler FlexiPort hose is well worth the money. It stretches easily but retracts back just as easily. I had a Rigid hose before and that thing did not stretch at all.
For anyone not familiar with using parameters for measurements in Fusion, most of the key measurements are in the parameters dialog which you get to from the Design / Solid workspace, MODIFY drop down, Change Parameters option.
I can’t promise that the design will stay correct for all changes but I tried…
The STEP file is up there so you can import it and make your own adaptor. You could even cut it down, just make sure to use a zip tie or something so it stays on.
I probably will once I have finalized the designs. The threads work, but I may tweak them a bit more.
One thing to keep in mind with the Rockler FlexiPort line is that it does twist as it stretches. As such you want to include some swivel in the couplers. I learned that after I made the 1.5" adapter I posted. Ill be updating it once I add the swivel.
There are no issues with the Rockler hose itself, it’s the distance between the outlet of the Sweepy and the inlet of the dust extraction in the ceiling of the enclosure being so close together that’s causing my problem.
It wasn’t my plan to use a shop vac as a dust collector, as I already have a low pressure, high volume system installed, and I’m struggling to get the two things connected within the limited space I’ve got. I might just pull it through a hole in the ceiling and connect it above, rather than try to connect it to a flange below it.
Of course the other issue is the narrow internal diameter of the Rockler hose, but if I remember my hydraulics training correctly, at least the velocity of the dust will increase!