The suction is WAY more present when using the fatter hose (I’m pretty sure this thing could suck my face off at full power)
That’s because you have a Festool running with nearly optimal tubing. No surprise! This is a seriously effective tool.
The standard hose is design to handle to dust flow from sanders, rotary saws and some such. The Festool chopper tool uses larger tubing (37 mm) since it generates dust more quickly. The 50 mm tubing is used when one has to go long distances but for our purposes it’s just perfect - minimal frictional forces.
but I’m displeased with the amount of vacuum inside of the Nomad.
Let’s examine that.
My plan now is to apply some foam strips along the door to help seal things up a bit more. The gap on the sides of the front door of the Nomad are way too wide IMO.
Remember that air in must equal air out. The Festool is pulling out. That much air must be pulled in. Sealing up the Nomad enclosure is a good idea - it minimizes places where particles can leak out of the enclosure - but you’ve got to let air in otherwise the efficiency of the Festool will drop.
Sharp bends really affect the efficiency of tubing for vacuum purposes. Could you please try an experiment? Run the tubing out the front with the door open and hold the tubing so that is has as gentle a curve as you can work out. Does that help?
We should also look at your transition. It may be leaking or be abrupt, leading to friction.
One of the reasons I gave up on the Nomad enclosure was the need for tight turns.
While I’m getting good performance, there is room for later improvements if necessary - larger tubing inside the enclosure (which would require an update the dust head).
mark
P.S.
Review the principals for vacuum tubing runs here: