Non standard dust extraction ports.

[graduate_owner]

I have a deWalt bandsaw and the dust extraction port doesn't match up with anything else I have, but I did manage to use some PVC waste pipe fittings to make up an adapter.

My table saw has a 4" extraction port underneath (fine, that's standard) but the port in the blade guard again matches up with nothing else.

And so it goes on - belt sander, multi tool, mitre saw etc, they are all different and need home-made cobbled-together adapters to be able to fit into my vacuum cleaner piping (which is also different in most of the 5 discarded domestic models I have).

So this posting is to ask the question - if machinery manufacturers can standardise on their 4" ports, why can't they do so on their smaller ports? And why can't vacuum cleaner manufacturers do the same? That would make life so much easier. Perhaps they want us to be 'tied in' to their own specific sizes, but I think it would be a powerful selling point if one firm started the ball rolling by advertising their products as having a standard size port - if such a thing actually exists. Alternatively they might do the decent thing and supply an adapter to fit to a 4" pipe with their products. (Perhaps some already do?)

K

 

[longinthetooth]

4" hasn't been standard for decades - all is metric these days. But little of it matches - so as you say, you cobble up. Easy enough - enlarge a sipigot with tape if needed, it'll last for ages.

None of my wives have been standard sizes, either.

 

[AndyT]

Previous discussions on the same problem have included tips such as:


Use a sheet of flexible plastic to roll into a cone of the required size.

Adjust a waste pipe fitting with a hot air.

Buy the stepped adaptor that Axi sell.

Use lots of silicone sealer and duct tape!

 

[custard]

I suspect some manufacturers try to establish their own unique hose diameters to actively prevent any move to an open standard. They'd like to lock you into their extractors and their accessories. Okay, all's fair in love, war, and commerce.

But at another level they're being short sighted.

I've had a devil's own job linking a disc sander to my Felder or Festool extractors, and I end up feeling less brand loyalty towards these two manufacturers, neither of whom actually makes a disc sander, but both of whom conspired to make it as complicated as possible to plumb in anything from outside their own product families.

 

[graduate_owner]

I suppose it's going to have to be duct tape for the foreseeable future then. So annoying though.

K

 

[maltrout512]

So what is wrong with a universal cv joint boot and required hose clips form a motor factors. Sizes unlimited to a certain extent. Just a thought.

All the best

 

[siggy_7]

If you or a friend have a lathe, why not just turn an adapter from some plastic bar stock?