Do you want to make money quick? Start a dust port adapter business then! But be aware of the competition, because Rockler may just kick your butt. Let’s review the dust anaconda!
Some things in life should be easy, but aren’t. One should think that manufacturers could agree upon a standard for most aspects of our tools, but they don’t. The dust port on nearly all tools is one such area. For big toys, the 100mm / 4” dust port is standard. Grab a couple of random tools that run on angry pixies, and it is anarchy and mayhem! I measured my tools, and it is a great variety of sizes from 32mm to 100mm. Thus, I need adapters. And what does adapters do best? Loose ALL self-confidence and drop both the tool and the hose the SECOND you move the tool out of alignment with the moon and the combination square. Put the slightest pressure on the thing, and it’s quitting time. Which means that the Dust Distribution System™ kicks in and you get a fine cover of man glitter everywhere. Every. Where!
I came across the Dust Right FlexiPort Power Tool Hose Kit, 3′ to 12′ Expandable *ghaaaaasp* product (hey, what happened to SHORT product names??? “The dust anaconda” sounds great!). It seemed like a good product, so I ordered it to see if it could improve the situation.
The kit comes with two different rubber adapters with swivel screw-in connectors for the hose. There’s also a 57mm (2 1/4”) OD adapter. Fiftyseven. WHY, Rockler? WHY? Most dust extractors uses 4” or 100mm. Did nobody take a hint during the product development process?
A side note: the common pipe size for central vacuum systems for homes is 50mm. So is the pipes for the typical bathroom sink. Cheap tubing for a dust system in the shop! The wall ports for central vacuums are great too – no need for blast gates at all! Food for thought…
The two rubber adapters are well designed, and I’ve found them to work very nicely. There’s a “lip” on the business end which helps the adapter “grab” the dust port. The larger one fits very nicely on my DeWalt track saw and my Bosch GOF900 router, the small one fits very snug over the dust port on my Bosch GEX 125-150 AVE random orbital sander. It is very easy to screw the adapter into the hose in order to swap between the two.
But it does make me wonder – what if we made that adapter in such a way that we could have both adapters mounted on the hose, and just swap side when needed? Or make the adapters so that you just flip it or swap the rubber thingy? If I’m switching to another tool, I have to unscrew one and screw in the other adapter on the hose. Would’ve been easier to just switch side on the hose. Rockler, this idea is free for the Dust Right FlexiPort Power Tool Hose Kit, 3′ to 12′ Expandable *ghaaaaasp* MKII version! (Do something about that name! Seriously!)
In this day and age, I do not understand why companies still insist naming their product “The Vaccuuminator 2000 ear pop system”. I mean, can I get the 3442 model in stead? It is 1442 better! What about the competition? The “Hickey master 9000” must be incredible – it is after all 7000 better than the 2000.
Did the R&D department loose their confidence during the development process? “It sucks, Rob! It really does! I’m going with 2000 on this pile of garbage, and that’s final!”
Vidar Fagerjord Harboe
The swivel function works like a charm and keeps the hose twist free. Great!
The hose is a piece of goodness in and of itself. It is a black boa constrictor that goes from 1 to 4.5 metres quick. Wrap it over your neck, and the weight of it makes it feel like a boa, too. The hissing noise it makes when you switch on the dust sucker completes the better-change-your-pants experience. Not that I have EVER tried a danger noodle as a fashion statement! But one can imagine..
I am thoroughly impressed with the hose, as it has an incredible reach. The good – and bad – thing about it is that it wants to constrict contract to its shortest length by itself. Switch on the dust extractor, and the contraction tendency REALLY kicks in! If I switch both 1000W motors on my CamVac on at the same time, the hose becomes pretty hard to expand – but that is because of the 2KW* suction power. Even with just one motor running the hose wants to contract really bad. This means that even though you have an incredible reach, the hose resists stretching out. In some cases, it rips itself off of the tool if the adapter fit isn’t tight enough. Beware of this, unless you want the Dust Distribution System to kick in. I know. Let’s not get into why.
*2000 angry pixies, or 2000 watts.
This tendency is exaggerated by the fact that any spiral hose WILL catch on any edge. I plan to install a dust extractor port in the ceiling, at two locations. That should make the hose kit work perfectly! Since my shop is 7 metres long, I’ll reach every nook and corner with the hose. Since the hose will come down from the ceiling, it won’t snag. Yeah, I’m a dreamer! but I do think it will be less of a problem.
On the opposite end, the hose also is the cousin half-removed to every Slinky® ever made. It is IMPOSSIBLE to hang this thing on the wall, as it immediately stretches and falls to the floor. While still being hung up on the wall.
It might sound bad, but this hose is actually pretty impressive and a very good product.
The rubber adapters will solve problems created by tool designers without blisters. You know – people who draw the tool but never ever uses it. Let me explain with a thousand words:
OVAL dust port, anyone??? On a PREMIUM brand? Stupid. Just stupid. However, Rockler saves the day here. Hopefully, the brand in the picture above did a boo-boo on just that one model. Though… I’ve seen more than one model of power hand plane with square chip exhaust. Makes one wonder… The other examples lined up on that shelf shows the variety of dust ports that’s out there. An unwelcome smorgasbord of the different drawing tools in your average CAD software.
I think that manufacturers (with special address to you OEM folks) should work together on standardizing things that are common across all brands. Most power tools needs a dust extractor port, and it would be nice to have a standard for all tools. This would be the end for adapter manufacturers, but I fail to muster any level of sympathy for them. Dust port adapters fall in the same category as the plastic travel protector found on electric shavers (I have never used mine – because I only remember it when I pull out the shaver at the hotel). In the end, it becomes yet another source for micro plastic waste. It is an unnecessary product that we could live without IF the manufacturers could work together and decide on a standard. I se absolutely no reason why one tool maker chooses 53mm while another uses 58.
So here is my proposal: Let us agree that 38, 50 and 100mm (imperialists: 1 1/2, 2 and 4 inches approximately) should be the Gold Standard (you know who you are. Contact me!). It would make things SO much better!
As for the Rockler adapter kit with the boa constrictor in disguise, I highly recommend it. It is a decent piece of equipment, and it works REALLY well. There is nothing I could point to that won’t be the case for any other adapter too – for instance, the tendency to snag on edges. Any spiral hose will do that, so I cannot fault the Rockler hose for it. I have not seen any other products that can compete with this kit. The rubber / silicone connectors fits great to all my machines. The soft nature of the material means that they won’t scratch anything, and they form a tight seal. Great for getting epoxy all the way through cracks and defects, as shown above!
It is a necessary evil, but it works very well. I have no problem giving the Dust Right FlexiPort Power Tool Hose Kit, 3′ to 12′ Expandable *ghaaaaaasp* my recommendation.
That name is a mouthful, though! I’ll just call it “the dust Kaapat.pending“. Or my prrrrrrrecioussssss…..
Apart from the issues I’ve pointed out – and they are really minor ones – I am very happy with this product. I use it all the time, and have found it to work particularly good when cleaning my planer / thicknesser. It reaches all the nooks and crannies, and since the adapter is flexible I can get to rather tight areas too.
It is truly a wonderful thing when a product sucks – and that was the intention all along! That rocks!