Dust Hose

[mmak2916]

The Desktop came with a dust hose, how are you supposed to hook it up to your dust collector/vacuum with such a short length? I have a Harbor Freight DC that I'd like to hook it up to and I have a 4" x 2-1/4" hose connector. Should I just buy a longer hose? Anyone would like to share their setup?

Thanks!

[shilala]

I put an end-switched blast gate on my hose and ran new stuff after that.
Wired the blast gate to the dust collector so it turns on when I open it.
But you can certainly take it off.
I'd suggest you run the largest diameter you can to your machine, as close as you can get it. That'll defeat friction loss.

[scottp55]

Margaret,
Mine didn't come with any hose, but had a cheap Craftsman Shopvac, and a Delta 750cfm and tried both. Desktop was much better with the little screaming Craftsman. So it seemed to like high vac/low volume versus versa-visa. When Craftsman bearings went(thank G--), went Fein HEPA turbo II with a Dust Deputy and couldn't be happier with air quality in the shop. Used Rockler EXtreme tape to build up OD of dust foot intake so it's a VERY tight friction fit with no clamp.
Have seen several people complain about poor weld on acrylic between pipe and plate, even to the point of separating(our second Desktop). Dave said gel superglue will penetrate cracks and re-cement it, but I put a thick bead of and "ribs" of "household Goop" on mine and seems to stiffen dust foot quite a bit.
A couple of recent pics I've seen, makes it look like they addressed that, so just mentioning. Here's mine with a blast gate joint so I can run my stationary sander off the Fein as well. Most often run Fein at power setting 2 or3 out of 5(max).
Can't recommend the DustDeputy enough, still on my original HEPA filter and it's still white!:)

[scottp55]

Margaret, what do they look like from the factory now?

[mmak2916]

The dust hose that came with the Desktop looks like this, it's 5' long.

[scottp55]

Margaret, Can you post a pic from the front showing the dust foot tubing set-up on the newer Desktops? Trying to find Steve Wonser's pic, but lost it somewhere.
Think that section is probably for an existing DC that you would tap into with a blast gate?
I'd run 4" clear (helps to see obstructions) as close as possible to the Desktop before I reduced down to 2.5"
Try to keep hose free of E-chain and other components, and try to keep as much of the weight supported(Bungees work well,but low tech:)) so it doesn't put pressure on anything.

[mmak2916]

Scott, here's a photo of the dust foot tubing.

[scottp55]

Thanks Margaret,
Mine with Xtreme tape(Rockler) to increase OD of tube for a SNUG friction fit for 2.5"(but I can still get it of easily--not much vac loss either).
Found Steves rig, but no side pic.
And finally a dual spindle Desktop that was on a bit ago, and they used 2 different 4" hose options.

[scottp55]

Darn waited too long to edit:(
Pic on right probably not 4".

[Coogara]

When I bought my Desktop I already owned a large dust extractor with dual 4" ports. Desktop came along and I bought a length of 2.5" to suit and the suction, well, sucked badly.

So I went for shortest possible length of 2.5 and quickly hooked into 4" via an adapter and gate and that gave me a good result. Probbaly just my dust extractor - not made for best results with less than 4".

Graeme