New Bosch vacuum, great machine, but stock up on duct tape

[roger wiegand]

So I finally broke down and bought a modern shop vac, a Bosch VAC090S. What a lovely machine; quiet, powerful, turns on when you turn the sander on, no plume of dust into the air when you turn it on, and as someone here noted, it even rolls over its own cord. What's not to like, one asks? The supplied hose and various fittings fit none of the attachments I already have, neither Sears, nor Shop-Vac, nor the humble home vacuum cleaner. OK, so they have some proprietary or metric fitting size, it's the way of the world to force you to buy new stuff. But what about my Bosch sander, the primary tool I will use it with? Does the Bosch hose on the Bosch sander connect to the Bosch vacuum? Not really. It's possible to put the two pieces together, but there is no friction fit nor mechanical link. The universal solution to "it moves and it's not supposed to"? Duct tape. Seems like a shame to have to kludge together such otherwise elegant parts. And here I selected against the Festool on the expectation that their parts wouldn't fit anything else. Perhaps the Bosch vac uses the Festool standard? Could this be an excuse for a whole shop full of new green tools?

[Tom M King]

There is a whitish "duct" tape that painters use that's clean release. It works great for such uses, and isn't hard to get off, nor does it leave residue if you do want to get it off. I can't remember the exact name, but it's in HD where the other duct tapes are. Regular duct tape can be a pain if you ever want to get it off after a long term use.

found it: http://www.3m.com/brands/scotch/toug...s_outdoor.html

I always make sure there are a couple of rolls in the "tape" toolbox. We use it for anything from temporary sealing ductwork on the portable dust collector, to first line of defense on old woodwork when we are plastering a wall, and then blue tape holds plastic to that tape. It'll stick to stuff that masking tape won't, but still release cleanly, even after fairly long term.

[Robert Parent]

My Festool vac does not fit most tools either......

[Bruce Page]

I have an old hose from a Sears POJ “Tool Vac” that fits my Delta spindle sander and all of my PC dust generators perfectly. It did not fit my new Festool sander so I made an aluminum adapter. Having that old lathe comes in handy for stuff like this.

[Tom M King]

That's great Bruce. I never have time to do stuff like that.

[Bruce Page]

That's great Bruce. I never have time to do stuff like that.

LOL, retirement is great!

[Wade Lippman]

My Festool vac does not fit most tools either......

Odd, my festool fits everything I have (bosch and PC, as well as Festool) except my Mirka sander. I expect that is on purpose because they want to sell their own vacuum.

[Charles Li]

Gaffers tape is another option for tape that won't leave a residue. Popular in the film/photo industry. Not sure if it's the best choice for this application, but I love having it around in general. I've made a mess of things way too many times with duct tape like Tom alluded to.

[Frank Martin]

That is one reason I went with nearly all Festool for hand tools and vacuum, no need for adaptors. I have a DW621 router and the Festool hose fits to that without any adaptors. I don't do woodworking enough to track down all the adaptors, parts and pieces, so despite the high price of entry it was worth it for me.

[Max Neu]

I wonder if anyone offers some sort of tapered rubber sleeve that would work as a "universal" fitting to solve some of these issues?

[John Lanciani]

I wonder if anyone offers some sort of tapered rubber sleeve that would work as a "universal" fitting to solve some of these issues?

Yup, $5.99 from Amazon; http://www.amazon.com/Fein-921072K13...vacuum+adaptor

[Cary Falk]

Yup, $5.99 from Amazon; http://www.amazon.com/Fein-921072K13...vacuum+adaptor

This is the one I have that connects my Ridgid shop vac (with the small car cleaning hose)to my Makita sander.

[roger wiegand]

I'm sure the solution is to end up with a box full of adapters, or, as I have done for years now, wrap one end of the connection with tape to make it big enough to fit tightly in one of the available orifices. But wouldn't you think you should be able to plug a Bosch hose into a Bosch vacuum without resorting to some jury rigged or third party solution? This is as bad as cell phone power adapters. Got a box full of them too.

[John Sanford]

Contact Bosch and ask them "HUH?" - (that's the Cliff Notes of the conversation)

[Phil Thien]

I purchased a Porter Cable hose. It came with an adapter than allowed it to fit a regular shop vac on one end. The other end fits all my PC and Dewalt tools. I imagine it would also fit many others because it is this flexible type of cuff that can expand a little bit.