Dust Collection Tubing Recommendation

[Mike Pond]

I just purchased a HF DC for my small shop. Anyone have recommendation on a good/inexpensive source of flexible DC tubing? No one locally seems to carry it, so I'll probably need to order online.

Also, is the Rockler DC Kit worth it? It's on sale for $30.

Thanks.

[Gene Howe]

HF sells it.

[Bill Arnold]

Seems like a fair price for what you get. You buy the hose seperately, so you can get what you need. You might also check Penn State Industries and compare pricing.

[Chris Tsutsui]

I went with the HF DC kit for like $50 and it works ok.

But if I had to do it again, I would get the expandable Rockler hose. It compresses to 3' and extends to 21'. This would be great for my small shop because those non-contractable tubings take up a lot of space, and my machines are all mobile so a permanent duct system is out of the question.

[William Schmitz]

Try www.Kencraftcompany.com or Wynn Environmental for decent prices on the good quality clear flex tubing.

[Mike Pond]

The Rockler tubing seems pricey at $29 for 10'. Peachtree has it for around $23, and even Woodcraft is cheaper at $27. Was hoping to find a source in the $10-20 range for 4"x10'.

Any thoughts on the following:
Grizzly H1052 $17
Grizzly G1536 $14

Also, how important is it to ground it?

...

kencraft looks promising. Wynn looked more expensive.

[Cliff Holmes]

McMaster-Carr (mcmaster.com) has a large selection of various types. I usually get stuff from them next-day.

[Bill Arnold]

The Rockler hose is really good quality. I bought a section a few weeks ago when it was on sale.

The G1536 looks like some of the stuff I bought a few years ago and it's held up well. I don't know about the other Grizzly hose.

The cheap stuff at most places is just that -- cheap -- although I have some of that type of hose from PSI and it held up surprisingly well.

If you know you're going to stay with flexible hose for the foreseeable future, you'd be better off with better quality hose.

[Mike Cruz]

I've purchase all mine from Grizzly. Perfectly happy with it. It might not be (actually isn't) as flexible as those that can compress and stretch, but they are quite sturdy. I've always been pleased with shipping from Grizzly. Gets to me in about 2 days. Of course, there is a minimum shipping fee. But you get a FREE GIFT with every purchase! I have about 6 pairs of their welding gloves. I go through those things like crazy with my wood stove...

[Paul Greathouse]

Mike

Hartville tool has 2",3" and 4" flex, in 10' lengths in the $17-$20 range. I just bought some of the 3" for a router table I'm building and it is good quality, not top of the line, but definately good enough. They also have a pretty good variety of fittings, blast gates, ect.

[Peter Aeschliman]

I'd recommend using PVC pipe as much as possible though... If you have a straight run along the wall, use PVC. The ribbed structure in the flex hose really cuts down on your DC's effectiveness.

If your plan is to just roll the DC unit to each machine, then forget what I just said- flex hose is fine.

[Roger Jensen]

I also have the Rockler expandable system. It is REALLY heavy, so it works for connecting to stationary equipment buy you wouldn't want to connect something you're moving around to gather dust around the shop.

I highly recommend their Dust Right system if you're going to be moving the hose from machine to machine. It makes a good connection and is easy to disconnect.

Roger

[David Walser]

The Rockler tubing seems pricey at $29 for 10'. Peachtree has it for around $23...

Mike - The flex hose from Peachtree (and the others you mentioned) is not the same thing as Rockler's "Dust Right" expandable hose. The Dust Right is more expensive, but I think it's worth the extra money. (I realize each of us have a different budget and we each place a different value on things.)

• I have used some "regular" flex hose, but it's not nearly as easy to use as the Dust Right hose. (Regular flex hose tries to fight you as you move it from one place to another. The Dust Right hose is much more flexible and it's fairly easy to move it from place to place -- or to use it as a shop vacuum.)
• The Dust Right takes up less space when it's not being used than does regular flex hose. (The Dust Right hose collapses in on itself -- while preserving a constant 4" diameter. By comparison, regular flex hose needs to be coiled up or piled up when not in use.)
• I'm not sure that this is the case, but I think the Dust Right hose is more efficient in moving air than is regular flex hose. (Say you just need to stretch the hose 4' from the dust collector. With regular flex hose, the dust collector still has to suck the dust through 10' of hose -- and all the hose's twists. By comparison, the Dust Right hose will only be about 4' long -- giving your collector a lot less work to do.)

[glenn bradley]

There's better prices (I get mine when they have a 50% sale) but whatever it is made of, I have been dragging sections of 4" Rockler clear hose around the shop for years with little signs of wear.