Has anyone bought the Very Flexible Duct Hose from McMasterCarr? I see it is only .015 thick. If you have it is it holding up? It is the cheapest I have found but that doesn't mean anything if it doesn't last.
Has anyone bought the Very Flexible Duct Hose from McMasterCarr? I see it is only .015 thick. If you have it is it holding up? It is the cheapest I have found but that doesn't mean anything if it doesn't last.
Speaking from experience, if you are going to use it for dust collection, you might loose some DC efficiency due to the non-smooth interior walls and the length of the hose. Best to keep its usage as short as possible.
Thanks for the reply Ray. I plan on keeping the runs as short as possible. It sounds like you suspect the interior is less smooth than other dust collection hoses? Or are you just saying flex hose in general? The place I had seen it used is the wood nerd I emailed and asked him if it was holding up and he said "It’s been 9 or 10 years now and it’s been fine" Still wouldn't mind hearing from someone else that has used it. I need probably approximately 8' on my CNC router the rest of the machines will be short runs and aren't normally moved much.
Last edited by Keith Outten; 01-12-2017 at 6:47 AM.
I'm pretty sure this is the stuff I bought from McMaster several months ago when I installed permanent 6" ducting around the workshop. I use the flex hose across the floor to my TS (approx. 10 feet) and for the transitions between ductwork and equipment (from a few inches to a couple of feet). Although it's been in place for only a few months and I never move it, I've got no complaints so far. It does the job I need.
The inside is as smooth as other (4") DC hose I've used. I presume Ray is pointing out that flex hose in general will induce some turbulence and rob your system of a little airflow. I agree, and with air being pulled through this hose, you may see it contract some, which will certainly add to the turbulence.
Chuck Taylor
Kenton Keller: it looks like the 6" plastic hose that I have between the machines and the metal piping for my DC. Found that if the plastic hose run was too long, the collection was not as effective as when the plastic hose run was as short as possible. When I installed a new DC system -- 'bout 10 years ago -- and utilized shorter runs between the machines and metal ducting, collection improved. The smoother the ducts and the hose, the better the DC.
I should have done this earlier. It dawned on me to do a search for 5415K38 the mcmastercarr number. I found 4 or 5 threads that contained that number, and all of them were satisfied with the product. I just placed an order for 25' Hoping I made a good decision.