cheap PVC flexible ducting for extraction?

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Aubrey

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21 Oct 2020
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Hi all

Just setting up an extraction system in my new workshop with the AP50E and looking at ducting. I have a couple of fixed tools, mitre saw with hood and a benchtop belt sander, that can have solid hose, but also want a flexible hose in the system for moving around different areas.
The PVC stuff on axminster is quite expensive and mostly out of stock for the lengths I want. I was looking at cheaper alternatives and wondered if you can use that thin PVC ducting.

Is it possible to use this kind of thing or is it too loose/flimsy/unsafe?

many thanks
 
It is pretty flimsy. Not sure if the vacuum would colapse it. Its normally used for venting not suction. I have some left over from a kitchen extract fan. I think it would need to be fixed down at regular spacing as well . Saying that for all the cost it would be worth a try.
 
I've used some of that type of thing running between a dust extractor(not a chipping extractor) and the saw bench. It didnt collapse. I cant remember where i got it from, or its original purpose,but possibly for a cooker hood or heating vent type of this as it looks pretty generic. but it did the job.
It has a sort of a wire spiraling around it.

This in, proper hose format, at 100mmx3m is at least 50 quid, this is £4. Pick some up in the local screwfix or wherever and give it a go. If no good, you've lost little, and might find a use in maybe using it for a low powered hoover type extractor for small machines like an oscillating sander or as a long extension for a handheld tool.
One thing i did notice, was the extractor I was using was an older Axminster, which is 1kw and has a fair old pull on it, so its not like a chipping extractor, where its volume, was it pulled the hose to its shorted length, as in it shortened it- Dont know how best to describe this. it didnt collapse, But 4 quid, what the hell eh ?.
 
Hi all

Just setting up an extraction system in my new workshop with the AP50E and looking at ducting. I have a couple of fixed tools, mitre saw with hood and a benchtop belt sander, that can have solid hose, but also want a flexible hose in the system for moving around different areas.
The PVC stuff on axminster is quite expensive and mostly out of stock for the lengths I want. I was looking at cheaper alternatives and wondered if you can use that thin PVC ducting.

Is it possible to use this kind of thing or is it too loose/flimsy/unsafe?

many thanks
The ducting (not hose) that you linked to will not stand up to constant moving around. It is designed to be run from a bathroom/wc extractor fan and to be installed either in a roof space or within a suspended intermediate floor where it will not be subject to mechanical damage. The stuff you need is referenced on dustspares website PU Clear Flexible Ducting - 6 Metres although I'm not sure how it would stand up to constant moving.
 
I use it on a Rexon DE1000A extractor which had an identical spec to the Axminster AP50E and it works fine. It's on a bandsaw and a mitre saw. When I'm using the mitre saw , I just flatten the ducting going to the bandsaw. When I'm using the bandsaw, I cap the ducting at the mitre saw. Crude, but effective. The dust from the bandsaw and mitre saw is quite fine, so never any blockages I use it with solid ducting crossing the ceiling. It does appear to be flimsy, but it works fine in and it is really cheap. On an earlier discussion, someone said theirs had developed lots of pinholes after a while. So far, I've had no problems. It is almost so cheap, you could try it and see. If you stretch it well, it makes it less likely to collapse.
 
The stuff I have which probably came with a tumble drier tends to degrade fairly quickly in sunlight so I assume not UV protected. It will pull lengthways ie shorten when a strong vaccum is used and has to be fixed down otherwise tends to coil up on you or shoot accross the workshop if not attached firmly. As said for the price give it a go.
 
I tried that exact same screwfix hose years back when I got my first ‘proper’ extractor.
All was well for a few weeks until I had just a small inkling that the suction didn’t seem quite as good as it used to be……it still looked ok and it wasn’t until I had a really good, up-close look at it that I could see hundreds, if not thousands, of small holes in it. It was completely perforated on a minute scale. It’s obvious to me now that it simply couldn’t deal with even the finest sawdust as even this was, over time, acting as an abrasive.
Bit the bullet and had to buy the expensive stuff.
I must add that, over the years, I’ve ended up replacing a lot of the expensive hose with 4” drainage pipe and fittings because the coiled hose, as others on here will tell you, interferes with and reduces the air flow because the inside surface is not flat and smooth. My system now keeps the use of the flex hose to a minimum…..for example the first 1m from the machine.

ps….just for the record none of my cheap hose ever collapsed.
 
I have also been looking for dust extraction piping recently. I looked at the manrose piping too because it was cheap but they don't sell y junctions and they will shoot up the price of your system if you buy them seperatly from a woodworking shop. I found that 4" sewer pipe and fittings worked out cheaper and are more solid and have plenty of different types of fittings
 

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