Track Saw Cord & Hose Onboard Anti-snag Device....?

Stuart Ablett

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Tokyo Japan
I'm so tired of this happening on my Festool Track saw....

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Here in the workshop I have a bungee cord that sort of mitigates this problem, but I should build a boom of some sort, but on the jobsite, I can't do that, so I'd like something on the saw itself.

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If the cord and hose are up like this, then the problem just about goes away.

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Some sort of hanger on the saw, something that can easily be removed and put on when needed.

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Just to give you an idea of what I'm thinking about. Maybe not inboard like shown, maybe on the outside of the saw, the front, some kind of metal hanger that the cord and hose could be held up.
The swivel nozzle I think sucks, it always swivels downward and lets the cord and hose snag.

I'm not looking to reinvent the wheel here, so I thought I'd ask if anyone has seen anything like this?

Cheers!
 
Above my workbench I have a plastic clothes line reel. Whenever doing sanding, routing, etc. where I'm wanting to keep my vacuum hose and wire up out of the way I use a Velcro strip tie to attach the end of this clothes line to the offending part of the vacuum hose and power cord to keep them up out of the way. The clothes line extends and retracts as I move the tool, keeping the loop held at a comfortable height. When I first installed it I had to take one revolution of the reel out of the spring rewind tension to get it working the way that I prefer, and haven't needed to adjust it since. The Velcro strip is one of those that Lowes sells to keep power cords coiled when not in use. I had to buy the ones that are about 1' long to use on this application since the vacuum hose and power cord combination require about 8" minimum and the standard multi colored package aren't long enough to use to this purpose.

For your "away from the shop use", you could mount this clothes line reel on a post with a bench clamp on the other end, and attach it just behind your working area, or mount the reel just above the bench clamp on the board and run the clothes line up through a pulley at the top of the board and then attach the end of the clothes line to the hose/ cord with a Velcro strip to your vacuum hose/power cord combination. A little experimenting will get the Velcro attachment on the ideal point of the hose/power cord and once right, and you will be able to place it without experimenting the next time.

I left the plastic end on the clothes line and use it as the attachment point to the vacuum hose, but also to prevent the line end from ever rewinding completely into the reel. The Velcro strip just attaches to the plastic loop on it. You may need to temporarily remove the end when adding or removing reel tension or threading the clothes line through a pulley. A secure spring clamp or vise grip pliers is handy for keeping the
end of the clothes line from disappearing into the reel while you are doing this.

Charley
 
I've been on a couple of forums, and everything from scrap lumber, pvc pipe, to one person ran the hose through a hanger as it was always in the same place.
I picked up one of those flower pot holders at a garage sale for a dollar. I don't have or use a Festool brand, but another guide. Sometimes I have clamped a longer piece of scrap, when cutting longer pieces, to keep more up.
 
Thanks for the replies guys, but I'm not seeing anything like what I'm envisioning, so I guess I'll have to make it myself.
Maybe I'll sell my idea to Festool or Rockler LOL



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Stuart, this doesn't completely (or maybe even remotely) address your problem, but may offer some relief. I put that flexible cable bundling tube over the hose on my vacs. It smooths over the corrugations and gives the hose the ability to slide over the edges much more smoothly. To hold it in place I put large heat shrink tube over each end. This is a Festool trick, and those put their power cord inside the cable bundling; I wasn't after that...just the easy slide over the edge of the workpiece. May not help, but thought I would mention it.vacs_zps497c6259.jpg
 
Stuart, this doesn't completely (or maybe even remotely) address your problem, but may offer some relief. I put that flexible cable bundling tube over the hose on my vacs. It smooths over the corrugations and gives the hose the ability to slide over the edges much more smoothly. To hold it in place I put large heat shrink tube over each end. This is a Festool trick, and those put their power cord inside the cable bundling; I wasn't after that...just the easy slide over the edge of the workpiece. May not help, but thought I would mention it.View attachment 95853

Thanks for that idea Fred it is a good one.

I have to stress that I use this vacuum for cleaning up around the shop as well, so I cannot permanently attach the hose to the power cable, as some solutions I've seen.

I think I did come up with a quick and simple solution to my problem....

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See the head of that bolt?

I drilled a hole in the saw where the rotating outlet for the dust is, then I put a screw in it to stop it from rotating.
Another view

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I can just pull out the screw and it rotates freely.

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So with the screw in place the outlet does not rotate, and the hose is then pointed somewhat upwards, keeping the first 18" or so of the hose from dragging directly behind the saw, where it would snag on things.

I also cut a piece of drain pipe about 3/8" wide and then slit it so that it goes over the hose and the cord, it grips and holds the cord to the hose much better than the velcro things did, so the cord stays where I put it.

Used it a bit tonight and it seems to work OK, but we shall see. I'll end up making something more elegant than just a screw and some way to stow it on the saw, but the idea seems to work.

Cheers!
 
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