Flexible 1 1/4 vac hoses

[Mark Bolton]

Wondering what everyone is buying/using for flexible vac hoses. I have several in the shop that are getting ripe and locally all thats available are the shiny plastic in-flexible cheap hoses like you find in cheap small shop vac's. Im not wanting to buy a festool vac hose but have several sanders with thread on connectors. Ive been looking at several of the Cen-tek hoses but figured someone could point me in the right direction before we order some we regret.

[Sam Puhalovich]

I have 2 of the Rigid that are about 6 years old that I use with sanders.
Connect-right-up to the sanders and shop vac.

[Curt Harms]

I don't have one - have a Fein vac/hose - but these seem to get decent reviews:

https://www.amazon.com/Mr-Nozzle-M-100-DB-Wet-Tool/dp/B0000223X5

They mention 1 1/2", I wonder if that's O.D. Or are there 2 different sized 'shop vac' hoses?

[Mark Bolton]

Thanks guys. I looked at the local home centers and both here only stock the shiny hard plastic smaller hoses that are always pretty inflexible and tend to crack pretty quickly. An old archive (2013) here turned up the bosch hoses. Thanks for the input.

[Matt Day]

I use the one that came with my Porter Cable 6” ROS.

I think a lot of the Festool guys use the Ridgid (with adapter maybe since i think it’s 1 7/8”).

[Ted Derryberry]

I'm usually not a big fan of Rockler's gimmicky tools, but they did pretty good with these: http://www.rockler.com/dust-right-universal-small-port-hose-kit I use one on my track saw and with belt sanders and occasionally routers. I've not tried it with an ROS as I use the hose that came with the dust extractor. The orange and blue hoses that the big boxes sell are great for general clean up, but a little heavy and stiff for using with tools, especially an ROS where you need good control.

[Nick Decker]

Agree with Ted about that Rockler small port kit. It has worked for me on Bosch and Festool sanders, as well as a Bosch router.

Will it fit the hose from your vacuum? Anybody's guess. Nice that we have so many "standard" sizes! :)

One thing about the Rockler kit: The hose that comes with it (that attaches to your vacuum) is a nice quality hose, but pretty heavy, to the point that it might drag a sander or router off of the bench when you set it down. I rigged a piece of small rope with a loop in it, from the ceiling. Supports that hose and also keeps it out of the way.

[Art Mann]

I use the Rockler hose referenced above too. It works well on Dewalt and Ridgid random orbital sanders and the Makita track saw.

[Ted Derryberry]

Something else to watch out for with the Rockler hose is its collapsible. I've hooked it up to a tool and when I turned the vacuum on it sucked the hose down and almost pulled the tool off the bench.

Last year they had the hose kit on sale including an extra hose. Right now it's on sale (standard kit) on the back of the "professional" catalog.

[Nick Decker]

Yup, collapsible along its length. The vac will shorten it. Very sturdy around its circumference, though.

[Mark Bolton]

Thanks for all the input. Something so simple is never so. The hoses we typically run are like the PC hoses Matt mentions. I have one in the shop that is older than I can remember (like 20 years) and its still going strong. Its very light and flexible. Measures 1.345 or so on the OD (Ive always called those 1 1/4) and uses the fittings that left hand thread on the OD of the hose. We run them in standard 2.5" shop vac's with an adapter.

We also have a couple larger hose than measures 1.875 on the OD and have adapters down to the slip/push on type ends for most sanders but we have no way to connect the larger hoses to the thread on tools (Our Mirka sanders are thread on only). We dont use the large hoses unless we have to because theyre just that much heavier and cumbersome to work with.

Im going to look for some flexy 1 1/4" hoses and roll the dice. We zip tie the cords to the hoses and Id like to keep them as small as possible.

Thanks again for all the input, greatly appreciated.

[Paul F Franklin]

I had that Mr Nozzle set that Curt linked to (or one that looked just like it) and finally gave it away. It was fine if you wanted to use it with the attachments it came with, but it's a non-standard size that doesn't fit anything. It was nice and sturdy, but I found it useless for trying to connect to any kind of machine. And it was too heavy for something portable, like a ROS. Not that it would connect to it anyway.....

There is a real market opportunity for someone to step in and make a good, lightweight, strong, flexible, anti-static hose, with easy attach adapters to all the goofy sized ports out there. I can't believe no one has done this yet.

[Ted Derryberry]

That's one thing about the Rockler hose, it is NOT anti-static. No chance I'll ever nod off using the track saw!