How to connect sander to Festool vac

[Mark Gibney]

Any good ideas on how to connect my PC belt sander to my Festool vacuum?

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They are both about 1 /38" OD. I just have never found the right bit of rubber tube or whatever it is I need.

Thanks. The winner gets big brownie points.

Mark

[Patrick Varley]

Quick and dirty would be a Fernco flexible coupling.

https://www.fernco.com/dimensional-drawings/plumbing/flexible-couplings/stock-couplings-1056/1056-125

Another alternative would be seeing if there's someone selling a 3D printed 27mm Festool adapter to that size tool port on Etsy or the like. (For example: https://toolcurve.com/product-category/hose-adapters/)

Lastly, if you were willing to use another piece of hose, there are options for slip on fittings that you could use as a hose pigtail (Rockler and Centec both have options, may be others).

[Dave Zellers]

Rockler sells a flexible adapter for this situation. At least they used to.

Whoops! 1 minute behind Patrick.

[Mark Gibney]

Thanks guys.
Please be nice and share those brownie points!

[Robert Mayer]

definitely get the rockler kit, its awesome

https://www.rockler.com/dust-right-flexiport-power-tool-hose-kit-with-auxiliary-ports-3-to-12-expandable

[Keegan Shields]

Generally I use a vacuum hose... :)


Seriously though, this conundrum is one of the things that drove me to use a lot of Festool tools. I was tired of struggling with the dust hose connection, adapters, duct tape, etc and many brands never seemed to had all of the important accessories available.

Obviously not applicable for your belt sander problem. You might try some thick electrical shrink wrap if you have some, or a piece of PVC pipe that is a bit to small. You can soften PVC with a heat gun and form it to shape.

If that fails, there's always the duct tape.

[David Stone (CT)]

DeWalt makes a family of adapters that fit many various dust ports commonly found on older tools (before many brands went to proprietary couplings) and these adapters can easily be attached to the Festool vac hose by means of a certain DeWalt part, as explained in the below post. I have found these work much better than the generic soft plastic adapters I initially tried.

https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?294124-Solution-DeWalt-adapters-and-Festool-vacuums&p=3147916&highlight=#post3147916

[Dave Sabo]

this might be a better option, especially if you have other hard to fit ports:

https://www.centecsystems.com/antistatic-vacuum-hose-adapter-set-black/?sku=95567&gclid=CjwKCAiAh9qdBhAOEiwAvxIok5F9tdxESPhcaWl7VXO9 HA8eYuL0Z5pBcBB30BzXHYjL1nnvG4xqNhoClT0QAvD_BwE


If you want a Festool solution, this should work but it's not quickly switched out:

https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/shop/tools/workshop/dust-collection/parts-and-accessories/102650-anti-static-reducing-sleeve-for-festool-ct-dust-extractors?item=ZAU500670

[Allan Dozier]

I hook my Festool vac up to my old 4" Porter Cable belt sander because it has a silver colored angled tube coming out of that vent. Too bad yours doesn't. If I use it in the shop I always hook it up the the vac but it is one of the few things I really try to do outside. Not to discourage you, because it can only help to hook it up, but the dust collection is abysmal. It still expels huge amounts of dust.

[Mark Gibney]

Well thank you again, everyone. Appreciate the good advice.

[Patrick Varley]

Well thank you again, everyone. Appreciate the good advice.

Got around to snapping some pictures of my setup which uses the Cen-Tec Quick Click setup. I ordered an extra snap ring, then cut a short piece off of the main Centec hose. Then I end up with a pigtail with two click rings. This can attach to the end of the Festool vac hose and any tool using the Centec adapters. I do the same with the longer piece of Centec hose when I need to use it as an extension.

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[Jim Becker]

Interestingly, I ran into this challenge this afternoon when I went to use my new non-powered Mirka hand-sander that has a dust collection port on it. It doesn't fit the native Festool end. One of the Rockler adapters I have will fit over it, but I have to work out an adapter to get that to, um...adapt...to the festool hose. LOL

[Robert Tarr]

In a pinch, you can use a piece of blow molded plastic (I always keep a few thicker water bottles or Pure Leaf Ice Tea containers from the quickie mart) and a heat gun to make a "shrink to fit" connection. I have done this for my Porter Cable belt sander to connect to my Festool hoses. I have also used these to connect shop vacs to small cyclones, etc., FWIW.

[Keith Pitman]

I used a short piece of PVC plumbing pipe to adapt my Kreg pocket hole jig to my Festool vac.

[Dave Sabo]

Patrick - clever use of the Centec hose. I may borrow that in the future.


Jim - I have the 3M version of that sanding block and had a devil of a time mating it up. In the end I decided on a dedicated hose that's lighter, slimmer , faster, AND cheaper. I got this for $12 IIRC : #382

https://www.ptreeusa.com/dust_hose.html



I just keep the hose with the block and sandpaper in a systainer ready to go. I can use it with any vac and not have to worry about having a connector about.