Retractable Clothesline to suspend vac hose

[tim walker]

Hi all, there was an article or a reader submitted tidbit a few months ago in one of the more popular WW mags but I cannot locate the article. I bought the retractable clothes line that is positioned on the ceiling, but cannot find the article to determine how is is properly set up. So anyone have a copy or can tell me which zine it was in I can find a copy online. On the other hand, ahs anyone ever set their dust system ( I have a Festool collector and a few Festool and other brands that benefit from a direct hookup) but want to keep the hose up and out of the way for portable tools. TIA.

[Bill Dufour]

Why not use a tool balancer? probably easier to adjust or at least get one of the correct pull.

[Charles Lent]

I've had a retractable plastic clothes line reel attached to the ceiling above my workbench for at least 40 or more years. Lately I've been using a Velcro cable bundling strip to secure it to a middle area of my portable sander vac hose and I usually bundle my sander power cord to the vac hose using more of the same Velcro strips spaced about 8" apart. The clothesline reel rewind spring was a bit too strong, so I removed the end piece and carefully allowed the spring to rewind 1 full turn past it's original stop and then replaced the end piece on the line. This made the rewind spring only strong enough to hold the hose and power cord about 1 ft above the bench and not try to lift it to the ceiling. This is perfect for me, because the hose and power cord never catches on anything as I'm sanding. Using the Velcro strips lets me move the attachment point of the clothesline to the hose easily, so I can change it if I don't like how it is working. When not in use, the Velcro strip on the line end hangs down from my shop ceiling just far enough so that I can reach up and grab it to pull it down and attach it to my vacuum hose, and the additional Velcro strips make it easy to bundle the sander power cord and vacuum hose together or disassemble them when the sanding is complete. Before these Velcro cable bundling strips became available, I was using pieces of leather shoe strings to bundle my vac hose and sander power cable. Any string would work, but the knots in the leather shoe string were always larger and easier to untie.

This is easy to set up. Why do you need the magazine article?

Charley

[Doug Garson]

Not sure how the retractable clothesline works, I just have a few vinyl covered metal hooks screwed into ceiling joists to support my shopvac hose.

[Steve Fish]

I’m interested if anyone wants to share pictures of their suspension set up. I just have a bunjee cord hanging down which works ok for my small space but it’s definitely not ideal. Thanks

[Charles Lent]

A leg problem is keeping me out of my shop right now, or I would happily send you pictures.

The plastic clothes line is held in an enclosed reel with a spring to rewind it when not in use. On the other end of the line is a ring with a wide base that prevents the ring from going into the enclosed reel when it rewinds. It does not contain any sort of ratchet stop like power cord reels, so it applies constant spring rewind tension. As a clothes line, the user pulls out the line the distance needed and attaches this ring to a hook in a tree, building, etc. When no longer needed, the ring can be unhooked and the spring in the reel will retract the line, winding it up on the internal reel. I have owned several of these plastic clothes lines over the years, using them much like I described in my previous post. They are made very much the same from several different manufacturers, but at widely different prices. The one that I have now came from Target about 10 years ago. It cost me about $10.50 back then, but you won't likely find one that cheap now. Here is a link to one that looks like the one that I have, but the price now is $15. It's so close in appearance that I'm convinced that it is just a newer version of what I have.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Honey-Can...lmond/17108604

Here is one from Amazon that also looks like a newer version of what I have

https://www.amazon.com/Drynatural-Re...132615&sr=8-11

Here are the Velcro Cable Ties

https://www.amazon.com/Mmei-Multi-Pu...132897&sr=8-10

These are very reasonably priced and cheaper than others, but the photo should show what they are, if you wish to buy a different brand/qty, etc. You won't need more that a few for this project but trust me, you will find a need for the rest of them.

One of these attached to the ceiling above your workbench over your likely vacuum hose location, and a few of the Velcro cable ties should be all that you need. Follow my previous post for getting the right spring tension in the clothes line reel to make your vacuum hose and sander power cable bundle float above the workbench the way that you like. Leaving the Velcro cable tie attached to the ring on the clothes line gives me a low enough point to grab and pull down easily when I want to use it. Otherwise, I would need a step or ladder to reach it.

Charley

[Steve Fish]

Thank you very much for the write up and links Charley! I think I have a better idea of how it works now. My reading comprehension takes a vacation every now and then I guess

[Jim Matthews]

https://www.atlascopco.com.cn/en/itb...tion/balancers

If you need a but more tension...

[Charles Lent]

If you need more tension from a plastic clothes line, simply add a turn or two or move the end piece of the clothes line that distance and cut off the excess. They are about 40' long, so a few feet shorter will tighten and increase the rewind tension. If the tension is already too high to keep your vacuum line floating above your bench. carefully remove the end piece and allow the spool to make a single revolution, then catch the end of the line, pull it out and re-attach the end piece. Mine already had too much tension, so I had to do the later, buy letting the spool carefully wind one revolution, then pulling the end out of the case and re-attaching the end piece. It's a crude adjustment, but doing this on mine achieved the tension that my vacuum line and sander power cord wanted, so it would "float" above the bench and not catch on anything. Balancers are nice, but way more expensive than a clothes line. They might last longer too, but I could buy a bunch of plastic clothes lines for what just one tool balancer costs.

Charley

[Derek Arita]

Not quite clear on what you're asking for, but I use something like this to keep the hose up and out of the way. https://www.rockler.com/extension-ro...g-track-system

[Charles Lent]

Derek,

Your method works, but it isn't flexible. When I've tried this I always found it to be too limiting. Using the clothes line attached to the middle of the work loop of the vacuum line and the sander power cord bundled together with it is way more forgiving and flexible when you want to go just that little bit farther with the sander. It lets you, and then it retracts as you move back to the more normal work position, and still holds the hose and power cord floating above the work to prevent catching on the bench or the edge of the work piece. A bungee cord will do it too, but it's tension will increase much more rapidly as you reach to do areas further away. A friend suggested the clothes line idea to me years ago, so I bought one and tried it the following week. I've been using one ever since. My first was about perfect. The second one, bought years later, after I moved 800 miles and the first was damaged during the move, was a bit too strong, so I removed the end piece and carefully allowed one turn more rewind, then retrieved the end of the line and replaced the end piece. When I tried using it, the tension was perfect, and I haven't needed to make any changes since. I likely would still be using the first clothes line if it hadn't been damaged in the move.

Charley

[Derek Arita]

Charley, I'm just not seeing how the clothesline is used for this. If someone could post pic, than would clear things up for me. Not trying to hijack.

[Charles Lent]

Derek, I wish I could post a photo for you, but I have only managed to be in my shop one time since last August 2020, and I didn't stay long because of my leg pain.


So if you can imagine having your vacuum line and sander power cord bundled together, and formed into a horizontal loop to give you plenty of slack in them to allow you to move the sander all around the top of your work and work bench with this loop in the hose/cable bundle providing enough length to easily move the sander around the top of the bench. But when you do this the hose and cable are rubbing on your work and workbench, frequently catching on their edges. Wouldn't it be nice to have a friend lifting the hose and cable up enough so it didn't drag, yet still allowed you full freedom to move the sander around the full size of your workbench without the hose and cable catching on anything? Unfortunately, finding a friend willing to stand there for hours and hold this hose and cable bundle loop up in the air while you sand for hours is not likely to happen. My wife lasted less than 5 minutes with this assignment.

This is where the clothes line comes in. It is just a completely enclosed reel with a spring inside that will allow us to pull the line out to any length and will rewind the line as we move the end of it and maintain relatively constant tension as we pull it out and let it retract. The spring inside the reel continues to keep the line in tension roughly equal no matter how long or short we move the end piece away from the enclosed reel, and this tension is quite steady over changes in length of up to about 8 feet, which is likely all we will ever need of the 40 ft or so in the reel. It's this relatively constant tension that we can put to use. Attaching the clothes line reel to our shop ceiling roughly above where we will be sanding, and attaching the end of the clothes line to the center of our excess hose/cable loop, with just the right rewind tension in the clothes line reel, we will have a floating hose/cable that won't rub on the work and won't tug hard when we want to sand all the way to the end of the workbench, but will pull back on the hose/cable as we move back to the center area of the work bench and continue to hold it above our work and bench. There are other more expensive ways to do this, but I found the cheap plastic clothes lines to be more than adequate for this.

It may not be the perfect solution for everybody, but I have always been very happy with it, and woodworking friends who have seen me using it think it's a great idea. Each of them now has a plastic clothes line on the ceiling of their shops too.

Charley

[Derek Arita]

Got it. So the amount of tension is pretty important then, so as not to constantly be pulling too hard on the tool you're using. Thanks.