Joining Vac parts with Fimo connectors?

[Richard Treen]

Hi, I'm planning to make up an adapter to connect a vacuum cleaner to my Trend router table. I have a plastic bottle with the base cut off which goes over the circular port at the back of the fence. The vacuum nozzle needs to be held and to seal in the over-wide neck of the bottle. I'm thinking of using Fimo, the bakeable polymer modelling clay to make an object that replaces the screw-top of the bottle. This would be something much more substantial that the nozzle can be held securely in. Has anyone ever used Fimo or any similar mouldable material to construct detailed (coarse threaded) parts for jigs and fixtures? I would prefer to use something a bit more businesslike than Fimo if such material exists and someone would be kind enough to tell me what it is. TIA

[Hammered]

I'm not exactly sure what you are getting at here, but are you suggesting you want to make something from FIMO to replace the lid of the bottle? Basically, you want to attatch the hose of your vacuum to the FIMO part, which will screw onto the bottle?

If this is the case, why not just use the lid from the bottle. Cut out the top of the lid, so you just have a short cylinder with the thread inside it. Get some heat shrink tubing, and shrink it onto the lid, leaving enough left to shrink the other end onto the vacuum hose.

Heat shrink tubing is mainly used in electrical applications, but you can get it in a lot of different sizes, and it should be readily available from any electrical components supplier (ie. Dick Smith or Tandy in Australia).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat-shrink_tubing

[Richard Treen]

Thanks for the very helpful reply. Heat shrink tubing seems like a very good solution, though not quite the same level of opportunity for sculptural effects as the Fimo option.
Excuse me for taking so long to reply to your surprise response. I'd kinda given up on this thread. Much appreciated.