Thread: Disintegrating flexible dust hose

looks like sunlight or UV got to it.

5.5 years isn't too bad for some clear plastic (probably not UV stabilised) hose.

I presume this is an internal Hose?

That's normal and no UV degradation on mine which just got replaced for the same reason. Mine was 100mm ID and I used what I had on hand. The worst part was getting it onto the bottom of the under blade collection chute.

The same thing happened to my C26 Minimax in less than 3 years, no uv involved, i'm not too unhappy as it was a 63mm hose connected to a 125mm outlet, how stupid is that. I'm looking at opening up the outlet to 150mm connected to a 3 hp sucker, which i hope will provide enough suction to remove the dust from the blade.

Owen

It’s about that time that some European companies were making plastics from corn starch so that may be the problem. I saw similar on vehicle wiring insulation

Your second photo shows the letters PU on the hose. Polyurethane. I'm not a polymer chemist but I do know that PU paints are not UV stable. Has this hose been exposed to sunlight in your shed?

mick

I don't know about the OP but all the saws I have experience with suffer from the same issue and the hoses are not exposed to UV because they are internal.

Obviously tongue in cheek comment, but a 100mm hose 5m in length with extra holes is an improvement from a fine dust collection POV

It's actually 125 mm, but I agree that a 5 m long flex hose is far less than ideal. I don't know why Felder fit 125 mm instead of 150 mm, but I don't have the tech or the wish to cut and fit 150 mm outlets. The 5 m length is too long but there partly because I need to move the unit around to accommodate long boards in the too-small shed, and partly because the (un-named) metal duct designer and suppler gave me a lousy design and less-than ideal build. Having said all of that, the extractor I have keeps the shed pretty fine dust free when using the saw. I'd certainly design it differently if I ever build another workshop.

Thanks Mick,

I completely mis-read that and thought it was Polyethylene (which in clear is also not UV stable).

David

Thanks to all responders. It's good to know that this is a known problem. As Mick has pointed out that it was a polyurethane hose I'm presuming that its UV damage. Fluoro lighting can have a fairy high UV and the hose could possibly get sunlight in the fairly early morning, although only for a short time because the workshop has a big gum tree in front of it. I'll try a different type of hose and see how I go.

David

Thaks David, now I'm worried. I've just installed fixed dust extraction in my shed using all PU flexi. I have no windows but fluoro lighting until I get around to converting to LEDs. I bought ten metres of 150 and five metres of 100 which cost nearly $900 on the basis that it's so tough it wouldn't wear. If I encounter the same problem (and thank the Lord I don't, Sir) it'll be PVC next time.

BTW, you could recycle it as ag pipe. lol

mick