Thread: Magnetic Dust Port Connectors.

Originally Posted by Aussiephil

What i will say though is that with mine, the connections have been designed so that the Internal dimension is NEVER smaller than the original (100mm) port on the machine and hence offer the smoothest transition from the machine to the flex house with minimal turbulence introduced at the changes, the female part has a 1.6mm wall thickness which is actually thinner than must ports the hose would be slipped over in a normal situation.
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Note that every cheaper hobby level DC seems to use a male port that the hose slips over.

Sure, but just because machine and DC ports are poorly designed as you describe doesn't mean that new flexy connections cannot be optimised to the full diameter of ducting.

Most machine and DC ports are restrictive both in size and design so there are really good reason to improve them with something like a bell mouth type port with hoses or ducting inserted into rather than over the connection.

In the overall scheme of things, machine port design and venting of machine cabinets are so significant I rate them as important as ducting size and layout.

Originally Posted by BobL

I reckon its better to use female connections on both sides. Flexy is already quite restrictive so adding an internal step that reduces the diameter even by a couple of mm makes a difference.

FWIW, I have a screw thread for the flexi, and the internal diameter of the flex is my minimum clear ID until it reaches the machines of course. Presently the jointer and TS have had purpose-build connectors - the thicknesser and drum sander have adapters to take them up that mm or two - but those connections are waiting for their own thread!

Having said that, the limitation of the machines mean that it's all a bit marginal, so while I've gained at least 20% in duct diameter the collection gains aren't sufficient to measure by eye (or nose), I'm just happy that I know they are there!

Originally Posted by bitingmidge

FWIW, I have a screw thread for the flexi, and the internal diameter of the flex is my minimum clear ID until it reaches the machines of course. Presently the jointer and TS have had purpose-build connectors - the thicknesser and drum sander have adapters to take them up that mm or two - but those connections are waiting for their own thread!

Having said that, the limitation of the machines mean that it's all a bit marginal, so while I've gained at least 20% in duct diameter the collection gains aren't sufficient to measure by eye (or nose), I'm just happy that I know they are there!

I had written a long and for me verbose response to Bob's last post then pulled it as debating what are marginal at best real world between male v female with respect to air flow is just pointless, Bill Penze himself makes a big point about not using HVAC ducting as the joints are facing the wrong way.

On my female connector, the ID is exactly the same as the ID of the male machine connector and near enough to exactly the same as all the machine 4" connectors i have in the garage, this results in a 1.6mm wall thickness going into the flex pipe. The 4" machine port is 3% smaller than the ID area of the flex pipe .... translation... real difference SFA.

Cheers
Phil