Thread: C22 Boom Arm

Brilliant

Looks neat. Well done.

Originally Posted by Pomare

Thanks for your e-mail RodWolfy attached are photos of easily constructed
Boom Arm for C22.
Thought I would post so others may see .
Base made from 20mm ply or MDF locks into the top of the cleaner using the Systainer mounts. No doubt someone from Festool will say this shouldn't be done however strain on these mounts because of large flat bearing surface is minimal. It is easy to just lift the arm out of the base socket , remove the base and the cleaner is then free for general cleaning-
something you can't do easily with the genuine arm.

You will need the 36mm Hose (essential anyway for effective cleaning 27mm is useless - blocks all the time)
Photos should be self explanatory and construction is from 44mm O/d x 3mm std PVC pipe and 45 deg fittings and pipe brackets to hold hose guides.
Have been using the arm for some time and it works well never had a problem with instability so swing out legs as per Festool original haven't
been necessary. Main critical part is to make the socket for the arm a good fit so it can swivel but has little play. I also stiffened the vertical pipe by sliding a good fitting piece of alloy tube inside - a piece of dowel would work just as well.
Original costs around $700.00 NZ (530.00 US) this one cost about $60.00
NZ.
Need any more info just ask.
Cheers
Pomare

John,

Thanks for the photos! Your base looks like it's made of plastic and it's so well done. I'd like to see a few more photos of it (especially if you could do some higher resolution ones) - (Also, some more photos of the base? It looks like you did some cut outs for the systainer mounts?) and a couple of the base where the pvc connects into the holder.

Does it matter how tall the base assembly was? If you swing the boom arm over to the side, does it get tipsy?

I agree, Brilliant!

Cheers,

Rod

Hi Rod,
I made the base from 3/4" (19mm) MDF. It has been sealed and
sprayed with acrylic lacquer - reason it looks like plastic.
I made the base plate first. this needs to be a good fit in the recess in the top of the cleaner. There are some tiny webs inside the recess so slots to clear them need to be cut in the base plate you can see one of these in the photo. The lugs to fit under the systainer hold downs in the cleaner
are shown also in a photo. There are two slots in each lug and the thickness of the MDF needs to be reduced slightly so that the lugs can slide into the hold downs.
Once these are cut the base plate should fit flat down in the cleaner recess.
To allow the green sliding systainer holders to slide over the base plate
the base plate needs to have a slot cut and again slightly reduced in thickness where they slide over.
I also cut out a recess around the cleaner handle as you can see in the photo.
Once the base plate is fitting OK it is just a matter of building the pivot socket for the arm on top to suit the chosen PVC pipe. I cut the holes in the webs so that the 36mm hose could pas thru up to the adaptor to the 27mm hose.
Never had a problem with stability no matter where the arm is ie.out the side, back or front. Maybe it helps that the arm is lighter than the original.
Hope this explanation helps.
Will send you more photos of the base

John

Nice job.

How's the green paint on the arm itself holding up? What brand?

Acrylic Lacquer (used on motor vehicles) sticks like the proverbial to PVC without primer. Mix before spraying 50% paint 50% thinners. Dries in about 30 seconds. Stocked by automotive paint suppliers. I use on many projects including model aircraft.

Hi,

Where did you get the hose guides that are screwed on to the pipe brackets? What are they?

Love the idea. Was going to make something out of metal, but this seems lighter, cheaper and easier to build.

Thanks for sharing!