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Hi All,
Does anyone have any experience with the longevity and flex of the Carbatec Hose? It costs less than half the price of another hose I have found. $17 per metre compared to $40 for the same size.
Dust Extraction Hose : CARBA-TEC
or
http://www.couplers.com.au/wp-conten...ue-2013-a3.pdf
Thanks.
I don't have the Carba-tec hose but I have been using some I bought from Hare & Forbes about 10 years ago. It's the same price (actually a couple of bucks cheaper) and quality as the Carba-tec stuff. There's absolutely nothing wrong with it and unless you're doing something unusual with it, it will probably outlast your dust extractor :)
I've never quite gotten around to installing ducts, so I drag my dust collector around the shed and connect it directly to the machines using the grey hose. It gets thrown around and dropped and bent this way and that. My kids used to come down and help me clean the shed (before they got teenage attitudes) and they used to drag it around by the hose like a big vacuum cleaner, sucking up sawdust. They called it 'feeding the elephant'.
So unless you're obsessed with buying quality, I'd say buy the $17 stuff (or go to H&F instead and save even more) and use the other $25 for something useful.
The grey stuff from Carba-Tec is pretty hard wearing, that said it can and will tear a bit, but you've gotta be pretty rough.
If you aren't going to be lugging a dusty round and always hooking and unhooking the ducting, then go for it, or a like but cheaper product from pretty much anyone, and you should be alright.
I have some issues with Carba-Tec sizing, in as much they advertise it in inches, not always so.
Being a bit of a fiddler I can mostly get around the slight variances, but not always.
They say the ducting/hoses/pipe fittings etc are say 4" great, except they aren't always 4". Often they will be 100mm, which for flexible(ish) ducted hose is workable, but not with solid plastic fittings. Heat gun is your friend here.
Another one to be wary of is the good 2.5" USA vacuum systems, this is the almost standard size of all of their cheap wet/dry workshop vacuum systems. The metric conversion of 2.5" is 62.5mm. For some funny reason I come across 63mm and 62.5 mm hard fittings, once again the heat gun comes in handy, as does a file and elbow grease.
Being in Meekathara I would hope Bob L will come in, he should be able to tell you pretty much what is available at the right price in your part of the country.
Mick.
As I say, that is exactly what I do and have been doing for 10 years now. Haven't torn it yet either.Quote:
If you aren't going to be lugging a dusty round and always hooking and unhooking the ducting, then go for it
Thanks for posting that link for Couplers - it enabled me to work out what a length of hose I had was.
From what I have observed there are several types of hose available from WW stores.
- the semi transparent highly flexible type e.g. as sold by Carbatech and on the Couplers catalog it looks like one of the Polyurethane (PU) series of hoses. The flexibility makes it easiest of the flexies to use but it can kink if really pushed and does not suffer as well being trodden on. Despite this I have some that has lasted well even with what I would call some "rough" treatment.
- The more rigid grey stuff - similar to the Eolo Grey HD stuff shown in the Couplers Catalog. This has the opposite pros and cons of the flexible stuff. I have some of this but don't recall where that came from. It's very good for coupling machines to ducting in a more-or-less permanent wy
- There's also hose that is in between the two mentioned above, It's opaque grey but still daily flexible, I have a length of this that I think came from Timbecon
During my shed visits I notice a couple of the PU hoses had holes in them but like Optimark says it must have taken some extra rough treatment to do this.
The hose I have is according to the Couplers catalog a Thermoplastic Rubber (TPR - Black with a green wear strip) I picked up a 152mm diameter x 6m length of it for $25. However it is internally ribbed so I only use it in very short lengths to connect machines to 6" PVC ducting.
Ah yes. I have the grey stuff, not the transparent. It's about $15 a metre from Hare & Forbes.
I've ordered some from H&F. It's the price that makes the difference. I like to buy quality but I think from what you guys have said it should last.
Most of the ducting won't be moved around. I'll only have one piece I need to move from the wall to my table saw. If that wears out, I can easily install some more cheaply.
I'm in the process of extending my extraction system so it's a bit of an experiment to find what will work well.
Thanks!
I bought my flexy from Carbatec.
The four inch stuff is clear plastic with a supporting wire spiral, and is very flexible. However, the bore is quite rough as the same corrugations that can be seen on the outside (caused by the spiral wire) are also on the inside. This can't be doing good things in terms of turbulence and CFM.
The six inch grey flexy has no wire and is less flexible. Instead of wire it has a supporting plastic spiral that sits between the corrugations on the inside. This means the inner surface is much smoother than a product with a wire spiral, and by my reckoning is superior because it will create less turbulence.
Have fun!
John