Getting organized. Making progress...

[ksum]

I have been looking into this fairly seriously, and I honestly see no way a 2.5" hose will connect. Not sure about a 2" or where to get one...

Sorry, That should have been a standard 2.5" hose in my post. I just bought the replacement hose. The piece that attaches the hose to the vac is supposedly the same on all shop vacs (brand), for all the sizes.

I am wondering of the 2.5" hose screw on connector is 2.5" NPT, if so I can always adapt a PVC pipe fitting, do some creative plastic work and create a down chute, mount it all up and be done with it. That would fit the TS, the planer, and hook into the PVC whole shop tubing...

Save any PVC tubing for a dust collector. If you are using a shop vac, hook it up directly to the tool.

So far the largest dust ports I have to deal with are...

#1. The BTS-21 table saw.
#2. The AP1301 Planer. (With those LONG shavings).

Then is the router table with the 1.25" dust port. (not super effective, but effective enough).

Both of those devices have the 2.5" dust port. The remainder is Ryobi and Skil sanders which use 1" ports, which means I need to reduce to that size from 2.5" (or 1.25" currently).

I know I would end up emptying the canister quite often, but that is a small price to pay when what is gained is more floor space for other stuff...

With the planar, you will be emptying the canister A LOT. You may want to think of just letting that one spit the stuff out and sweep it up when done.

The table saw and router aren't too bad, and I still use my shop vac with my sanders.

I am in a 1 car garage. The DC doesn't take up much room at all. Just a 2x4 section in the corner, in front of the breaker panel. It rolls out if I need to get to the panel, sliding right off the piping. The convenience has outweighed the minor floor space loss. As a matter of fact, with my layout, it is floor space that would have been wasted anyway. I couldn't store lumber there because of the breaker panel, and I want the tools to have room on either side for working in the middle of something long. There would have been a trash can here if not the DC. A trash can fits under a bench, so I had the space.

Karl

[Bill in Buena Park]

I like those cable clamps.

I'm not a fan of coiling cords, as it eventually causes internal (and corresponding external) twisting of the wires and knots or tangles. Hoses, yes, and even my 10g extension cord, but only their thickness hinders flaking. So I flake my cords - its a term used for storing rope when coiling would be a bad idea (like in climbing, where coils can produce alarming tangling or knots ). You basically stack bights (folded section of cord) in your hand, and when you're out of cord, you can secure around the center with some type of tie or clamp. A simple way to do this is to loosely double the cord in half (but don't pinch/fold the bottom loop), and repeat until you have gently rounded bights (to avoid kinking the cord). When the cord is released (while you are still holding the plug), there will be no twists, knots or tangles.

[dbhost]

Well, HF had a sale, the 12" Pittsburg wood handle bar clamps for $2.99, and I had a rain check for $4.99 each 24 inchers, so I brought my clamp collection up to 12 each of 6 inch, 12 inch, and 24 inch... I had to build a second clamp holder bar for them.... The organizing is coming along, albeit slowly...

A bad thing happened, which was I found a HF in Pasadena TX not too far away from my house... I took a look at their DC stuff, and figure I am going to go with th e5 micron dust collector stuffed back in the far corner of the garage and have a good go at it...

I definately need to do SOMETHING about the planer at least. The bag on the TS is pretty decent, but the planer shoots those long shavings a LOT way... I have shavings between piles of fence pickets that are waiting for installation day..

[dbhost]

I went by HF on Friday, and they had plenty of the 36" plastic handle bar clamps. But I also see that they are offering the wooden handle clamps in 36" as well. They did not have enough in stock, but were expecting a couple of cases when their truck comes in. At $8.99 each, I am going to grab 8 of them, and finish up my dozens of each size of clamp...

I added a peg board to my shop wall today, but got some measurements off somehow. I meant to cut my furring strip uprights to 45" (+ (1.5x2)) to get my 48", but somehow after measuring 4 and 5 times, I still cut my uprights at 43". I think I am just going to push the top up 2", mount it, and leave the uprights as they are... Danged stupid mistake though...

I looked at Ace Hardware, and should have bought it. The Shop Vac Hangup Pro that Ace sells, has the 2.5" capable threaded coupler, whereas the Shop Vac Hangup, that I bought at Lowes, has the unforunate difference of having the odd 1.25" threaded hose connection.
I think I am going to replace my shop vac, with the Pro version, and adapt to the 2.5" hose. (I have seen 20' lengths of hose, and adapters to fit this all up, so I can adapt to my Ryobi table saw (2.5" connector) Ryobi Planer (2.5") Wolfcraft router table (1.25"), Ryobi sanders (need 2.5" to ? Shop Vac hose adapters), and of course shop vac accessories like the Crevice tool etc...

[ksum]

the Shop Vac Hangup, that I bought at Lowes, has the unforunate difference of having the odd 1.25" threaded hose connection.

The shop vac I got from Lowes came with the 1.25" hose as well. An odd size. Lowes spec'd the blue units they sell. I was able to get the larger hose and it screwed into the same opening. Try it. Get a Shop Vac replacement hose and see if it will screw in. You can always take it back if it doesn't, but I think you will be surprised.

Karl

[dbhost]

I tried. The connector on the Lowes blue model appears to be 1.25" NPT, the standard connector like the yellow one from Ace Hardware appear to use a 2.5" NPT fitting. (I threaded plastic pipe fittings to test).

If there was a way to get the 2.5" connector and graft it onto my 1.25" tank, I would gladly do it. I actually love the look of the blue & gray of the Lowes model, but form must follow function... Unfortunately the host connector is injection molded into the tank...

I have actually written to Lowes, and Shop Vac suggesting a new model. Minimum 10 gallon tank, hang up, with a good, HEPA filter, and a 20 foot 2.5" hose. I like the layout of the hangups as they keep the vacum off the floor. And I like the blue / gray color. I simply wish I had the 2.5" hose, as well as a 10 gallon tank with the blue gray color...

As far as the PVC fittings / pipes are concerned, shop vac offers a Dust Collection kit for the 2.5" hose setup. It looks pretty simple to set up. A co worker has this setup on an old 16 gallon Shop Vac, and his is set up to a BTS-21 saw, AP1300 planer (Like the AP1300 more than my AP1301), and a Rand 6" jointer (Not sure I would be willing to buy one of those, it works, but everything seems so flimsy...). He has yet to have any trouble with this setup. Not sure what his original TS was, but I know he says it had a 2.5" fitting...