# A Longer Shop Vacuum Hose On A Budget



## EPAIII (Mar 31, 2012)

I wanted to use one of my shop vacuums for collecting saw dust while I sawed the shelves for my latest project. But I am cheap. I searched on-line for longer hoses and found prices starting at around $35 and going up from there. Plus shipping, of course. So I searched the local hardware stores and found this eight foot one for $21.99. 







Now, eight feet is not a lot, but with the original four foot hose it would come to twelve feet and that sounded like it would be just right for my small shop. It is intended to fit several Shop-Vac models directly so there were several adaptors for the vacuum end. Here you can see the contents of the box. 







So all I needed was an easy way to splice the two hoses together. As you can see, the blank end of the new hose will easily fit over the nozzle of my small Shop-Vac's original hose, but there is nothing to hold it together and I did not want to use tape. 






Continued below:


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## EPAIII (Mar 31, 2012)

But I did want it to be easy to assemble and disassemble so I could use just the original four foot hose or the combination of the two for twelve feet. Here is what I came up with. 







I figured that the wire used in an all wire coat hanger was just the right material. I found one in my spare bedroom closet, cut off the hook, and straightened out the remainder with my bench vise and a small ball-peen hammer. I cut off about 15 inches of the wire and bent it into a square "U" with a 2.5" middle segment. Then I used a piece of one inch PVC pipe in the bench vise as a form to bend the two legs into 270 degree arcs. 

About the first half inch of those arcs from the sharp, 90 degree bends was straightened in the vise jaws and the ends were cut to leave about 3/8" more than 180 degree arcs. About 1/4" at those ends was also straightened out. The ends were filed (sand paper would also work) to remove the burrs left by cutting. The ends are nice, half ball shapes that will not cut me or harm the vacuum hose. 

This clip easily snaps on the ends of the two hoses and holds them together very well. It adds almost nothing to the diameter of the hose. 







With this simple clip I can join or separate the two hoses in just a few seconds. Here you can see the nice, long, twelve foot hose on my shop vacuum. 







It works like a charm. The combined hose acts like a single, longer hose. I used it on my track saw to cut the board that the vacuum and hose is resting on. I can leave the vacuum on the work bench and easily reach the work in the middle of the floor. And in just a few seconds the hoses can be disconnected and I am back to the original, four foot hose which is handy for many other situations. It is the best of both worlds. Not bad for $21.99, an old coat hanger, and a couple of hours of my time, including shopping for the hose.


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## rcp612 (Mar 25, 2008)

Very clever solution.


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## gstanfield (Dec 23, 2011)

Good job, I like it


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## woodchux (Jul 6, 2014)

It has been said "necessity is the mother of invention", and yours is a very creative and unique design. Thanks for sharing, and be safe.


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## EPAIII (Mar 31, 2012)

"Necessity" and in this case, CHEAP. 

I admit it, I am cheap and proud of it.


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## wlc (Apr 3, 2015)

I love it when a plan comes together and it doesn't cost much.


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## mark_f (Sep 13, 2015)

It's ingenious! You can be as proud as I am ashamed. I would have stopped at the tape.


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