S&D to flex hose
#18
Some of the machines I need to be able to connect a hose have 4" ports and they're not easily enlarged. I use 6" flex hose and needed to be able to attach 6" hose to 4" ports. I got a PVC 6 X 4 adapter which turned out to fit over the 6" flex. I used 3 machine screws with fender washers to make sure the flex stayed in the adapter then caulked with silicone to make it airtight. For the machines I used 4" thinwall which fit pretty nicely into the 4" portion of the 6 X 4 adapter. The 4" thinwall fit over the machine dust ports. I did cut slots in the 4" 'nipple' and bent 'em in a little so the adapter would fit over them easier. It works pretty well and the price was right.
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#19
My ho-made blast gates go from 6" s&d to 4" flex.

I used a sch 40 reducer that goes from 4" to 3". Chucked them in the metal lathe, turned the od of the 3" end down to slip fit the 4" flex. Then bored out the id's on both ends leaving a 1/8" wall, for better flow.

Ed
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#20
It has been a while but I am pretty sure I put the flex hose inside a female fitting.  (ie 6" flex hose into a female 6" 2729 pvc fitting)  As I recall it goes in snugly but if you do the hose to the fitting before putting the fitting on the pipe you can get your hand inside the fitting and work it all the way in until it hits the "stop".  Just to make sure it didn't ever work its way out I put a couple wraps of duct tape around the outside of the fitting and hose intersection. 
 
By doing this instead of putting something that fits inside the hose you are keeping the air way as large as possible.
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#21
My flex hose fits snugly into 1 side of a double female fitting as well....  I had to grab the wire in the hose with a pliers and twist it in the direction of the coil to shrink the diameter of the hose just a smidge, but it makes for a nice, tight fit.   I then drilled holes opposite of each other in the female fitting and the hose, close to the wire.   I put a small bolt in with a washer to grab the wire and hold things in place.  Doesn't stick into the airflow far and doesn't collect dust/chips.   Nice thing about the female fitting is it makes it real easy to move the hose around to different locations if needed - it just slip fits onto a piece of pipe downstream of the blast gate.  DIY coupler!

Dave
MKM - Master Kindling Maker
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#22
(03-13-2017, 04:48 PM)Bit_Fiddler Wrote: My flex hose fits snugly into 1 side of a double female fitting as well....  

Dave

This was one of the DIY methods I had tried and was hoping to use.  I guess I need to try harder
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#23
If you have the wire coil in the hose, grab the tip of the wire with a big pliers and twist it in the direction of the coil in the hose, without letting the hose spin.   This will effectively tighten the coil shrinking the end just a little.  Since I had my arm and hand holding the pliers through the female fitting, I could then pull the hose into the fitting with the pliers and release it when I had it where I wanted....   Hope that makes sense...

Dave
MKM - Master Kindling Maker
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#24
There are several ways to approach this. 

As noted, twisting the spiral tighter will shrink the diameter of flex hose, so it will fit inside pipe that wouldn't otherwise fit.  Untwisting will expand it, but fresh hose is needed for the flexibility to allow it.  Otherwise, heating or exposure to a solvent like alcohol (one or the other -- not both) will soften the flex hose to allow it to be stretched by untwisting so it fits over S&D pipe. 

Another option is to heat the end of the pipe and force it over a mandrel made from disks or into holes in plywood to expand or shrink the pipe to fit over or within whatever you want to attach.  You can even make very shallow curves by cutting PVC pipe at a slight bevel, then forcing the end over a mandrel to make a female joint to attach to another piece of pipe at a slight angle for which a connector is not available.  A bandsaw is helpful to make mandrels.

I've done all these things except making the flex hose smaller, and none is difficult.  People apparently thought I was nuts when I suggested this here before.  Perhaps I am.
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