Holster for shop vac hose.

[brian Rupnow]

Here's a little story that has no moral, damned little machining content, and a kind of nifty idea. First--See that new diamond topped mat on the floor. That just cost me $165, same as I paid for the old mat which was exactly the same five years ago. I use a lot of "squirt on" cutting oil when I am machining on my lathe or mill. Then I vacuum up all the messy oil coated swarf.---and up until today, I then curled the vacuum hose around the vacuum and left it laying on the floor out of my way. Gradually, over the last 5 years, enough oil ran out of the hose to saturate the mat, causing it to go all "humpy" and create a real trip hazard. That's all I need---to trip over my own mat and fall into my lathe!!! So, today when I should have been working on my latest engine, I built a "holster" instead. I rooted around in my steel cupboard until I found a piece of thin-wall tubing big enough for the end of the vacuum hose to fit into. I welded a "cap" on one end of it and screwed it to the side of one of my material racks. No more laying the vacuum hose on the floor. See---I do learn, even if somewhat slowly at times. The holster is attached with a single screw at the top, so that if it begins to fill up with oil, I can rotate it and pour the oil into a container. (I did do other stuff today too, but nothing worth posting about.)---Brian

[Mike Amick]

thank you lord ... there ARE regular ol shops around. Seems like most of the ones posted, you could play
basketball in, and eat off the floor, and every piece of equip looks new.

My hose is laying on the floor, IN the way as I type. Maybe you have inspired me to cure that

thanks

[Highpower]

Oh.... I am soooooo going to steal that idea. I have a wall mount shop vac near my mill with 20 ft. of hose on it. Problem is the hose bracket/holder at the top only holds ONE loop of the hose. I have the vac mounted low so I need to make 3 loops to store the hose away. So the hose is ALWAYS falling off onto the floor, dripping oil, yada, yada, yada.

We have a commercial ice maker and water filter for our kitchen. The water filters are encased in long aluminum cylinders that would be perfect for this. I've been saving the old cylinders thinking I would find a use for them some day. Looks like today is the day... Thanks Brian!

[CalM]

Ahh, wood dust from the saws goes so far to bring out the oils.

Call it sweeping compound if you want. Better than cat litter at drying the floors and mats . Vacuums up well, sweeps into the dust pan easily.
I've got an ash can filled at all times, A handfull goes a long way!

[Hopefuldave]

Ahh, wood dust from the saws goes so far to bring out the oils.

Call it sweeping compound if you want. Better than cat litter at drying the floors and mats . Vacuums up well, sweeps into the dust pan easily.
I've got an ash can filled at all times, A handfull goes a long way!

Yup, and as I found out when starting the clean-up of the new-to-me-ancient-to-anyone-else mill, a mix of fine mahogany dust and machine oil is a great rust inhibitor and comes off easily with a squirt of WD and a rag

Dave H. (the other one)

[BCRider]

I did something similar with a hunk of scrap 3" PVC drain pipe to park the end of the hose into.

For me it wasn't about keeping oil from draining back out onto the floor but simply to get the darn tripping hazard out of the way and to do it in a way that I didn't have to bend down to reach the hose every time I wanted to use it.

I'm firmly convinced that laziness is the root of many or all shop improvements.... well, that and pain avoidance...

[brian Rupnow]

I did something similar with a hunk of scrap 3" PVC drain pipe to park the end of the hose into.

For me it wasn't about keeping oil from draining back out onto the floor but simply to get the darn tripping hazard out of the way and to do it in a way that I didn't have to bend down to reach the hose every time I wanted to use it.

I'm firmly convinced that laziness is the root of many or all shop improvements.... well, that and pain avoidance...

Well, that and the wish to avoid paying for another mat!!

[BCRider]

Awright, I'll add cheapassedness to the list too.....