The other day I was cruising around on YouTube, as one does, watching some of the people I look up to and learn so much from. A video from Peter Millard popped up in which he spoke about an issue he was having with the hose socket for Festool track saws.

The problem he laid out was how the hose is always drooping down. You may ask yourself, “what’s the big deal about that?”

Well dear reader, if the dust collection hose is drooping down right behind the track saw it can get snagged or caught up on sharp edges very easily. This may not sound like a big deal to some people, but when you’re starting a cut you’ve meticulously measured and a quarter of the way into the cut your saw suddenly stops because the hose is caught it can be quite annoying.

OK, I hear you. I definitely should wrap my dust collection hose in tape or an expandable sleeve to prevent the large ridges from catching on the edges. Oh, wait. Yup, done that already.

Using hose sleeves helps prevent the issue of saw-stopping snags for sure. In my experience, even a hose sleeve won’t prevent a snag when running over the edge of the track saw track. The only way I’ve been able to get around that is by making sure the hose falls to one side or the other of the track. This is getting back to the point of Peter’s video.

The hose connector on Festool track saws uses a type of ratcheting system. Ratcheting is a bit of a stretch though. It’s really a bunch of rounded bumps on one end and a type of stop on the other end. After any type of moderate use, this system will wear away and the stops will become useless (see Peter’s video, his barely stay in place at all).

Peter, myself, and many other woodworkers feel that if a dust hose is placed a certain way, it should stay there unless moved by us. So Peter set out to find a solution for a hose connecter that would hold the hose in place and at the angle he set.

In the end, the best solution he came up with was using a spare part from a different track saw manufacturer, wrapping it with a couple of layers of tape, then covering that will a bicycle inner tube.

I love the idea. A fantastic solution to a very annoying problem.

In his video, Peter brought up the point of people saying “why don’t you 3D print the part?” Great idea! Peter put a link to dimensional drawings in his video and I set to work creating a printable model based on those drawings.

Introducing the Festool dust collection hose adapter

Here is the Festool Track Saw Hose Adapter!

It comes in two colors, black and green because Festool people do love Festool green.

The parts he used amounted to about £5 give or take. It makes sense that if someone were to offer a pre-made solution it should fall into the same price range. So that’s what I’m doing. These adapters will be $5 each plus taxes and shipping.

Order yours from the shop and make sure your dust collection hose stays where you put it.