Boom or bust?

[Martin Roper]

This is my first attempt at a boom. I'm not entirely happy with it, so I'll consider it a prototype. I have about $40 in it including hinges and lights.

Each arm is a lamination of a piece of soft pine and 2 sheets of 1/4" plywood. The pine was very light so the holes saved barely any weight.

All clamped up

I mortised the inner arm into a piece of 1.75" hard maple and shaped it to clear the hinges

The hinge system should theoretically give a 180° swing

I mounted 24" LED lights to the bottom of it and ran the vac hose over the top

The two pieces are hinged in the middle with an extended length of 5'. For work at the workbench I can run the hose through just the inner arm. Eventually there will be a vise at the end of the workbench and the vac hose can be run through the fully-extended arm to do any work down there.

Lessons learned:

• I have to get up on a step ladder to feed the hose through the tubes which defeats some of the convenience the boom is supposed to provide. Next time I'll run it under the arm.
• The laminated arm assembly was unnecessarily complex to make, particularly the tail piece. Boom 2.0 will simply be 1/2' birch plywood with strips of maple on the top and bottom to create an I-beam. It should be lighter and just as strong.
• Putting the lights on the boom seemed like a good idea at the time, but I think I'll just mount them on the ceiling.

The only bits I can't salvage are the arms themselves, so 2.0 shouldn't be too difficult.

 

[smallboat]

Thanks for posting this. I’ve been ruminating on a similar setup to get dust collection over the top of my TS. It hadn’t occured to me tha tI could swing it to get the DP and BS as well.

Thanks for the increased motivation and the construction tips

 

[LeftyTom]

Functional wins the day.

 

[Dee2]

Where, please, did you source the hinges?

 

[Martin Roper]

Where, please, did you source the hinges?

I found them on Amazon, but I would not recommend them for this application. The post on the hinge is too close to the mounting surface which required that I take too much material off the boom. This is as thin as I was willing to go.

It prevents the boom from extending a full 180°.

Gate hinge

Flange bearing

Also, I found that the hinge OD was .63" and the bearing ID was .625". I had to ream out the bearing by 5 thou to get it to fit. It was a PITB.

On the next one I'll just use a door hinge.

 

[tvrgeek]

When I made a boom years ago, I uses a turnbuckle as the top of the arm and the lower bit was just in compression. Of course, the wider the spacing on the bearings, the less slop. You can get door hinges with ball bearings for a bit of over-kill.

GASP, you still have a cloth bag dust power atomizer! Please convert to HEPA filtering. I lost two friends to lung disease.

 

[Martin Roper]

Boom version 1.1

I redid the hinge assembly and now I get a full 180 degrees of swing.

I used a 4" door hinge this time, but it's not as robust as the gate hinge. I don't think it will hold up for long term use.

Version 2.0 will get two door hinges spaced about a foot apart.

 

[Dee2]

Is that a bearing-hinge design?

 

[Martin Roper]

Is that a bearing-hinge design?

No, just a $5 hinge from HD.

 

[Wiley's Woodworks]

On version 2.0 if you mounted a flexible goose neck led lamp at the end of the boom, would that increase the functionality of the beam?

 

[Martin Roper]

On version 2.0 if you mounted a flexible goose neck led lamp at the end of the boom, would that increase the functionality of the beam?

I hadn't thought of that, Wiley. I'm looking at replacing my old fluorescent lighting with LEDs at some point anyway, so the lighting question might be moot. I'm thinking of putting the lights I bought elsewhere in the garage.

 

[Wiley's Woodworks]

I hadn't thought of that, Wiley. I'm looking at replacing my old fluorescent lighting with LEDs at some point anyway, so the lighting question might be moot. I'm thinking of putting the lights I bought elsewhere in the garage.

One of the best things I ever did for my shop and storage room was replace conventional globes-and-modern led bulbs fixtures with new technology led tube fixtures. The brightness and color-true (?) differences are amazing. My eye strain is no longer a leftover from a long day in the shop. Don't hesitate; get the new lights. I spent a little extra $ and had an electrician select and install the system rather than turning myself into a lighting engineer and making a mistake. Money well spent. I have flexible goose neck led spot lights on my drill press, band saw, and secondary work bench. They really make a difference: think finding a .005 pencil line on a piece of walnut.

 

[Martin Roper]

I have flexible goose neck led spot lights on my drill press, band saw, and secondary work bench.

I have a couple battery-powered LED lights with magnets that I can move around the shop. They look kinda like this:

The gooseneck idea is good. I'll pick up one of those on my next Amazon shopping expedition. Maybe something like this:

 

[Wiley's Woodworks]

I have a couple battery-powered LED lights with magnets that I can move around the shop. They look kinda like this:

View attachment 229594

The gooseneck idea is good. I'll pick up one of those on my next Amazon shopping expedition. Maybe something like this:
View attachment 229595

What about mounting one of the lights you already have on the end of the boom. It should give a flood light pattern and extend the brightness your boom already has. The goose necks I have give a spot light pattern, which is what I want for my machines. If you go with a goose neck, look for one that has a clip for the battery tube. It will mount easier and is less likely than a magnet base to get knocked off. DAMHIKT.

 

[Craptastic]

When I made a boom years ago, I uses a turnbuckle as the top of the arm and the lower bit was just in compression. Of course, the wider the spacing on the bearings, the less slop. You can get door hinges with ball bearings for a bit of over-kill.

GASP, you still have a cloth bag dust power atomizer! Please convert to HEPA filtering. I lost two friends to lung disease.

I think I'm about to lose a good friend/relative through marriage to lung disease. He ran a business woodshop making cabinetry and custom display cases for years, but has since needed to have a double lung transplant and now has complications due to infections and is in the hospital. I am in the process of upgrading my shop ventalation and it's only a hobby for me, but what he's been through and is still going through is not something I would ever want to experience if I can prevent it.