DYI Shrink Wrap for Hose Connections

I get tired of cleaning my workshop rather than using my workshop so I tried to do some inventive workarounds. I use my chop saw for everything so it would be the first trial. My full size shop vacuum had died a horrible death so I'm using a tiny shop vacuum. It works just fine but I wonder if the bigger models would have a lot more suction. I will find out later. Never one to waste good stuff, I kept the hoses that were with my large vacuum. I figured a simple connection from the chop saw dust bag to the vacuum was all that was needed. As expected hoses don't always connect correctly so I came up with a solution with a few household items. I know, duct tape would work but it gets nasty after some use so let's try something more interesting.

Pill bottle,old hose,heat gun,shop vacuum,tool with dust collection port and a smooth soda bottle.

My hoses were close to the same size so they needed connectors of some type. I removed the attached connectors (just pop 'em off) because nothing fit together correctly.

I removed the dust bag from the saw, easy because it just clips on. I checked the medicine bottle for fit and it was perfect. Using the bottle would allow me to remove the hose easily for the times I was not using the shop vacuum. I selected a soda bottle that was smooth so I could get uniform shrinkage. It's a popular brand that is easily found. I cut about 4 inches from the center and removed the label.

I slid the two pieces to be joined together in side the bottle wrap and proceeded to heat the wrap evenly while slowly turning the entire hose. After fully shrunk the parts were secured. Careful here. Everything gets HOT. I also connected two hoses together using the same technique. (Sorry, no pic).

Just connect the vacuum and try it out. Friction fit is good enough. The plastic bottle even lets me see if things get clogged. This was really successful. Now back to those projects.