Shop vacuum for swarf etc.

[BillTodd]

Inspired by loply's post about a shop Vacuum, I though I'd show you how I made this super cheap  swarf collector (in about half and hour)


1, You start with a 20l oil drum and some spare hose bits of an old Dyson DC1

2, Remove the lid of the drum, by levering around the periphery

3, Saw the locking lip off of the lid (else you'll have to lever it off again!) 

4, Drill a 35mm hole in the centre of the lid (I used a cheap spade bit for wood)

5, Slice off the tread from the pouring nozzle, to allow room for the Dyson hose.

6  Use a short length of 35mm PVC waste pipe as the vacuum cleaner connector. This is held in place in the lid by a couple of bits of larger pipe with ~35mm ID

7, To angle the input flow (to give a cyclone effect) I used a 45mm waste 'T' piece (a 90° would have been better, but the t is all I had)

8, The t is pushed in to the underside of the pouring nozzle (which is a perfect fit ) and the narrow top of the nozzle is folded inside the T (this will seal and hold the surplus Dyson DC1 hose)

9 I sawed the Dyson wand  down to about 8" and flattened the end  to fit down into the T slots of the mill

10, connect a normalhoover  to the input and most of the swarf and dust will be collected in the drum and not the hoover (thus maintaining domestic bliss - for a while)

[BillTodd]

Part two:

[Fergus OMore]

But Bill, to buy what you have constructed will get a ready made one for no more than the what you have collected, used a helluva lot of car juice and your time.
I can't resolve the total cost( I'm a retired accountant) so I went to Lidl- hence my other comment and saw the things with a three years warranty.
So I bought TWO snowshovels( because winter comes as a surprise to the English each year) and filled the car up- with £50 of fuel( well, it is only a little Mini) and am sitting here watching the news of the rise in gas and electricity prices which might be £80 and -----

Well, I noted that the size of the curry dinners from the shop are shrinking.

I'll get me coat

[BillTodd]

But Bill, to buy what you have constructed will get a ready made one for no more than the what you have collected, used a helluva lot of car juice and your time.

It's not too bad:

20l Shell telus   £50  - (pour contents of drum down drain for £15,000 fine)
Dyson DC01 £220 -  (throw away plastic bits and keep hose and wand)
2m length 35mm waste pipe from diy shed £10 - (£2 anywhere else, but let's not skimp)
1m 1 1/4" reinforced PP tubing -  £20 (inc postage)
1-1/2" Waste T from different DIY shed  £5.99 

Petrol 234miles @ 31mpg  =  £45
Half-hour of my time £20

Total £370.99

Cheap as chips

[Fergus OMore]

Ah, yes! No use living life in a vacuum. Why be a sucker?

[Pete.]

I bought a Numatic vac from eBay for £50 and I love it. Cleaning up swarf has never been so easy.

[Pete W.]

Hi there, all,

I rescued a cast-off Rowenta drum wet-n-dry vac from somebody's skip (with their permission) and found a hose from somewhere I've forgotten.

It works fine.  My wife approves of it, partly because I don't need to use the household 'indoors' vacuum cleaner but also because, with the Rowenta, any accidentally sucked-up spiders drop into the drum without passing through the fan & motor.  They can then be dropped out, alive, on the garden.

"If you wish to live and thrive, let the spider run alive."

The Rowenta uses a pleated drum filter that you can brush off, then wash under a running tap and dry in the airing cupboard.

Best regards,

Pete W.

[Fergus OMore]

In Spain, I bought a vacuum for 3Euros from a Diosesen(Sp?) charity shop. Not my main provider as a Friend of Age Concern Menorca for a change

I'm into re-cycling in a big way and I also have a massive supply of dates from a female ( well it would be) date palm tree. So far, I have had no takers.

I wonder why but perhaps it is due to my wife having planted it in the ----septic tank.

It saves the gully gully man coming around with his mobile vacuum cleaning thing on his tractor to emppty the tank.

He then goes off and sprays the fields of --- tomatoes

Cheers

N

[andyf]

The gully gully man might suggest to the tomato growers that they stop planting. Tomato seeds emerge from the human alimentary canal unscathed, as a former colleague found after distributing sewage farm residue over the lawns of his newly built house....

Andy

[wheeltapper]

I can't remember whether I've shown my shop vac on here before but here it is.


The barrel came from where I worked and used to contain pickled onions, cost, nothing.

the power head


came from a boot sale, part of an industrial vac, cost, 50p.

the filter came from a car accessory shop, cost about £5.


the hose was 'found' somewhere.

works a treat.

Roy.

[John Rudd]

Jeezzzz...That's one hell of a contraption..........

[Fergus OMore]

Like so many millions of young lads, I was called up and did my RAF square bashing at Bridgnorth. Heaven only knows why we were 'volunteered' to go potato picking but I ended up doing this beside the sewage works where I also made this astonishing discovery.

Who says that National Service was a waste of time? 

[wheeltapper]

Jeezzzz...That's one hell of a contraption..........

I originally made it as a wet vac ( without the dust filter) to suck the crap from the bottom of my fish pond.

Roy.