Category: Mechanical

200Litre (50Gal) Vacuum Cleaner Pre Filter / Drum

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I have been replacing the insulation in my crawlspace and its ‘blown in’ kind of insulation called ‘Insulfluf’ made from powdered recycled paper and boric acid to make it fire retardant.

I found that while I could physically put a lot of it into bags with a dustpan, there was always going to be little left overs that wanted vacuuming, but I would always fill up my vacuum cleaner back in seconds. So to give me more vacuuming capacity, and to put a large drum vacuum into my shop I experimented with cyclonic bin vacuums a bit before settling on this. Its really simple design and was made out of cheap things.

 

 

 

50 Gallon Drum Pre Filter Vacuum Cleaner

 

 

 

The filter works using simple pressure management, in the large drum there isn’t enough pressure to suck all the particulates up into the screen so they fall to the bottom. but outside of the drum the pressure runs through thin pipes and hoses so is strong enough to suck up sawdust and insulation like a normal vacuum cleaner.

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Beer Brewing Cabinet

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When home brewing beer its important to keep a constant and cool temperature. I like to aim for around 19 degrees C (66F) for ales. (references) and 4 degrees C for Lagers but in New Zealand the general yeasts sold or packaged with kits for lagers are really ‘lager style’ top fermenting (ale) yeasts; also I don’t have the budget or equipment to go for a lager style ferment anyway.

So I wanted to build something that would smooth out daily temperature variations and could potentially have some temperature management (eg peltiers in the summer, incandescent light bulbs in the winter) to assist in smooth and appropriate temperature management. Click here or on the picture to see more

Grass Cutting and a small explanation

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A lot of people look at me strangely with a “why didn’t you just go buy one” look in their eye, when I show them these things. So to explain myself a little bit; this is fun for me, building things out of whatever I have lying about, its a hobby. I am not trying to invent something that doesn’t already exist I am just trying to do a job with the tools that I already have.

My current project is a lawn mower/weed wacker built out of a hand blender, I could of gone to the hardware store and bought a weed wacker or a lawn mower for $130 or $300 but thats not fun, and I have all the bits I need to make it, so I am recycling as well.

So without further Ado, here is my latest project, which was fun, recycled, and cheap

Grass Cutter MKII - Made from a couch and a handheld blender engine