I like this sucker

[homebrewed]

In this case, it's sucking some old gear oil out of my 4x6 bandsaw's transmission box. It's a "homer" bucket with a lid that has two adapters installed. One is a brass fitting with a tubing ferrule on one end and the other is threaded into a hole in the bucket. A short length of tubing is attached to the inside end so fluid droplets don't get pulled into the shop vac hose (yes it can happen). The other fitting is a plastic bulkhead with a glued-in aluminum insert I turned, to attach the shop vac hose to the bucket.

I originally made this to help change out fluids like old engine oil in things like lawnmowers -- usually a really messy job, but this works like a dream. Sucking out ATF or power steering fluid is easy too -- it seems the drains for those also are in prime make-a-mess places too.

Since the bucket is attached to an operating electrical appliance DO NOT use it to suck gasoline or other flammable liquids!!

I made this thing awhile back so it's not in the "what did you make today" section of the forum.

It can be seen that the bucket has collapsed under the vacuum (but it's still doing its job). If I make another one I'll make a reinforcing ring out of aluminum or steel rectangle, sized to go about halfway down the inside of the bucket.

 

[Lo-Fi]

Just the job!

My mates father, many years back, and who's an otherwise very intelligent man decided to vacuum the carb on his old Vauxhall while servicing it. Needless to say, the vacuum exploded in a ball of flame when the right mixture of petrol fumes hit the sparking motor and he's never been allowed to live it down. Your warning is quite valid!

 

[MrWhoopee]

A friend with a CNC shop had a coolant spill. The cleanup kid vacuumed it up with the shop vac, bud didn't bother to empty it. Several days later someole turned on the shop vac. The sparks from the motor ignited the methane produced by the coolant and blew the top off the vacuum. It made a large dent in the metal roof 20' over head.

Let's be careful out there.

 

[rabler]

Neat idea.

The other odds and ends in the background tell some tales too. Fence posts driver, sprayer, looks like maybe the bottom of a twin bathroom sink, pumpkins, a chandelier, …

 

[Janderso]

Neat idea.

The other odds and ends in the background tell some tales too. Fence posts driver, sprayer, looks like maybe the bottom of a twin bathroom sink, pumpkins, a chandelier, …

A little of everything going on there.
We can’t judge though.

 

[Nutfarmer]

Neat idea.

The other odds and ends in the background tell some tales too. Fence posts driver, sprayer, looks like maybe the bottom of a twin bathroom sink, pumpkins, a chandelier, …

Just means he fits in with the rest of us.

 

[Weldingrod1]

I used something like this to bail out the last bit of water at the bottom of a 65 foot deep 20" pipe/test well... I used an air driven vacuum on it, since it didn't need a lot of rate. That kind won't go "boom" either ;-)

Sent from my SM-G715A using Tapatalk

 

[homebrewed]

Neat idea.

The other odds and ends in the background tell some tales too. Fence posts driver, sprayer, looks like maybe the bottom of a twin bathroom sink, pumpkins, a chandelier, …

Yeah, well, it's a large garage with two people that have a wide range of interests I thought about commenting about the other stuff in the OP but, oddly enough, thought I'd get to do that later....

 

[homebrewed]

The pumpkins are a variety called "Cinderella" due to their similarity to a particular conveyance in a movie. It actually is a heritage variety from France and is quite tasty AND has large edible seeds. The other stuff, well....other stories hehe. Good thing I didn't use a wide-angle lens....

 

[homebrewed]

I used something like this to bail out the last bit of water at the bottom of a 65 foot deep 20" pipe/test well... I used an air driven vacuum on it, since it didn't need a lot of rate. That kind won't go "boom" either ;-)

Sent from my SM-G715A using Tapatalk

How the heck could you pull water up from that deep? 65 feet is well below what can be sucked up by a pure vacuum -- the water should boil first -- the maximum depth should be around 34 feet. I'm thinking you were sort of bringing up water droplets, bouncing the suction tube up and down rather than getting a solid flow of water. Yes? Otherwise I have to wonder what's in the water over there.