AzViper
Bronze Member
- Sep 30, 2012
- 2,038
- 2,251
- Detector(s) used
- Fisher Gold Bug Pro, Nokta FORS Gold, Garrett ATX, Sun Ray Gold Pro Headphones, Royal Pick, Etc.
- Primary Interest:
- Prospecting
Living in Arizona I have given lots of thought and received feedback from members here in the forums. I decided to build a Vac-Blower to be used for dry-washing and working the crevices. What I wanted to build was a quality Vac that works and has great suction. To do this there can be no leakage of air being drawn into the 6 gallon bucket. I purchased a 1/4 twist lid and 6 gallon bucket. I also located a rubber grommet that is self-sealing once 2.5" vacuum adapter is pushed into the grommet. The grommet is used on very large fish tanks to penetrate glass.
I did not like what I have seen with other home built Vacs by bolting the blower directly to the lid nor do I like how the vacuum inlet that is install on commercial made vacs. The lid over time will get brittle and break. I took 1/4” Nylon and router a circle to fit the topside of the lid and bottom side of the lid. The idea was to sandwich the lid between the two pieces of Nylon making the lid very strong. Next using a pair of calipers I took the inside and outside measurements of the intake of the blower. I then routered a hole to 4.250” to match the blower intake. Using 3 stainless steel screws that were 5/8” longer than the stock screws I mounted the blower to the lid. An Echo ultra-quiet blower motor (400 CFM & 198 MPH) was used due to how the intake guard was mounted. By removing the intake guard exposed 3 screw holes making it very easy to mount the blower to the lid. One note, about 9 small raised tabs that surround the intake needs to be filed down so the blower sits flat to the nylon sub-base.
The entire system with hose, crevice adapter weighs 16 pounds. Put on a pack frame and hit the back country.
I did not like what I have seen with other home built Vacs by bolting the blower directly to the lid nor do I like how the vacuum inlet that is install on commercial made vacs. The lid over time will get brittle and break. I took 1/4” Nylon and router a circle to fit the topside of the lid and bottom side of the lid. The idea was to sandwich the lid between the two pieces of Nylon making the lid very strong. Next using a pair of calipers I took the inside and outside measurements of the intake of the blower. I then routered a hole to 4.250” to match the blower intake. Using 3 stainless steel screws that were 5/8” longer than the stock screws I mounted the blower to the lid. An Echo ultra-quiet blower motor (400 CFM & 198 MPH) was used due to how the intake guard was mounted. By removing the intake guard exposed 3 screw holes making it very easy to mount the blower to the lid. One note, about 9 small raised tabs that surround the intake needs to be filed down so the blower sits flat to the nylon sub-base.
The entire system with hose, crevice adapter weighs 16 pounds. Put on a pack frame and hit the back country.
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