Rommy plan

I have decided to make my own dust collector for my shop vac, something very similar to the Dust Deputy just cheaper and hopefully just as efficient. I got the idea from a member of Lumberjocks, jcoulam . He built one himself and put a couple of photos on the Internet and basic drawing which gave me inspiration in making my own. I figured I would create basically the same thing and I would provide more photos and descriptions of how it was done.

I went to Lowes and bought a few supplies that I would need.
-1 8"x24" piece of galvanized pipe that is split down the length
-1 new 5 gallon bucket and a lid that fit securely
-1 2 piece of 2" PVC
-2 2" plumbing couplings
-1 8x2 1/2" Shop Vac hose
-1 syringe of 1 min epoxy
-A small amount of self tapping metal screws
-1 tube of caulk



The first thing that I wanted to accomplish was to get the funnel made. I tried it without cutting the piece of pipe hoping to just trim it when I had the final shape and it held securely. This proved to be pretty difficult so I went for a little professional help, my mothers engineer at the truss company who is brilliant at this sort of thing.

We sat down and he came up with pattern that I could lay out on my piece of sheet metal and just cut out my funnel. To do this he used all sorts of math from college that I have forgotten and some odd formulas. In a few minutes we were drawing the cut pattern onto the sheet metal. When I put the cut piece of metal to the test and fastened it together it came out perfect! No cutting necessary. When you screw the funnel together its best to predrill holes in the overlapping piece so that the screws will pull the underside piece tight.

(I will come back and post the dimensions and figures at a later date so that everyone can do this the easy way.)



The next thing I did was cut a circle out of a piece of 1/2" plywood that was a little bit smaller than top of the funnel so that it could sit down in the funnel just a grunt. This ended up being about a 7 7/8" diameter circle with a 2" hole cut in the middle of it to allow for the PVC to pass though.

Next I had to cut a whole in the funnel so that a piece of 2" PVC could be inserted at an angle. This wasnt very difficult, I just held the piece of pipe above the funnel and drew what looked like the correct cut on the pipe then whacked it off on the band saw. It really doesnt have to be perfect I dont think, just close. Then I took that piece of PVC with the angle cut and placed against the funnel where it would go through at and traced around the sides of it to give me a hole to cut. Cutting this with my jig saw was pretty easy with a fine tool metal blade.



Next I cut another piece of plywood that was a bit smaller than the size of the 5 gallon bucket lid and cut a hole in the center of it large enough to allow about an inch or so if the funnel to pass through it, I think the hole was about 3". Then I cut slits in the part of the funnel that was sticking out and folded them back and screwed it to the plywood. Since I was using wood screws to get a bite in the ply wood I predrilled all the holes in the metal flanges first.



Next I cut a hole in the lid of the 5 gallon bucket and fastened it to the bottom piece of plywood.



Now it was time to start gluing a caulking things. I first used the 1 minute epoxy to secure the piece of PVC in the side of the funnel. Dont put the plywood in the top before doing this because it helps to apply some epoxy on the inside of the funnel here.

Then I caulked around the base of the funnel, the seam in the funnel, and in between the bucket top and the piece of plywood. I loosened the screws between the bucket top and plywood so that I could get a good bit of caulk in here. I sat the funnel upright for the night to let it dry before tightening the screws. The weight of the funnel is pretty good at this point and keeps the joint there decently tight. Now when I tighten the screws in the morning the caulk will act as a gasket (learned that from sailboats although most of you reading probably already know that).





That is all I had time for today and I hope to finish it tomorrow and see how well it works! As you can tell in the above picture I didnt have the top piece of plywood fastened or caulked in place.

A few weeks ago I posted about the proposed color palette of the living room


and Ive been planning lots of projects for the space ... but since we have some very important guests aka Davids parents coming in June, I think Ill have to put them on hold to turn our guest room from storage/catch all to bedroom

but Ive started one and I cant resist ... last weekend I bought the ikea rug - yes its been done, but I cant resist - these projects turned out fabulous and I cant wait to try one!

diddle dumpling

charm home

hayley anderson photography

via

The last one is a painted floor ... (which I would LOVE to try someday .... once we have our own home)

I think I am leaning towards a quatrefoil design - I like how the shape refers to the fabric I selected for the draperies

via

Last night I added some rug options to my sketch up model ...



Im sure that you have noticed the icky carpet that covers the majority of our rental - while I am not the biggest fan of carpet on carpet, it really needs some color/pattern to break up the space

I am going to take a short break from the living room to work on the guest bedroom - but after I finish this project!

Today Im sharing another DIY in 1 hour or less! A removable lampshade cover is the perfect solution if your current lampshade doesnt work with your room, but you want a quick and cheap temporary solution.   

When we took pictures for our final CWTS project, we had to get all new accessories (since photos were submitted anonymously), including a lamp because every bed needs light. Not only is it practical, it helps add height to your nightstand, which helps balance the height of the headboard. We had to return the light that we used (we kept a lot of things that we used too) and make our existing lamp work.

Instead of buying a new shade I decided to make a removable lampshade cover that wouldnt damage the shade, in case I decide to use it again.

Jersey is the perfect solution - especially for a tapered shade because it stretches and conforms to the lampshade. It is also great because it requires minimal sewing - only on the connecting end. The top and bottom dont need to be sewn since it doesnt fray.

It is translucent, so white wasnt the easiest choice, but Ill explain how I fixed that in a little. 

 Heres how I did it!


 3. After doing a normal stitch and it bunching because of the stretch, I tore out the stitch, looked online and found that the stitch has to zig zag. I put my sewing machine on the zig zag setting (#3) and started sewing (make sure not to back stitch, I had to start over one more time...)

** I did slightly taper my stitch so that it was a little wider at the bottom. The jersey is pretty forgiving and will stretch, so this probably wasnt necessary. Getting it tight at the top is the most important and then it stretches a little more at the bottom.

4. I sewed one line and cut off the extra fabric. So easy, once I figured out the right settings!

I put the seam of the cover on the seam of the lampshade and then repeated so I had three individual layers. I decided to do the layers separately since it was easier to sew that way (at least for me :)

After the third layer, you could still see through to the shade underneath. I decided that a thin piece of white paper (like normal printer paper) would work well underneath the jersey to hide the pattern.  Since the shade is tapered, a large piece of paper would be needed to get one continuous strip. I didnt have any on hand, so I placed a layer of paper towels between the lampshade and the jersey. I couldnt get it out of the height of the paper towel, so they are layered and taped inside. It isnt pretty, but the layers of jersey smooth it out.

Super easy!