Up-cycle (popped Air Mattress + Water Bottle = Shop Vac)

by Tretech

15K11417

Intro: Up-cycle (popped Air Mattress + Water Bottle = Shop Vac)

I built a shop vac from some "trash" my girlfriend wanted me to throw away
:)

this is my first instructable ( even though i try to build something every other day )

hopefully, many more will follow!

STEP 1: Get the "air Module" Out of the Failing Air Mattress

I started with an air mattress that wouldn't stay inflated.

(ipretty sure the cat put 17,897 small punctures in it while we weren't looking)

removed the inflation module by cutting around it with sharp knife or scissors.

(i guess, i should put warnings about safety and stuff here!)

STEP 2: Cut a Whole in the Water Cooler Bottle.

i used a cordless circular saw to cut out a rectangle from the side of the bottle.

for my first attempt, I just "eyeballed" my air module to be about the size of the label on the front of the

5 gallon water-cooler bottle and cut it with out even marking or measuring anything.

--AS ALWAYS, use caution when working with potentially dangerous tools.

... water bottle should be empty.... before you start any of these steps...

... ... you'd be surprised....

STEP 3: Seal

i wedged the air module into the hole i cut into the water bottle

later models will probably use an epoxy or something of that nature to seal the air module to the bottle,

but today i simply used vinyl tape to secure the connections.

used an old shop vac hose to extend the range

STEP 4: Testing

Because the mattress had a deflate option as well as the inflate option ,

i was able to use my new device as a blower AND a shop-vac.

There is also a handy little compartment for cord storage.. or whatever...


The prototype works better than i could have anticipated.

Impressive amount of storage and suction!

Picks up broken glass, water, pine needles, much much more.

i will retool and make a v2 in the near future

15 Comments

drewscreen 3 years ago

That's cool! Do you get enough pressure to blow off dusty tools around the shop, such as around a bandsaw?

tabsross74 3 years ago

Do you think it'd be possible to use a smaller bottle so it'd be more like a hand held vac??? Any suggestions for that?

Just4Fun Media 8 years ago

Nice job. How easy is it to empty? Do you empty it through the neck?

Have a great day! :-)

Tretech 8 years ago

emptying, as it turns out is super easy. i flipped it over and switched to blow instead of suck, and it blew everything out quickly.

i put a old cloth bag over the mouth and collected all the debris with no airborne dust hitting my delicate sinuses

I have another pump and am toying with filter add in the build.

mypublicpersonas 6 years ago

Awesome I have three of these that I've saved figuring I'd find something to do with them.

tabsross74 3 years ago

Me too! Over a few years I've purchased 3 mattresses and they're not cheap so I cut out the compressors and kept them wondering how I could repurpose them. I finally came across this project and thought surely there's more projects out there?!?!?

MissyTaylor71 4 years ago

Any other uses you can think of for these motors?

Deathstick 7 years ago

I dig it. You have got what has mostly disappeared from today's Ible's, originality. I find myself Googling Ible's these days more than not, just to see how many hundreds of recycled ideas prefaced them. There really isn't a need for the 459th rendition of "How to tie your shoes.", and the "That's a great idea!" comments to follow. Keep it real, keep it original.

My only suggestion on your Ible itself would be to make things as simple as possible whenever the chance presents itself. Not everyone who may want to do this will have a saw. Use what you have by all means building projects, but offer up ideas on alternative methods of getting to the same end. Open doors.

kylegilbert 8 years ago

We had a big mattress get a hole in it yesterday. Great timing!