Crawl Space excavation via vacuum

[Nissan_Ranger]

This is turning into quite the elaborate project! I'm waiting to see it in operation...

Regards,

Andy

[asavage]

Hooks to hang the vacuums controls wherever is best. The level sensor cable is kind of special and is 15', so in order for the sensor to reach all the drums as I move the primary separator to empty drums, the 15' is going to be a limiting factor for where this box can be, so I made hooks.

These are 3/6" x 1" SS flatbar. I used heat and a big hammer and a larger vice to fashion the hooked ends. Drilling the four holes (to mount the hooks to the cabinet) and countersinking them took me a stupid long time today.

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[asavage]

Cutting 3" SCH40 PVC pipe

I used a chop saw for my first four cuts . . . and what a mess it makes. Perfect cuts, almost no deburring req'd, but plastic shavings everywhere, even with a vacuum plumbed to the saw's exhaust. A huge mess, and I've a lot more cuts to go, so . . . I bought more tools, of course.

PVC pipe cutter, Ridgid 154-P (31657) will handle 1.5-4" IPS.

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When combined with a big pipe vise (which I don't own) or a strap wrench (yeah, I've got one of those) it works really, really well.

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No shavings to chase! I crank the knob about 1/3 turn for every revolution around the pipe, and it requires around ten revs to part the piece. However, it does leave a significant burr on both the ID and OD . . .

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. . . more tools! Reed Tool DEB4 works perfectly for removing the OD.

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This thing works SO slick on 3" SCH40 PVC. Snap it onto the end of the pipe (takes a bit of force), then a single revolution removes 90% or more of the OD's burr, leaving a beautiful, consistent chamfer. I am a novice, so I make two passes, but hardly anything is removed on the second pass.

That leaves the ID's burr, which I handled with a standard deburring pencil with swivel head (I don't own that one, but one similar).

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A couple of swipes of the ID, and done!

[Nissan_Ranger]

Some pretty neat tools there, and nicely photographed too, by the way...

Regards,

Andy

[asavage]

Ref. post #10

I got to thinking about the vacuums sequencer, and decided that I need to design for the situation where the ultrasonic sensor decides a burst of heavy dust or whatever is "full" and sends a one-second "turn off" blast, shutting the system down and then immediately restarting it. Today, I installed a 5th TDR on the sensor's output that delays turning off the system until the sensor outputs "full" continuously for 10 seconds.

Two hours to figure out how to use Inkscape again and update the drawing, two hours to add the relay, change some of the internal wiring, including adding a couple of segments, and bolting down that diode. The outside looks the same, but five time delay relays instead of four, and some cute labels on them:

Vacuums Sequencer with extra TDR installed on the ultrasonic sensor output to damp false full signals.

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It's getting kind of crowded in there, and my lack of controls (building) experience shows, but then nobody will see this, so who cares?

[Nissan_Ranger]

That IS getting pretty full in there. Reminds me of when I re-did the console wiring for my boat...

Andy

[asavage]

I had to remove the separators mockup from the front porch for the winter, so I put them on the truck last Fall with a sketchy 2x4 riser frame around them and a tarp. Well, that didn't last long: we get a lot of wind here and the tarp had a lot of sail area around the open frame.

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This is what it looked like tarped:

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There shortly developed fish pond in that large ceiling:

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A "tent pole" fixed the ponding:

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But the sides still flapped about a lot, even with twenty bungees and ropes and tying arrangements. The four top corners ripped eventually.

The framing and ceiling prop, shown during the "rebuild" when the first tarp failed:

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So I had to throw another couple hundred at plywood:

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Re-tarped with a new tarp, this has made it six months without ponding or the corners quite failing again. It's about time to get to plumbing it again.

[asavage]

Technically, this is not part of this project . . . yet. But I've wanted one for years, so . . .

Late last year I was finally able to locate a baby dump trailer of sufficient capacity to serve as an alternate dirt mover, should the four shop vacs be unable to lift dirt 12' to the top of the primary cyclonic separator. The dump truck's bed is at about 4' from ground, whereas the dump trailer's is closer to 2'. A downside to the trailer is that it probably can only hold a fraction of the drums that the dump truck can, but in case lift is an issue, I will use the trailer and live with more-frequent drives to dump.

This is a 5'x8' Nov2017 Carry On trailer with a 5k lbs GVWR, 3,625 lb capacity, making this weigh around 1,400 lbs empty. It has electric brakes. As-purchased:

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This trailer has led a hard, short life. Lots of rust showing in its nine years, and some tweaked metal, but it will serve.

The plastic shackle bushings (why do they always use plastic?) were shot, of course.

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I got those sorted with some proper bronze bushings and new pins with cross-drilling and grease zerks.

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I pulled a drum, and the brakes looks good enough to continue running. The Chinese trailer tires are OK, too.

The bed had what appeared to be rusted-on sand.

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Some serious pressure washing and three coats of brush-on Rustoleum should slow down further damage. I bought (2) animal stall mats 4'x8' and cut them to 5', layed cross-ways in the bed, to prevent impacts from going through my new paint

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I want to keep this trailer, so I bought a PacLock coupler cover. These aren't cheap but you aren't going to take them off with an angle grinder in 10 minutes, either. Made in USA, SS lock body. Then, a matching, keyed-alike, coupler lock (pin type). It can be cut off quickly, but it's an added layer of security anyway. I bought two of those, one to lock the coupler, one to lock the battery/pump box.

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Yes, you can drill the lock core, but you'll lay on your back to do it, chips flying in your face. I'm going to make you work for it.

The battery box also houses the electrohydraulic pump. The magnetic solar panel was wired directly to the battery and has a nominal output of 16v, so there's a problem.

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No "before" picture that captures the internals of that arrangement, but the hydraulic pump wasn't bolted down, nothing was fuses and wires were running through the box without grommets, it was all a fire waiting to happen.

I eliminated the emergency break-way brake battery and wired that to the main battery, which I replaced with an Enersys/Hawker/Odyssey ODX-AGM34R (to match all my other vehicles). Added an external voltmeter (I do not recommend this voltmeter for outdoor use, the lens glare is bad), a circuit breaker, a Victron Solar Charge Controller so the solar panel won't fry my battery, a battery hold-down, and panel-mount bulkhead quick-disconnect for the solar panel.

When this trailer is tarped, the solar panel will need to be outside the tarp, so I build an extension cord to plug in an extra 10' of run, to allow that. But without the tarp, only 2' of wire is needed, so the extension cord can be plugged in-line for tarp duty. I used Deutsch connectors.

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And I bolted-down the pump. That revealed a sort-of reason why it may have been un-bolted: the hydraulic hose routing led to chafing on the box, due to the design the builder chose.

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I made a hard-wearing sleeve for that area:

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That led me to the lights. Oh, the lights. Short story: the right taillight was wired backward, not a big deal, but cleaning up the lighting/brake/charge wiring at the front end turned into installing a junction box. I installed a Bargman 787535 and a new 7-blade pigtail, mounted horizontally where the old emergency break-away brake battery/controller used to reside.

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Well, that pigtail had to move below the frame . . .

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. . . because I didn't like that horizontal junction box layout for weather. It's not a gasketed box and water would run down the pigtail into the box. So I fashioned a cover, hinged and with magnets. The cover is aluminum, the hinges brass (not plated), the fasteners SS.

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