Blowing the dust off without an air compressor

headless · Post by **headless** » Wed Nov 24, 2010 10:04 am

If there's one thing I've learned about cleaning up after burning man, it's that it's easier to get the dust off my stuff while it's still dry; once you add water it tends to stick in crevices.

When I get home from burning man, I find myself blowing the dust out of all the crevices of my gear using my lungs. It gets tiring, I get out of breath and dust in my lungs, so I keep thinking there's got to be a better way. I live in a one bedroom apartment so buying an air compressor and blow gun, the conventional solution, is not for me.

Some ideas I'm considering, and was curious if anyone has tried:

1. Get a bellows designed for fireplace use and blow with that. Seems like that would move the most air.

2. I realized that I have a source of compressed air in the tires of my car, and I have a tire inflator. So I was thinking about making a contraption with a blow gun on one end of a hose and a tire chuck on the other. I just attach to my car tire and use that for compressed air. Maybe I get fancy and put in a Y coupler so a third connection can be made with a tire stem on the end so I can leave the tire inflator running while I use it. I suspect this will ultimately be unsatisfying, as my tire inflator has less than a tenth of the power of a small air compressor, but maybe for the once a year use I could put up with that.

3. Bite the bullet and just use a bunch of ozone depleting canned air, the type normally used for cleaning electronics.

Anyone found a good way to get lots of air without lots of equipment?

FIGJAM · Post by **FIGJAM** » Wed Nov 24, 2010 10:13 am

Electric leaf blower works great.

ygmir · Post by **ygmir** » Wed Nov 24, 2010 10:17 am

I bet you could rent a small electric compressor and blow gun from a tool rental place. They have them for nail guns and such.

or, find a neighbor with one?

The tire ideas, as a reserve air tank, works well.
Air volume is limited, but, they do work.

JStep · Post by **JStep** » Wed Nov 24, 2010 10:30 am

Cans of comressed "air" for dusting computers and electronics are available at stores. They seem over priced but I think you can usually get a 2-oack for around 12 bucks. If you only buy them once a year, not so bad I guess.

oneeyeddick · Post by **oneeyeddick** » Wed Nov 24, 2010 10:37 am

Most shop vacs are reversible, works just like a leaf blower for all intentions here, and only $20 or so and then you have a shopvac to keep.

ygmir · Post by **ygmir** » Wed Nov 24, 2010 10:38 am

oneeyeddick wrote:Most shop vacs are reversible, works just like a leaf blower for all intentions here, and only $20 or so and then you have a shopvac to keep.

and, if you can get OED to divulge, his source for "special" attachments, you'll never have to leave home again.

headless · Post by **headless** » Wed Nov 24, 2010 10:39 am

A leaf blower or even shopvac is probably more bulky than I want for something I only use once a year, but that gave me another idea: My vacuum cleaner has the same function and a powerful motor.

I just got out some duct tape, and taped the accessory hose onto the outlet that normally connects to the dust bag, and it works great!

And I can use all the accessory wands and such from my vacuum cleaner to get in the crevices. Perfect.

This is going to be my solution for sure. Thanks for helping to think outside the box!

headless · Post by **headless** » Wed Nov 24, 2010 10:53 am

I've been having all sorts of fun blowing dust out of the corners and crevices of my apartment with this vacuum cleaner turned into blower thing. Now my apartment is full of dust and I just put on my burningman dust mask. Good times!

oneeyeddick · Post by **oneeyeddick** » Wed Nov 24, 2010 10:54 am

we have a tiny 1 gallon shop vac that you carry with a handle, no wheels on it at all.

it has a POWERFUL little 3.5 HP motor, and was only $24.98 at you-know-where.

Dr. Pyro · Post by **Dr. Pyro** » Wed Nov 24, 2010 11:06 am

I'm surprised nobody has stated the obvious: You could always move.

oneeyeddick · Post by **oneeyeddick** » Wed Nov 24, 2010 11:19 am

ygmir wrote:
oneeyeddick wrote:Most shop vacs are reversible, works just like a leaf blower for all intentions here, and only $20 or so and then you have a shopvac to keep.
and, if you can get OED to divulge, his source for "special" attachments, you'll never have to leave home again.

Did you mean attachments for the Shop Vac, the Flashlight, or the Dremel ?

( BTW, if you buy a Dremel, make sure the RPMs are adjustable )

Fire_Moose · Post by **Fire_Moose** » Wed Nov 24, 2010 12:29 pm

and don't waste yer money on a battery powered dremel

kiaralynn · Post by **kiaralynn** » Wed Nov 24, 2010 4:27 pm

haha crazy.. weird ideas comin from another strange and weird maker!! lol

Bob · Post by **Bob** » Wed Nov 24, 2010 8:04 pm

Off-Road Roomba.

dragonpilot · Post by **dragonpilot** » Thu Nov 25, 2010 11:51 am

Dr. Pyro wrote:I'm surprised nobody has stated the obvious: You could always move.

Yes, that, Doc...but also: why bother? Heh!

moonrise · Post by **moonrise** » Thu Nov 25, 2010 1:14 pm

Good idea. Luckily I have a leaf blower, a hose, a nearby car wash, and a shitload of other brushes and brooms and such.

My place got rain the day I got home, just enough to not wash everything and make it a goey layer of glop...it took extra effort to clean it all up but finally got it done.
(2+ weeks!)

Have fun wearing the dust mask, you got lucky!

manishapi · Post by **manishapi** » Tue Jul 26, 2011 5:37 am

Could you tell me more … I would love to explore.

tomasites · Post by **tomasites** » Tue Jul 26, 2011 11:41 pm

manishapi wrote:Could you tell me more … I would love to explore.

What are you going to explore dude?
Is there something cool that going to happen out there?
lol

Blowing the dust off without an air compressor

Blowing the dust off without an air compressor

Re: Blowing the dust off without an air compressor

Re: Blowing the dust off without an air compressor