DIY Spot Cleaning Station

[kingscreen]

Here's a cheap build I did over the weekend.  Total build time: ~45 min.  Total build cost: $23.50

This is made from 1 1/2" PVC. and a stainless steel sink strainer. The three holes drilled through the vertical pipe at the top helps ease off the vacuum. 

Works great!

[ericheartsu]

wow this is very cool!

[Inkworks]

Excellent! I might be inclined to put 2 or 3 layers of a 110 mesh or the like over the mesh screen to support more delicate fabrics, but I'll be shamelessly copying that in the next month or two.

[rmonks]

Great idea, and nice work. Got one question is that going into a shop-vac, and well two questions, is there any special filter in the shop-vac

[Rockers]

I was wondering as well were the fluid is going to end up in? The shop vac?

[Binkspot]

The fluid evaporates before it even makes it to the shop vac. I have a similar setup and thought I could collect the used fluid and reuse it but there is never anything in there. Just don't use a flammable fluid.

[tonypep]

We have some of these but accelerate the evaporation with an air gun @60 PSI

[mooseman]

BRILLIANT!
mooseman

[kingscreen]

No special filter.  It's just a basic cheap wet/dry shop vac.  As Binkspot said, the fluid evaporates before it even reaches the shop vac.  Three 90-degree turns and a 36" vertical pipe almost guarantee it.  Plus the height makes it comfortable to use while standing.   Unfortunately, we had a situation that gave us the opportunity to test it out on about 80+ tees yesterday.  >:(   At the end, I pulled out the shop vac hose from the bottom and it was dry.

[jvanick]

what non-flammable fluid are you guys using?

[Binkspot]

Been using CCI SR.-97 in mine for the past four years and haven blown anything up yet. Just makes toxic chemicals when comes in contact with flame, heated element or sparks.

[tonypep]

TS-3 is non-flammable. Been doing it this way for 20 ys here. Dry-vac exhausts next to  fan and draws any vapors out immediately. And again the air hose is a good idea. Prevents rings as well

[mk162]

I would recommend a piece of old screen mesh over the stainless mesh, less likely to punch a hole in a thin shirt this way

[tonypep]

That's how ours are fitted

[Printficient]

Xenon Spotbuster is a great spot fluid.  Alcohol carrier makes it evaporate almost instantly.