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Downeaster

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I have a Keurig coffee maker, have had for many years. Over time, the K-cup holder collects a lot of coffee ground fines. No real way to get in there and clean it out with a paper towel, usually end up disassembling it to clean it.

Mrs. Downeaster mentioned it was getting pretty nasty so I was working up the ambition to clean it, wishing I had a micro-vacuum so I could just suck that stuff out of there without having to disassemble it.

Got to thinking...I've got a itty-bitty vacuum pump out of an inkjet printer. Hmmmm. I've also built a cyclone-type dust separator for my big vac that is stupid simple to make and works very well. HMMMMMMMMM. If I was to make a miniature version of that...

minivac.jpg


Had a few odds and ends of surgical tubing and various fittings from some sort of medical device I stripped for parts and used a little hot glue to hold things in place. Et Voila! MicroVac! Runs on DC and I hooked my power supply to it and spun it up at 6vdc and it will suck that pudding container flat! Cleaned the grounds out of the cup holder slick as a smelt.

I accepted that as "proof of concept" so I think I'll slick it up a little bit. At full load (as in sucking the container out of shape), it was pulling about 800 milliamps at something over 6 volts. I have a 7.5 volt wall wart good for 1800 milliamps, so that should suffice as a power supply. Mount things to some sort of base, include a switch and get some longer bits of tubing and I can see it coming in handy from time to time. I'll have to buy some tubing, everything else came out of my stash.
 
A very wise friend of mine once said: "Nothing was ever made that couldn't be modified." It's basically his "Rule # 1". True dat. That one rule has put me in "invent mode" many, many times. (Even when I was working.) I often took materials "off the shelf" and used them in a manner inconsistent with their original function, combining them into something new, to solve on-the-job problems. People thought I was some kind of genius. Nope, just resourceful. I've said it before: "use what you have, make what you need." People do it all the time, not knowing they're "some kind of genius". So, everyone, keep up the good work!
 
If shit was gold, a poor man would be born with no ass hole!
 
minivac.jpg


Final (ish...) version of the mini-vac. Box has a jack on the outer end for the wall wart connector, switch on the top. Everything hot-glued to a piece of plexiglass. (Tip: That slice of plexi has been tucked in a corner of the garage for 20+ years and the protective paper did NOT want to come off. Some love with a heat gun loosened the adhesive enough that I was eventually able to peel it off)

The surgical tubing works okay and I like the flexibility, but the ID is a bit small and the pump sucks a vacuum on the cannister trying to pull air through it. Need to go a little bigger on that end as soon as I can find some suitable tubing.
 
Love the tiny vac, but Keurig does make a (yours should have come with one) little pump tool for cleaning those out. No disassembly required. Need one? I have one that will never get used again. I’m an electric percolator coffee guy only now.

just drop it in the pod recep and give the top a few pumps and it sucks all the grounds out of the needle.
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Try a stove top percolator, Like the kind you'd put on a campfire. Better yet, put it on a campfire! Best. coffee. ever! :thumbsup:
I have 2 stove percos, I do use them on occasion. One Pyrex and one SS. They make great coffee but require to much attention when also trying to make eggs, bacon, and hash browns. I have, well to many electric percos. But my favorite is my 1957 GE.
 
Love the tiny vac, but Keurig does make a (yours should have come with one) little pump tool for cleaning those out. No disassembly required. Need one? I have one that will never get used again. I’m an electric percolator coffee guy only now.

just drop it in the pod recep and give the top a few pumps and it sucks all the grounds out of the needle.
View attachment 203764 View attachment 203765

Huh. Never seen such a thing. I'll have to look around for one.
 
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