Suck up LEGO bricks with this DIY vacuum attachment

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/07/24/suck-up-lego-bricks-with-this.html

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This is no substitute for yelling at the kids.

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I dunno, seems a bit vacuous.

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This is called an exhauster and also used, in much smaller scale, to catch unsuspecting flying insects using the suction of your mouth.

Similar devices are sold to clean the ashes from ovens and chimneys.

Using a giant Lego brick as a Lego brick exhauster in a win. Will send this to parents with children in the particular cohort (“lost bricks” age group).

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it’s also very similar to a shop-vac.

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The insect version is usually called an aspirator, or a pooter. Every home should have one.

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Came to know it as “exhaustor” in Germany. Have already heard “aspirator”, though.

Pro-tip: don’t use it on ants. Or any other bug being capable of creating volatiles. Also: check if your mesh is intact before usage.
Mine broke down after about 10yrs without me noticing. Worst choke ever.

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I’ve only heard them referred to as ‘pooters’. I’ve also seen a similar device for parents to suck the snot out of their baby’s nose, without having to actually suck it into their own mouth.
Mind you, this is pretty much how a vacuum cleaner normally works, by sucking through a bag, or chamber, where most of the dirt will be trapped, rather than going all the way into the fan.

And if you reverse the air flow you’ve got a LEGO brick-firing pneumatic machine gun! (Maybe not, really - but I can dream.)

It’s not Grant Thompson, he’s more or less handed the presenting on the channel over to Nate Moon Bonham (probably due to the legal issues he’s had over the past year - https://www.dailydot.com/upstream/king-of-random-youtube-plea-deal/ )

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