I am very surprised to not find any vacuum filter teks on here, especially since a lot of us use powdered bark which is a pain to filter. In the past I have made other teks that used water pumps (see here) but have now discovered something far most efficient.

Step 1:

Go to local hardware store and buy

1x pail bucket (thicker/stronger walls the better)
1x largest possible funnel
1x silicone sealant
1x piece of vinyl tubing (about a foot long) that will fit your funnel and vacuum cleaner head (make sure you take the vacuum cleaner head to the store to make sure it fits).

Step 2:

Cut vinyl tubing in half, make one slightly longer than the other.

Step 3:

Cut two holes at equal distance from another (like eyes on a person face) in the lid of the pail bucket that fit the diameter of your vinyl tubing .

Step 4:

Insert the now two pieces of vinyl tubing and silicone seal the edges both on top and under the bucket lid.

Step 5:

Insert funnel on the longer tube and vacuum cleaner on the other

Step 6:

Put wet t-shirt in the walls of the funnel so there is a smooth surface

Step 7:

Pour contents

Step 8:

Turn on vacuum cleaner to lowest setting. (If your pail bucket is thin it will implode slightly so hold the funnel to make sure you don't spill.)

Step 9:

Once you get half way through filtering, move the t-shirt slightly to one side so that more water can get through and start the vacuum cleaner again.

Step 10:

Open lid and collect your filtered contents.



The contraption should like something like this with the funnel being on top of the left tube:

Just take care because vacuum cleaners run hot and the motor needs a firm air flow to cool. Using it on a closed vessel without good air flow is tricky if running for too long a time (minutes?). Secondly, the vacuum provided is not that much actually, though it might work somewhat. If it works for you than thats cool.

Take a look at this:
Cheap vacuum pumps OK for vacuum filtration?
Still using it with great success, 75% of vacuum.
Need more suck? --> old fridge compressor goes like 95% of vacuum easily.
But you'll need a better setup that a paint bucket, it will implode for sure.

Ok cool, thanks. I am not trying to get super fine filtration like coffee filters, just enough so that I don't have emulsion troubles later on during basification. I only have it on for about 10-20 seconds then turn off to adjust t-shirt, seems to be doing just fine.

P.S. Your thread didn't make any sense to me, there was no description on how they worked as if you assumed everyone would know. Where does the input and output hoses go?

You wont destroy your vacuum cleaner motor on 20 seconds, if that is all it takes then you're set

The setup I'm referring to is like this:
(here they use a hand pump)

It requires a dedicated vacuum filter unit, whatever works for you is sufficient.

When it comes to more difficult filtering jobs the special unit is the way to go.
That unit is not that expensive, and people in search for an electronic pump often stall on lab pumps that are really expensive. It is there that my cheap pump alternative chimes in.

you can get one of these for about 8 dollars, or build your own using brass fittings from the hardware store.

With same fittings and hoses you can make it fit any tap in your home, to give an instant vacuum pump that can pull to 20mmHg no problem on a good day.

To save water, you can also use an electric diaphragm pump in closed circuit (e.g. bucket).
Higher vacuum can be obtained by adding some ice to the water.

You can also get a hand powered vacuum pump at most auto parts store.

Looks slightly different from the OP's bucket tek in matter of size. Would you really want to sit through siphoning over 5 liters of murky water with a funnel that big? Having to hand pump again and again?

Great ideas, How would the pressure compare to the vacuum tek though? I am assuming the suction hose from the aspirator would hook on to where the vacuum cleaner head was hooked on on the bucket seeing as most people don't carry glass lab gear in their homes.

Also, as far as wasting water goes, if you connected it to your faucet or garden tap for say 20 seconds then you could just collect the water and water the garden with it.

Dont buy hand pumps. Man you really dont wanna filter with a hand pump.
Execpt you need some muscle in your arms

Guys - Hello! This is exactly why I joined this forum a few days ago. I mean this very topic. A Google search took me here and I started exploring but could only go so far without joining. And then the damn questionaire took so long I forgot why I even joined. Now I remember!

Yeah, I've been using a hand pump for the last year on the Buchner funnel and it gets old. Even 500ml takes a while with a #5 Qual Filter and a bit of gak in the solution. But like someone said earlier, cheap pumps aren't gonna last pulling solvents. And for vacuum distil, all the cheap pumps (about $65 fridge pumps) that have decent power are capped out at an operating temp of 85F. I'm thinkink that includes the temp of what they are sucking but haven't asked any vendors.

Can't imagine filtering the liquid used to extract a kg of root bark by hand! Seems like the ideal place for one of those $65 vacuum pumps (as long as you're not doing STB which is what I'm looking to do).

Anyway, keeping an eye on this. I hope folks show up with some good ideas/affordable products.

Well unless it is very finely powdered bark, a t-shirt pegged to a bucket strains it enough to be reduced 1/4 of the volume without emulsions troubles.