DIY $3 Air Pressure Release Spring Valve

Hello! After a commercial break and visit to my summer cabin in the Himalayas, I have another episode of "dang, that guy is dumb." Just joking, but in light of Instructable's Element's Speed challenge, I felt inspired to post about a cheap (but effective!) pressure release value I created to keep my homemade dust separator from collapsing. I searched high and low for a solution and only found two answers:

• This one by Shannon Elizabeth that required re-affixing it every time
• This one by Charlie DIYte that required buying a $20 special tool.

So, if you're like me and you are trying to keep your DIY 5 gallon dust separator from looking like a child's soda can after a birthday party, look no further!

So this build is relatively cheap, and could be free depending on what you have around the house/garage! If not, it simply requires a visit to your local hardware store. What you'll need:

• Rubber O Ring (or something else to create a seal)
• Metal Spring
• 2 Large Washers
• 1 Small Washer
• 1 Bolt (mine was 2 1/2" long)
• 1 Nut
• Glue
• Couple pieces of scrap wood or something to elevate the top washer

Sounds simple! Too simple...

But really, all you need to do is drill a hole out of the lid of your container! I used a sharpie to outline the washer on the lid and used a drill to cut it out.

The real science that comes into play here is making sure your hole is large enough to offer sufficient pressure release to keep the bucket from collapsing. Too small and it won't make a difference, hence me enlarging with a rasp.

Note: Might be common sense, but make sure your hole is always smaller than your large washers. Otherwise your release valve will fall right through!

So now that you got your hole made, you can proceed forward with assembling the valve. The process is straight forward:

1. Glue seal to one of the large washers
2. Glue spacers to other washer
3. Push small washer in to hold spring
4. Thread spring onto the bolt
5. Thread spacer washer on
6. Thread seal washer on
7. Screw final bolt

And bing, bang, boom! You got yourself a pressure release valve!

So technically, you'll need to take off the nut and seal washer to get this to attach to the lid. But I wanted to make sure you knew the order of it's oh-so-complicated assembly.

Double check that everything is fitting as needed, you're getting a decent seal, and we're good to go!

So test that puppy out! Hopefully you can now enjoy your dust separator!

Hoped that helped another person out there!