Homemade 50' Power Drain Auger (Out of a 3 Gallon bucket)
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- Опубліковано 16 лип 2024
- This is my power drain auger that I made using a 3 gallon bucket, a piece of pipe, and few other odds and ends laying around. It works great and was pretty easy to build. It's probably one of the better things I've come up with in a while. Definitely worth checking out.
- Наука та технологія
Within the last hour, I paid $360 for a plumber to snake my main line. Three hundred sixty fn dollars for 20 min work. that prompted me to search for HOW TO this very thing and I found your video. THANK YOU! That's the last $360 I'll ever spend for this task!
Oh my, that is absolutely genius!! We fought one of these 50 ft manual handle snake drain cleaners the other day. It worked, but my hubby is gonna love this design of yours!!!
Thanks for the inspiration. Made one tonight after fighting with the 50 ft manual auger and not getting anywhere. Used threaded black pipe and flanges as axels.
Same here, used a 1/2" 50ft for 2 days and not getting anywhere. So this have enough spin to break it free?
Sweet!! Yesterday I got a call from an older couple that I do odd jobs for. Basement drain was backing up. I have the same 1/2 snake but had to stretch it out and double it back to try and spin it with a chuck motor. What a pain in the ass that was! I store it in a five gallon bucket. Part way through shoving that thing into the pipe 40 some feet. I knew someone probably made a DIY electric eel. Right on my man!! I am doing that in the AM. Thanks for making the parts breakdown and the video!
Glad it worked out for you.
My next project! Thanks for the inspiration and ingenuity!!
Thanks for the video. I followed your guide to the "T". Works great. Only change was I used a carvedout wood from a wine barrel. It holds the carrage bolt better than the plywood which offers less resistance to the corners of the bolt. I got some grinding into the plywood, therefore I made that change. It works absolutely well. Thank you very much.
It works like I said in my first comment. One thing needs to be done is drill 4 one inch holes in the bucket to dry out the auger. Mine rusted so bad I had replace it.
I like that idea. Good thought.
Made one, with a little changes. Drilled a small hole in the carrage bolt and put in a cotter pin to keep it unraveling. And made the support boards long enough to be taller so i could put another support board going across the top. So the bucket is a 1 and a half gallon bucket. Put a handle on top, angle grind the bolt square so the drill has something to grip on. Thanks for your idea. God bless.
I like your improvements.
Thank you for sharing this video, I am going to duplicate this project even though I don't have many tools. 25 ft wasn't long enough to unclog the kitchen sink problem so this is my new stinky toy. Thanks again for sharing
Thanks for sharing! I believe this useful video will be popular forever!
Thank you, this is perfect. I have a 50 ft snake, but without a takeup spool or drum, it's a pain to use.
Ya, its a hell shitt
Nicely done!
Just made one and hoping to try it out tomorrow. Even though your video is 5 years old, it still gets lots of new views. Thank you for sharing this brilliant idea and best wishes from Scotland. 😀👌👍👍
Glad it helped. Good luck with your project!
so cool. I just made a version of one myself, but I like your design a whole lot better!
Engenius way of making that. I am going to make one myself.
Sweet! Glad I found this, This is a better start there were my brain was headed, I was trying to figure out how to use an old jeep rim haha
Definitely going to do this. Thank you
I'm definitely trying this! They have the 50ft snake with attachments at Harbor Freight for $69.99 (same price that you quoted just a one-stop-shop) 🙂
Awesome - much lighter than the expensive machine engine augers. Such a pain to rent and carry down stairs the rentals.
wonderful job... making one this afternoon.
this thing works , i made the same but with a metal bucket and welded it to a uaed old dolly replaced the wheels works great
Very cool works great good job.😊
Made one and it worked great , No more tangled snake all over my kitchen floor and no buckling of snake Parts -free , 50 ft snake $60 , Thank you
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Awesome.
I used a 1/2" X 50' replacement cable that I got from Harbor Freight. It comes with 4 bits also. It's $54.99 but I used the 20% off 1 item coupon which made it $44 + tax. Nice heavy cable and it easily fits in the bucket. There are fittings on both ends of the cable . . . a female fitting to attach the bits to, and a male fitting on the other end which allows you to add another cable if you so desire (not sure if 100' of cable will fit in the bucket). I made a U shaped bracket that is screwed to the plywood over the carriage bolt in the bottom of the bucket that I attached the cable to with a bolt so I won't have to worry about the cable coming out of the bucket. I also used 2" X 12" lumber for the frame. I used a 3/4" segmented threaded plastic pipe that they use for lawn sprinkler risers for the exit hole for the cable. It won't wear on the cable like a steel pipe might. I got 3/4" electrical conduit nuts that screw onto the pipe threads to make it secure. Only time will tell if the plastic parts will hold up. If not I will change it to steel pipe. I think it's going to work just fine.
Those are some good modifications. I'm not as worried about the snake wearing as much as your plastic pipe replacement though. There's a lot of friction on that that thing as you pull the snake through.
@@KiefferProjects Yeah, time will tell. I've used it 3 - 4 times and no problem yet.
@@KiefferProjects I bought a 50' usb endoscope camera snake for $38.00 off of Amazon. I drilled a hole in the C shaped cutter head and inserted the camera through the hole and secured it with a long twist tie. The cutter head does a good job of keeping the camera from going into the water and goo in the pipe. You just slide the drain snake cable and video snake together into the pipe. You don't need to attach the video cable to the drain snake other than at the cutter head. I watched a video where a guy used zip ties every few feet along the drain snake but that is not necessary, and will be a real pain because you are going to want to remove the camera to roto-root the clog. When you find the clog with the camera, and before you pull the snake back out, mark the rooter cable with some electrical tape where the cable is coming out of the pipe. Then after you have removed the video cable you will know exactly where the clog is by the tape on the cable when you run the cable back in. For about $100 I have a roto-rooter and a video snake. The plumbing company charged me $200 to run their video snake into the pipe (roots). Never again. Two other plumbing companies wanted $300 to view my pipes. It's best if you have a laptop computer to plug the video camera into. I don't have one so I had to use an old desktop computer with the necessary other hardware (monitor,mouse,keyboard cables etc.) But it works well, just a little inconvenient setting up a computer out in the yard or on the roof. All the computer components fit nicely into a suitcase I had so the system can easily be transported all together. A laptop would be ideal.
I built a power auger almost identical to yours. My mainline sewer to the street was plugged, I bought a 1\2 inch 50 foot sewer snake and cleaned out the main line in 20 minutes. The poo is running again!!!
Glad to hear.
Great video, I would add a Ridgid auto feeder with guide hose. Thanks for the video
Dude you are awesome thanks
Good video. Thanks.
Buckets make good seats too. Always keep extras
Real men of geniuuuuus. It's cheap to rent 'em when the shit hits the fan but this is great for ppl who have to use one often but don't want to flip the $250-$400 bill to buy a real one.
Looks awesome. Imma try to build one.. was going to spend 500+ for a 75' snake machine
Thank you sir!😘🇵🇭
Amazing!!
This is rad
Perfect do it yourself home use auger. If your snake came without a internal piece of stainless or galvanized steel "aircraft" wire rope it might be worthwhile to add it - just in case. Thank You.
thanks i am going to make one and add a ebay usb endoscope camera .
amazing---a pleasure to know you sir....im definitely not this smart!
Thanks
I made one of these and surprised that it worked that well. All in all I spent about 50 bucks on the 1/2" snake and the hardware to build this. I would recommend one thing. Slip a tube, about 2" long over the beginning end of snake, drill a hole and anchor it to the bottom of the plywood. Anchor it well. When I was clearing out a sewer line, the clog finally broke lose and the snake started to unravel when I was feeding it down the sewer line. I grabbed it quick and started to pull it back up.
Thanks, Kieffer. Your project was brilliant. It's a real winner.
Thanks, I'm glad it worked for you.
Did you put small pipes in the side woods for bolts to move freely carrying drum instead of bearings.I wish to know how you engage the rotating drum with the side woods.Thanks nice video.
Brilliant, now if we could only find a 100ft cable..:)
Cool, idea. Harbor freight has one for $244, homedepot, $169 to $580 . I think i will go with your idea.
Glad to hear. Thanks.
Dude that's genius cool!
the replacement auger is now close to $80 and the ends are about the same. There is a 1/2" x 50' snake for a little less than $40 at home Depot but there is not the option to use the 4 different ends I wonder if a person could build an attachment to clamp to the end that would fit the BrassCraft ends?
I just bought one 50' snake from a princess auto store $19.99
I did not see the snake pipe attached inside the bucket.. will that still work even when almost fully extended or will it snake out and go down the drain if you don't watch it...
You could probably use electrical conduit, and attach a coupling on the inside of the lid to keep it from passing through.
I like that idea. I put a mark on my snake so I knew when I was getting close to the end.
Does it have to be a 1/2 inch drill i built this and my drill wont spin it it slips of off the end instead of grabbing it?
3/8 drill should work, you just gotta tighten that chuck down. You could go for old drill with a Jacob's chuck. That will grab on just fine.
You can get the 25 ft snake for power drill at harbor freight for only $13.99. Is there a way to use 2 of those to make it a 50 ft snake? It would be a lot cheaper, and I'll bet you could figure out a way to make it work.
The $13.99 is only 1/4" line, with this bucket you can use any diameter line for clearing tree roots and harder clogs
I wouldn't recommend joining 25's together. Come on man, I made an auger out of a bucket. You really want to try cut costs on the snake?
Do you have to rotate bucket when putting snake back inside ?
No, it just coils inside on it's own.
It's been a few years, could you comment on any wear items or improvements?
It's not something I'm using every day, but I still works well when I use it. I haven't really modified it at all. I think if it was getting uses more often, that carriage bolt might loosen up a bit, but it's still holding strong for me.
they sell $20+ 50' snakes with a shitty hand crank thats what i bought and now after using it im building somethin too
cant use the 25' drill auger i had cause too small to stick 1/2" snake into the pipe
i was thinking about doing what you did or use a garden hose wrap i have laying around the type with the hand crank
The hose wrap would probably work its smooth on the inside. I found that snake to really want push hard against the walls of the bucket so you need something solid to keep it contained.
GLOVES
Has anyone found a smaller container? seems like the bucket is about 18" too long! Looks hard to store and awkward to operate.
I was thinking of cutting a bucket in half and just having wood bottom, BUT - I also don't know how to cut a large circle like you did - is there practical way to do this without buying some expensive new saw I don't need? I have a drill press, table saw, & a table jig saw that's more for arts & crafts than carpentry,
I just paid a plumber after wasting a weekend with a 1/2" hand snake. I thought about snaking the cleanout drain, but after several failures with obsruction under the sink this seemed like too much work!.
Plumber comes over. snakes the cleanout in 10 min, and I'm poorer. I need to build this before the next clog!
I'm making one myself and I agree, the bucket is a little tall. I was doing some proof-of-concept testing in a similar bucket and coiling the snake inside but it went wild on me a few times and unraveled due to the extra unneeded space. I started looking at thrift stores and found an old stew pot that I think will be perfect. It's about 6-7 inches shorter and the circumference is a little wider so I think it should work well for coiling. But in the cookware section of these thrift stores I saw many various cooking pots and cauldrons that would have also worked. I also like that it's metal so it's a little more study (when I was drilling a hole in the bottom of my plastic bucket the whole bottom ended up cracking).
@@arkwill14 TY. Great idea! eliminates the need to cut circle out of wood too!.
I'm going to stand by the 3 gallon bucket. It's free, and it has a lid. The extra space in the bucket really doesn't affect its performance. IF you back it with the wooden bottom when you drill it, it won't crack.
In terms of a cutting a wood bottom, I suggest a hand-held jig saw. They're pretty cheap and very versatile.
Also, I think you're thinking about needing a new tool all wrong, it's not a burden, it's an opportunity to expand your handiness!
Would putting an inch or so of bondo or epoxy in the bottom of the bucket and letting it harden work as well? I need to do this, but on a tight budget. Have a 50' auger already but is useless with the little crooked handle they come with. Great video btw.
Also, the end of the snake is not attached to anything? Just using centrifugal force of the bucket spinning?
😆😆😆😆😆
Is it possible for you to message me Sir , i require extra help ????
Sorry I missed you request. Hope you got it figured out.
Nice but you really should be going reverse its better torque vs the tough stuff clock wise is ok but i only use it to get past tough corners or if i am retrieving.and that head you have on there is hardly ever a good option unless you trying to get a watch or wallet ect
I have a set of different heads that I swap out. Thanks for your input.