-DIY Aspirator Guide-
Materials:
About 2 feet of vinyl tubing, an adequately sized container with a plastic lid
(to capture in multiple containers, buy some that use the same lid and you can switch),
a Dremel or another tool that is capable of cutting/melting plastic to the diameter of
your tubing, a rubber band, some hot water, and some paper towel or a small t-shirt
scrap (about 1 1/2" to 2" wide and long).
Optional:
A hot glue gun can be useful to seal the holes for vinyl tubing, but is not
if you cut without any issues.
Instructions:
1. Cut your vinyl tubing into 2 pieces. One should be shorter, say, 6-10 inches, and the
other longer, 14-18 inches; I prefer to use the longer end like you would a vacuum to
move around and suck up ants.
2. Lay an end of each length of tubing in your hot water, we'll get back to it later.
3. Take your preferred cutting/melting instrument, and cut 2 holes in the plastic lid on
opposite sides, these will be for your tubing to fit into. Make the holes as round as possible,
it is important that they are slightly smaller than the tubing diameter so it is a tight fit.
4. Take your tubing out of the hot water a few minutes after it has gone in, and push the
now flexible end of each piece into the holes you just cut or melted about a half inch. Push
the shorter section of tubing in a little farther, so an inch or so is on the inside of the lid.
5. (Optional) Use your hot glue gun to seal the tubing in if you want, or if you left any
small holes with your cuts. However, if you didn't make any small holes through cutting
error, the tubing is probably sealed well on its own and this step is unnecessary.
6. Take your paper towel or t-shirt scrap, this will act as a filter for dirt and the like, and
place it over the inside section of shorter tubing, so that the middle is over the tubing hole.
Then, fold your rubber band over the scrap over and over, until it is held tightly on the tubing.
Your aspirator is complete, happy anting!