Vacuum Cleaner made from it's own packaging

REAL “cardboard engineering” … definitely gives “thinking out of the box” a new meaning. Sorry, had to say that. … .

… designed by Jake Tyler, a student at the U.K.’s Loughborough University, in collaboration with ‘Vax’ which is a leading brand of vacuum cleaners in U.K.

The green factor is not limited up to the structure of the vac which is made of recyclable cardboard but also the motor components, which are made out of pure nylon plastic that can be recycled. This material makes use of RP (rapid process) manufacturing in place of injection molding technique.

The “> Vax ev> ” vacuum cleaner is intended to be assembled at home using the cardboard box the unit was shipped in.

Read the full article at GreenDiary

The concept sounds interesting but i shudder to think how this thing might look after a short time in my house. The way I treat my vax is horrible…
" Oi - YOU! - WAKE UP and get out of that dark, cluttered cupboard NOW!" - “eat that!” - “now get back in there!”

All the while i’m pulling the poor little thing by it.s nose/hose around corners and up steps. Shamefuly I admit that my mechanical sympathy has always been somewhat lacking and I know i should treat the mechanical mut better.( i DO love animals honestly!)

I wonder if anybody has any experience yet with the ones you dont have to ‘walk’ around the house and do it while you’re out? ( I am now having ‘There i fixed it’ visions of bigtrak with a dustbuster taped to its nose :slight_smile: Edit : just serached to an old post where bobcat mentioned his mum had a vintage hovering hoover - which sounds like a lovely idea and might be useful for new designs where the thing is having to haul itself around…

Maybe this vac idea could’ve utilized a previously recycled , stiffer material to play the double role of packaging and casing. Or perhaps I underestimate the punishment a well designed cardboard structure can take?

Edit : just serached to an old post where bobcat mentioned his mum had a vintage hovering hoover - which sounds like a lovely idea and might be useful for new designs where the thing is having to haul itself around…

I HAVE one. My parents gave it to me when I set up my first apartment. The “exhaust” air from the motor exits the bottom of the canister (which is plenum) shaped.

It worked really well as both a vacuum cleaner and a hovercraft, but I now shudder to think of all the microscopic material that it launched into the atmosphere of my house.

The effect, when used on anything but carpet, being similar to… .

Brillant concept for gaining attention. Actual utility…low.

Wish they would have used some plastic bits for the wheel “tread” instead of cardboard. If the hub is plastic, why not the whole wheel?

Brillant concept for gaining attention. Actual utility…low

Somewhere in the literature it is suggested that if any portion of the body is damaged replacement pieces can be fabricated using the old piece as a template and cardboard purchased at mailing center… or scrounged out of the trash.

There is some element of this product that takes me back to my childhood … playing with cardboard boxes.

Maybe this vac idea could’ve utilized a previously recycled , stiffer material to play the double role of packaging and casing. Or perhaps I underestimate the punishment a well designed cardboard structure can take?

Durabilty-wise… I don’t know how many conceptual motorcycle fairings and saddlebag prototypes we fabricated out of corrugated while I was with Vetter, but it was a lot, and we road-tested the hell out of them with no more “finish” than duct tape, and masking tape. I built a corrugated cardboard air dam for the front of my Karmann Ghia and ran it on the road in all kinds of weather for the better part of three months before it finally returned to it’s natural state.

It became a tree!?!?