Cyclone Disposable Bag Hold Down

I picked up a box of clear lawn bags from a big box. It’s nice being able to just toss the bags, when full. However, I haven’t been able to use them in my collector barrel for the cyclone, because of the common problem of the bag getting drawn up.

A week or so ago, I bought a roll of fencing with a pattern of, approximately, 2-1/2” x 5” openings. The plan was to make tomato plant cages, since the ones places sell are far too small for the size the plants grow here. I got all the cages done by measuring the diameter of the pots (e.g., cut off wine kegs) my sweetie was using, then making a circle with that diameter off the roll and cutting it there.

I cut in the middle of the wire of each rectangle. That left enough of the wire sticking out, on both sides or ends, to loop the wire over the wire of the end it was joined to, to hold the cages together.

I was looking at plywood, and my collection of PVC pipe, while mulling over the collection bag problem when it dawned on me I had about fifteen or so feet of fencing left. Using the same approach I used for the cages, I made a cage to insert in the collector barrel.

I had to cut about six inches off the top of the fencing to get it to fit the barrel. I left the cut wires about a half inch long on those too, so those could be looped back.

With all the cut wires looped back, there are no snags to catch on bags, or on your hand, if you have to dig around inside, like I had to today, to reclaim a couple tools the cyclone stole.

I fired up the jointer, then the planer and cleaned up a bunch of boards a friend dropped off the other day and the project, quickly, filled the bag about 2/3 full. The cage worked perfectly for holding the bags down and against the side.

Even with the bags installed, I was still able to see how full the barrel was through the view port too.

Because the metal wire is so thin, it’s a snap wiggling the cage and pulling it out of the barrel. It took very little care to get the cage out without spilling any dust.