Modding Project: Cheapskate's BAD reservoir ideas --#1 done May 25--

Oops. I wish you had read this sooner then. I already glued the center gear in the mounting.
-So my tooth profile for the center gear, should the teeth be less curved, or should the valleys be wider? (excuse me for not knowing the exact terms here, we already established I'm a noob at this.)
I really want to figure out my gear issues. This build is actually a experiment to see if I could make a water powered clockworks reservoir.

 

Sorry, it's not often that my esoteric knowledge about gears is of much use in fori like this.
I'm not sure how deeply you want to delve into the subject but you could start here.

I'd suspect that you're probably best off looking at wooden clock gear designs...many plans are simplified for building with common hand tools.
The problem will be that the less refined tooth profiles (along with the less accurate spacing) require more power to run.
Such a mechanism incorporated into a water loop will be a flowkiller unrivaled by the most restrictive of blocks.

Your design is almost a worst case scenario...normally the center (drive) gear would be the largest and the three surrounding gears ("pinions" in clock parlance) would be the smallest.

If you're really intent on doing this, I'd recommend you take a side journey through some pure R&D...forget trying to make a rez to start with.
Just concentrate on a making a few gears/pinions and see how they spin together.
You'll be able to tell pretty quickly how the basics work.
Then you can see if the idea is at all practical.

It took me a year- and countless failed attempts- to build my first working clock movement, so the learning curve is rather steep.
What you're attempting is considerably simpler but will still require some effort.

 

I remember some of the words from college drafting gears before CAD. "Root circle, chord arcs, pitch". Took days to draft by hand. Never would have tried to actually make gears. I'm impressed Cheapskate! Flog away!
John

 

Thanks you two. I will continue with this project, despite all the mistakes. I will be happy if it sort-of works.
@Clocker - Practical? Nothing I do fits that word.
I went to an actual Harbor Freight store yesterday, despite it's location in an area known as 'Gunspoint'. I was looking for the rotary tables they had on sale in the catalog. They had nothing, and everything else I was looking for was marked up.

 

We may be using different definitions of the word "practical".
I would consider the project a (practical) success if the gears "sort-of" spin and don't bring the water to a standstill.
A rough type of flow indicator, if you will.

Time will tell how invested you are in this particular folly.

 

Hey man, congrats on 1000 posts

By the way nice reservoir you are coming up with here.

 

Thanks! You have to spew a lot of cr*p to make that many posts!
I'm glad you like the res.

I got started on the aluminum reservoir while waiting for the rotary table to arrive. I have chopped the ends even and sanded the whole thing down to 400 grit.
-Before I could get started on the plexi parts, someone borrowed the tile saw again.

 

::cringe::

Nice plexi work as usual, CS. I hope you manage to get the gears meshed properly and spinning.

 

Yes, that's what I did too.

The $9 heat gun dun blow'd up... I was hoping it would at least last a year. It's like someone jinxed me today. *cough*Clocker*cough*.

 

Typical. In my experience with HF, I tend to hit them occasionally until I find a great deal then I'll nab a buncha crapola all at once. They can be fickle with prices.

 

Why was that cringeworthy?

This was the definition of "folly" I was using...

 

One by my house in Westminster, CO. I always use them disposable things like goggles, face masks, that sort of thing. My heat gun came from there and I must have gotten the one good one. Two years and more plexi than I care to admit to and still working. We have a Lowes and a Home Depot within 9 blocks of HF. Wally World actually carries real Dremel products here.
John

 

When can we expect another update?

 

Sorry, if I took that the wrong way, Clocker. When I read that I got an image in my head of you swishing wine in a glass and wearing a monocle.

@Jhanlon - I haven't seen Westminster since the '70s... It sounds like it got crowded there.

@Teknokid - Soon. My real work is done for now.

 

In a smoking jacket on a leather couch.
Yes, that would be accurate.

 

Oh yes, indeed. We cowgirls and cowboys in Colorado are quite refined! Now, where's the beer and the Rocky Mountain Oysters? (ewww, actually)

 

@Cheapskate I haven't seen Westminster since the '70s... It sounds like it got crowded there.

Just one blur from Denver to Boulder.

John

 

Ouch.

OK, Here's that update I promised, but it's all about the OTHER reservoir this time.

-To get the ends even on the pipe, I went postal on it. I dug up an older blade I don't use and lopped the ends off with it. I may need to invest in hearing protection if I ever try that again. -Wow!

-Now I have an edge I can use to get the green tube sanded even. I like how this stuff looks here.

-I marked up the pipe for embellishment/destruction. It's another probably obvious trick, but I used a bit of angle to get the lengthwise lines.

-I glued together a big green blob to make LED mounts.

-I said earlier that the heat gun died. When I switched it on there was a bolt of blue flame in the back, then nothing. I figured out the problem pretty quick. one of the (insert name of electronic component)s on the back of the motor shorted out. On a hunch, I pulled apart an old hairdryer I had to see if I could do a swap. It was close. The motor is exactly the same, but the electronic doo-dads,(don't you love my technical savy,) were different types.

-...So I switched to plan B. I love some of the ideas I've picked up from BitTech. The welding gloves were critical in getting this to work. When the plexi started to get hot, it would stick to the iron. I flipped it several times to get it heated evenly.

-I pulled the drill press out on the back porch and started milling.

-Oh, cr*p! the yard is filling up! I had to run out and dig the leaves out of the drains.

-All milled and drilled. I now have 23 possible leak points. I'm planning to add one more for the fill port.

-The bent plexi bits will be mounted where these little holes are. I'm planning to solder a bolt in each hole and run it through the mounts.

-First I need to screw with the brackets a bit. This is going on HypnoToad, so it needs some blue swirly. I marked up the insides with blue permanent markers, then globbed on IPS Weld-On #16. The gel glue will fill in the holes where the bending wasn't snug, and make the blue permanent. I left this stinky booger in the garage overnight.

-The glue dried with a nice liquid effect.

-I've prepped the coper fittings I plan to solder to this rig. (Let's skip the discussion on galvanic corrosion this time.)

-Prying the glue off the pipe took some effort. I had to heat the pipe up and cool it quickly. Brute force wasn't enough.

That's all for now.
I'm Cheapskate, and I approve of this message. (Vote Cheapskate!)

 

Well you get my vote... very nice work.. Loved the metal tubing.

 

Awesome looking lightsaber hilt, Cheapskate! ...Alright, someone had to say it, so I figured I'd go for it.

Seriously, though. Pretty cool.

You don't have any hearing protection!? Man, that's dangerous. I can't recall EVER cutting anything metal without something covering the ears. I value my music too much for that, lol. I can only imagine jigsawing out a rad area on the top of a case without hearing protection. Man, that's painful!