12/3/2023 0 Comments Build a cheap mini ramp![]() We need the air in the pressure chamber to act like a spring. Don't pump it up all the way, just enough that the tube is squishy. ![]() Using the pump, partially inflate the bike tube. Gather up your big pipe section, cap, adapter, bike tube, and bike pump. Now you need to put together the pressure chamber. On to the next step for order of assembly! With the brass swing check valve, the arrow should point down toward the tee, and the main line of pipe. This allows water to pass through toward the main tee, which you want. Most of the pieces go together in a fairly self-explanatory way, but there are a few things to note: on the spring check valve there is an arrow, and you will want this to point toward the main tee that will have the 4" pipe (air chamber) on it. It may not be necessary, but I figure it helps. When working on my pump, I felt that it was best to clamp up each piece after I had assembled it, that way the pipe couldn't slip back at all. It should slide in without too much resistance. Once you've got cement where you want it (and hopefully only a little where you don't) fit the pipe into the fitting. You've got time though, so focus on getting a nice coating of cement on both pieces. Don't rush, but you do want to get the pipes together before the cement dries up. With this brush, go over the areas that you painted with the primer. Open up the cement bottle, which should also have a little brush in it. Once the pipe is coated, do the same for the inside of the fitting that you're planning on cementing up. Take care not to drip the primer on anything that you don't want permanently purple. Take the cap off the primer, and carefully coat the outside face of the pipe, with a band about 2" wide beginning at the end. Most PVC chemical bottles have caps with little brushes attached to them. The primer serves to clean off the PVC a little bit and gets it ready to really bond with the cement. For those of you who haven't built things from PVC in the past, it isn't terribly difficult. Then head to a well ventilated space, because the primer and cement aren't precisely aromatherapy. Grab your lab gloves, a clamp, primer, cement, two fittings and their connecting piece of pipe. The primer and cement help them go together when you do the real assembly. Don't worry if the pipes seem rather tight when you're test fitting everything. Now that you've got all the connecting segments, you can actually test fit the first part of the pump together, just for fun. While you're at it, you might as well clean up the edges on the other sections of pipe, though it will be less critical for the other parts. Clean up both ends, and make pieces to join all of the 1-1/4" fittings. The idea here is to make these as smooth as possible, to reduce the likelihood of cracks developing with the repeated pressure waves that occur inside the pipe. Get all the burr off, clean it up, give it a nice bevel or rounded edge. But not much! Once these pieces are all cut, take your knife (or some sand paper) and try to smooth the inside edge of the pipe. They don't need to be long, just enough to reach all the way into each fitting, maybe with some space between. ![]() You need to connect each of these little units with some pipe, so set about cutting segments off of that stock 1-1/4" pipe with the hacksaw. Lab gloves (keeps the chemicals on the pipe and off your hands).PVC Cement (Oatey again, just what they had).PVC Primer (I used Oatey Purple Primer).Shower Drain assembly (must be able to attach to 1-1/4" pipe, for attaching pipe to water supply).Bricks, blocks, rocks to prop up and anchor pump.Garden Hose (male end threads into 3/4" union, supplies pumped water).Long section of 1-1/4" PVC ("drive pipe", connects pump to water supply).This usually appears in the form of not having a threaded fitting, but having a smooth pipe connection, or vice versa. I wound up getting some different parts because my local store didn't have the exact parts I was looking for. The store may not have exactly what you're looking for, and you may have to improvise. Connections Note Read through the instructable and understand all the pipe-fitting connections that will happen before buying materials. The associated pieces are: 100 PSI gauge, 3/4" Tee, 3/4" x 1/4" bushing, the 1/4" pipe cock. This will probably drop the price a good bit, and I haven't found a need for it on my pump. I'm also not convinced that the 100 PSI gauge, or all of the things that make it possible, are necessary. I recommend you look there for help in identifying what each of the pieces look like, if you're unsure. This parts list comes directly from the Clemson website. But if you want to build this (and it's a lot of fun to see it work), print out this list and head to the plumbing dept of your hardware store. Before you can really do much, you've got to go out and buy some stuff.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |