Best Pieces for Hose System?

[Crtlego]

Hey everybody! Its been a while since I've posted but I promise I have some exciting stuff to share when summer break rolls around!

In the mean while, I want to ask you all a question about using pneumatic parts for spraying water. If I were to develop a system for high rate/high quantity water input/ouput (same pump but a pnuematic switch(s) would be, which set of pnuematic parts would be best suited for this task? From what I've read, it is preferable to use the small cylinders/pumps because they are plastic on the inside (if I am not imagining things..) and, consequently, they will not be damaged by the use of water.

Another assumption I made was that I could use either the pumps (one pin) or cylinders (two pins) to be driven by a motor and get water in and out of the system but I guess this depends on the actual setup I decide to use.

Any suggestions, ideas, schematics are welcome. Thanks in advance.

Edited June 10, 2012 by Crtlego

[DLuders]

@ Crtlego: If you are going to have a LARGE supply of water, have you seen Isogawa Yoshihito's red water fountain idea? The two pistons force water up into a fountain:

[laix]

Hey Crtlego,

while building my Unimog, I tested several setups for pumping water.

The easiest and most efficient one is to pump air into a water filled tank. You can replace the LEGO tank with PET bottles and increase the number of pumps as well.

Another possible solution is to pump the air with the small LEGO pump. It's made out of plastic so the water won't damage it. The main disadvantage is, that you have to place the whole mechanism and pumps underwater.

For my Unimog I used a closed circuit, which is able to suck in the water. But you need a lot of force to actuate the pump and it can only deal with smaller amounts of water at once.

Edit:

After seeing DLuders's post I remembered this great pump. It has an amazing volume.

Best regards, laix

Edited June 10, 2012 by laix

[DLuders]

robbiemccarthy posted this

of his Lego Technic Water Pump. He wrote, "Using a basic principle of concentration gradients, I built this water pump out of nothing but Legos and a plastic water bottle.

"More information here: http://web.me.com/robbiemccarthy/Compositions/pump.html [with pictures of Full Assembly , Electronics and Pump , and Motor and Pump]

"How it works:

"One Lego motor, drawing power from a Lego battery box, activates a Lego pneumatic pump which pumps air through one tube into the sealed water bottle. The water is forced out by the increasing pressure into the other tube protruding from the cap; into a plant, cup, or any other vessel in need of a soaking.

"One variation of this which i have been wanting to try, is connecting it to an RCX or NXT brick. By doing this, I could make it light sensor activated, so it waters my plant ever morning. (As long as the RCX/NXT has an external power source, which you can find online.)

"Send me feedback and other project ideas!"

[Crtlego]

Thanks for the ideas DLuders and laix!! These are some interesting ideas. Isogawa's red fountain and the centrifugal pump are novel inventions! I didn't realize the old 9V motor ran that fast!

My aim was to build a system that could use the same pump to both bring water into the system (refilling) and to shoot it out quickly but not at the same time. Currently, i would like to use an RC motor (has torque and speed) to spin possibly four or six of the new gray pumps we saw in the Unimog and then use this to drive the system. But from what you two have shown me, I would need to use the cylinders (two pins) if I want to separate the lego components from the water because the pumps have to be submerged in water if they are to interact with it. Cylinders, on the other hand, can pump it in or out via the two hoses that are connected to them.. but this also means that if I attach the cylinder to a cog and spin so that I get a repeated up and down motion driving the cylinder, wouldn't I have the water go in and then have the same water put back, essentially canceling out any work the cylinder has done? I would have to use a switch of some kind and attach this to the driving pump mechanism so that water is only interacting with the cylinders during one half of the pumping cycle and so that it only works in one direction. Does that make any sense? Its starting not to make any sense to me either

[nicoga3000]

Man, seeing all these makes me want a Pneumatic setup...Is that the only way to do any of this stuff? And is the Unimog the only set that gives me the parts I'd need?

[88high]

The metal on the inside would most likely not corrode or rust, because it is most likely aluminum. I would use a large pump to get the MAXIMUM airflow, along with several pneumatic airholders.

good luck! I am curious to what you will build

[jmathew]

Great the above give stuffs are quite intresting...

:)

[Crazydance]

Great the above give stuffs are quite intresting...

:)

Google for someone that's builing a PF fire truck with a pump.

His idea was compact and fun to watch!

Edit:

Edited July 31, 2012 by Crazydance