DIY Water Pump.

by Victor805 in Outside > Water

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DIY Water Pump.

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In this instructable I'll be making a centrifugal water pump.
The materials I used to build it can vary in shape and size, but the idea remains the same.

The materials I used to make it are:

  • 3v DC motor, this is from a VHS player.
  • Plastic canister (the motor must fit inside)
  • Impeller (made from a plastic wheel)
  • Epoxy or similar glue.
  • Screwable nozzles
  • Electrical wire.
  • 0.5mm plastic sheet

The tools you'll need are:

  • A dremel, drill or any other tool capable of doing a hole in the plastic

Assuming you don't have any of the materials mentioned above, they shouldn't cost you more than $5.

The Impeller

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I started by making the impeller for the motor, I had to search in my huge "junk box" for something similar and I found some wheels that had the structure I was looking for inside of them.

I chose the big one and carefully with my dremel I removed all the excess of plastic (I wish I had a 3d printer, sigh...).

The hole its a bit big but I managed to fix it putting shrink tube on the shaft and then pressing the piece in.

Fitting the Motor Into the Canister.

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First we need to cover all the holes of the motor, we don't want the epoxy to get in an block it.

Once that's done, we weld the cables, a thick and round cable is recommended because that will make it easier to seal the power hole.

Fitting the Motor Into the Canister

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When the motor is sealed and a hole to pass the wires has been made, put a generous amount of epoxy at the bottom, and slide the cables through the hole and then the motor, you might want to add a spacer under it and at the sides to keep the motor centered.

Let it dry and apply more epoxy to the hole if necessary.

IMPORTANT: Some motors come with the shaft exposed through the other side, I had to cut a bit of it and put some tape to avoid the epoxy touching it, you can solve this problem using a washer as an spacer but it's a bit risky.

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Next we keep adding epoxy, in my case my motor wasn't big enough to fit the hole perfectly so I put a generous amount of epoxy at the sides to keep it firmly in place.

Next comes the upper part, we cut a plastic washer of the right size to cover only the area around the shaft, this is made to make sure the epoxy is protected against chemicals and to add a more resistant surface.

Once the epoxy is dry I removed the mess I had caused with a sharp knife.

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This is it, once the motor is tightly placed, make two holes for the in-out nozzles and screw them, I recommend making the holes slightly smaller and heating the nozzles a bit so they leave a threaded hole.

If you don't have too much experience you can try with an empty canister first and then add the motor just in case you make a bigger hole and you have to perform a dirty fix or lose it all.

This pump works quite nicely, it is able to send water about 50cm above itself.