Solar Powered Yankees Baseball Fountain
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Next up is a Yankees Baseball themed birdbath with a solar powered water pump. This project is a mix of eco/solar design, engineering, found art, birds, and a kick-ass baseball team.
The Yankees stadium facade is being repeated around to form a pentagon for the base. I used Photoshop to make a mockup of the base and then drew it out on graph paper to find the dimensions for buying the metal.
The Baseball bats will stick out of each corner of the pentagon supporting the dish. This is where some serious engineering will come into play to make them secure enough to support the weight of the water filled dish.
The dish I found in a dumpster! Who would throw that out?!? The exterior I plan to paint like a section of a baseball, white with red laces, and I plan to incorporate a baseball theme (like the field/diamond) into the interior.
The little solar panel and pump I got on ebay. If it doesn't have the umph to push water up in the air with the grandness of the rest of the fountain, or the team it represents, I will either add more of them or replace it with a bigger one.
Labels: Solar Powered Yankees Baseball Themed Bird Bath Water Fountain
Finito
Monday, April 28, 2008
76 Hours of Labor and over $1500 in parts and it works great!
Labels: Diesel Scout, WVO conversion
Finishing Touches
The Scout's Nissan SD 33T Engine actually has a trickle of a fuel return and it was impossible to get an accurate reading of the fuel's temperature. The next best spot to put the sensor is on the injector nozzle. The nozzles get hot and heat up the fuel before it is sprayed. To do this I cut a FPT brass tee's straight section in half, screwed the sensor into the tee until it was the lowest part of the open side, and hose clamped it to an injector nozzle.
The wiring guy installed the gauges and switches inside the Scout. There are three Cyberdyne LED gauges (fuel level, temp, and vacuum), a two way pull out switch for the return/loop and switching to veggie, and then an on/off switch for turning on the injector heaters. With the heaters off the nozzles are 180+ degrees and with the heater on they get to 200+ degrees.
Labels: Cyberdyne, Diesel Scout, Temp Sensor/Gauge, WVO conversion
Plumbing
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
I installed the tank and connected all the hoses. Where you see that brass hex-nut is the hose-in-hose arrangement. Most of the tanks weight is supported by 7/16 bolts, the tabs on the side keep it from shifting and were riveted in with SS pop rivets. I put a slit down the middle of some pex tubing and installed it around the parking brake line so that it wouldn't rub on the tank.
Labels: Diesel Scout, Hose-In-Hose, Tank, WVO conversion
Filler Neck
I edited the Filler Neck from the last time it was photoed. I abbreviated the metal and added some hose going to a 90 degree elbow because the original configuration bottomed out on the wheel well. With the rubber hose it could make the bend. It's somewhat intimidating cutting a hole into the exterior of a vehicle on a tough-to-repair rounded section of metal with old unmatchable flat paint. Glad that's done!
Labels: Diesel Scout, Filler Neck, WVO conversion
Tank, Good to Go
All of the accessories for the tank are attached to one plate of steel that gets screwed into the tank. I got some interior and exterior tank sealing paint from summit to fill in any holes and to give the tank a tough exterior. The exterior paint is "known to cause cancer in the state of California." Now it's known to cause cancer in Connecticut, and whatever state you might be reading this blog, for that matter. The interior paint is kinda gummy stuff and works great.
So that the welding didn't warp the plate like crazy, I tacked the pieces in and then filled in the rest with 5min epoxy. The Yellow line is the heater, it's a stainless steel gas line with a corrosion proof coating.
Anything else of interest from these photos? I would love some feedback.
Labels: Diesel Scout, Tank, WVO conversion
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