I picked this up for less than $18 bucks, it is a simple kit intended to teach children about "green" energy and if assembled per instructions it has a geared DC motor that will run the pump on 1 AAA cell or if in direct sunlight you can switch to solar power.
The pump ( part) works surprisingly well, in the photo I am just working the rod with my fingers and she lifts water just fine.
I am hopeful to repurpose most of the "extra" parts and perhaps try paint the tank and pump to make it look a "little" less like plastic.
Then re power it with steam or Stirling.
If nothing else the super simple check valves in the pump seem to work well. Not as much fun as vintage steam toy but I want to play with some pump designs and perhaps get my Ertl pump lifting water some day. Just thought I would share another potential toy conversion though not as cool as the Academy pump.
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Interesting to note:
Was messing with the pump some more on kitchen table, it will lift water with just about "any" amount of vertical stroke desired, from less than 1/8 inch up to 1 full inch of vertical stroke.
Even more interesting to me is the short strokes provide really even continuous flow around 3/16 to 1/4 inch strokes near optimum. The long 1 inch stoke gives pulse-stop-pulse water flow.
Looks like 3/16 stroke at around 60 up/down cycles per min would provide really nice even continuous flow. These numbers seem pretty easy to achieve with steam/stirling power.
Also interesting is the piston to bore fit is quite loose with no seal yet it pumps well. Because of the low drag of no seal It feels like a really low power engine may be able to get this to pump with the right flywheel gearing.....to be continued!
Well...I assembled it per instructions, just to see how it goes before I Modify. ....I am not very impressed.
The blue man turning the crank is kind of fun, but it is grossly under powered. A fresh AAA does give little pulses of water but it stalls easily and you must give it a little help to restart. I think it would run well on 3v or 4.5v
It late in the day here and I got no pumping from the solar panel. The instructions do warn that it does require a bright sunny day.
Thought I would post what all the parts look like before I "cut in"
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Looks like a neat idea....poorly executed by the manufacturer.
I am interested in how you plan to modify it.
Hello!...I actually stopped posting about this as it got zero interest and I was sorry I made the post.
However, now that you ask I was going to remove all the "green" parts until it was just the pump and water tank only, then I can go a couple routes, Mount a flywheel with eccentric where the gearbox output is and power the pump off the existing pump arm OR mount my flywheel and eccentric over the top of the pump like a Pericaud pump.
I have a couple Wilesco spoked flywheels in my parts bin but it occurred to me the flywheels value may exceed the entire project value.
I can also make a flywheel to save my nice spoked ones for more lofty projects.
The pump it self works very well....I just wish it was not plastic and a bit more old time style looking...thought of lightly sand blast to give a bit more tooth for paint to stick and try to rusticate that way but it will never be a collectors item...lol
Just had a second thought, I was originally trying to get rid of the blue man "turning" the crank...however...if the Blue man was not highly offensive to you or just wanted an easy conversion, It just occurred to me the crank the blue man turns is an eccentric to make his arms work, the round pulley the hand crank his arms attach to would easily except a o-ring belt or flat belt, so if I left all the kit parts shown and just removed the geared DC motor (2) screws then it is ready to steam power as is!
Might be a kid friendly super simple thing and the kids can put the motor back to play with the solar part later....just an option that would cost zero
Well, the thought of getting it to pump at Zero additional cost was to Tempting!
I grabbed a china stirling that makes decent power and had a belt for generator, the belt is really short but was all I needed for proof of concept!
I have water coming out at nearly 45 degree angle! The blue mans head is blurry as he is Really getting a workout.
This Stirling is really fast no load speed but the pump load makes it run at a Very pleasing pace.
I have a nicer Stirling with smaller output pulley that may run even nicer pace I will try. Sorry about the green tape but until I get a cork lazy Susan It works! I will make a video when I get some 21st century tech back in the North woods.
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I am changing my review on this pump from "not real impressed" to "recommended" if your ok with the looks of it...I have seen them as low as $13 plus shipping.
The reason for my change of heart is it Runs on steam or Sterling just fine bone stock just by leaving the DC motor out, it's surprising just how much less power is needed by removing the DC motor.
This photo is my best "looking" china Stirling running it at a good looking speed, the water surges slightly but is continually flowing.
This engine makes about half the power of the beam stirling, yet with the "powered side" belt is running right on the metal flywheel shaft as a pulley so geared Very low(small diameter) I will give it A-/B+ for low cost and can be run without machine shop tools to modify.
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