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story |
a few weeks
back sister jan gave me a $50 dollar home depot card for helping
her move. now as it is my custom, i always take gifts like that
and do something special with them rather than just spend it all
on mundane things like light bulbs, caulk and screws. so, being
in need of something that would water my backyard i hit the sprinkler
aisle in search of the coolest sprinkler they had. what i found
was a 4ft tall eiffel tower lookin thing for $54 dollars. i could
see it in my head... 20 years from now i'd have my arm around
little sis and point to the sprinkler in the backyard and say
"jan, you paid for all but 4 dollars of that thing."
it was perfect. however, somewhere between that sprinkler aisle
and the cash register one has to pass the plumbing aisle. now
while there was no doubt that the box under my right arm contained
the biggest baddest sprinkler i had ever seen, seeing all those
pipes and valves got me thinking... i bet i could make one of
these that would blow away any production level sprinkler ever
made. just like that, this edition of "incredible creations"
was born. |
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| the
construction |
| at
the heart of the M.O.A.S. is the server bracket. it
is made of 1/4 inch steel and weighs about 6 lbs. seeing
how everything is attached to bracket as some point,
i decided to work on it first. |
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holes had to be drilled and the u-bolts inserted before
assembly of the pipeline could take place. |
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once the holes were drilled, the u-bolts were inserted
and finger tightened. the smaller u-bolts are to hold
the axle tight while the larger ones hold the water
pipe upright. |
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| next
i cut the 1/2 inch steel axle shaft down to the desired
length and drilled holes 3 inches from the ends big
enough to hold these cotter pins. |
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| to
install the wheels i put on some 1/2" caps, slid
on some washers, put the tire on, then locked it into
place with the cotter pin. |
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ends of the pins were cut off with a dremmel grinder...
in the interest
of safety you know. |
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| after
that, the axle was tightened down and i could start
on the pipeline assembly. |
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| i
was moments away from being able to put my incredible
sprinkler to the test. |
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i liked this picture because of all the
sparks. |
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| a
proud inventor posing with his creation |
an
overhead shot... altitude 6'8" |
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| after
4 long days and several trips to 3 different hardware
stores, the assembly process was complete. so i hooked
up a hose, assembled a crowd and turned on the water. |
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| what
followed could be seen from space. a 120 foot blast
able to reach even the most parched corners of the back
40. |
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an amazed crowd looks on |
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for the next hour or so i just gazed in awe of what
i had created. this was clearly the most over the top
sprinkler ever assembled. however, the mood became more
somber upon my realization that the frog
ramp may no longer be the most incredible creation
ever. |
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| video |
sprinkler
in action |
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my
victory dance |
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| wrap-up |
| all
in all i spent $47 dollars on this thing (excluding
tires... we are not going to talk about the 10"
inflatable tires with grease packed ball bearings) which
gives me 3 bucks left over to spend on those mundane
light bulbs, screws and caulk i was talking about. however,
i am thinking about spending the remainder on a can
of krylon paint and giving this tower of hydration a
professional finish that is bound to catch the eye of
some wealthy sprinkler venture capitalist. (there are
bound to be more of those than there are frog ramp venture
capitalist anyway... right?) |
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- 6/7/2007 2:03:55 PM