Cutter vs Solenoid Valve

Hello all,

I have been building laminar jets for a few years after running across one of the early "Wet Design" patents (I am a patent searcher). I am about to build a few to put around a swimming pool and I would like to find the best way to control the start/stop effect. I have seen several posts (liteglow) concerning the use of cutters to create the stutter effect on the stream. Would a fast-acting solenoid valve at the inlet to the nozzle canister create the same effect? It seems with the cutter there is a constant steam of water that is either streaming to the receiving pond or being diverted by the cutter and draining back all around the canister. I would like to mount the nozzles into the deck surrounding the pool so I don't want water that is diverted by the cutter making a mess.

Does anyone have any experience with solenoid valves controlling flow to each nozzle?

Thanks,

Cal

Yes, a solenoid works just fine. I started out with a solenoid, but then moved to a stepper because of the amount of noise that the solenoid injects into the system. It's just with that hard stop the stream gets a bit muddled.

As far as the water splashing everywhere you will need to contain the water when it is cut somehow, or you will have water everywhere.