Lowcost laminar fountain

My goal is to create a very low cost hobby fountain. I currently have a head that is about 10 bucks or so to make from parts you can find at Lowes or Home Depot. I am currently searching hard for a long pull / push solenoid (at least one inch throw) that I can use in this project. Eventually, I hope to drive three heads off of an arduino board and have the lights synced to music that would come from iTunes or other 1/4 inch jack source.

Here is my latest fountain head:

Great clear water stream you have there
Welcome to the forum...

I did buy solenoid from ebay :

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&item=200233014552

The shipping was fast, and no problem

And the solenoid was perfect !
You actually dont need so "long" pull to break the beam..
The water will bend when you cut it..


I also heard about a solution that use a thin beam of water that shoot directly into the beam to cut it..
How about that ??

I've never used a solenoid before, let alone in a fountain. How are you using it for flow cut off?

I've just used actuators, which are not fast at all.

Hi I`m glad to se you here

I will reply from Youtube here..

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Laminar Flow nozzle ! :-)
COOL!

Yes, I'll join!! I am still looking at the design you sent me. It looks like the electronics will get wet from splashing water?

I am learning to program computer chips to control the solonoid. Do you use computer chips? I am working with MPlab for the PIC chips from the Microchip company:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PIC_microcontroller

http://www.microchip.com/stellent/idcplg?IdcService=SS_GET_PAGE&nodeId=1406&dDocName=en019469&part=

Well dont look so much on my setup
As it was just more a "idea" but I think the idea about using a tilted output will not work..
Becouse maybe it will destroy the laminar out from the bottom and to the top...

To the others: here is the picture





The solenoid would be sealed ofcourse..
The idea here was to use tilted output, to much easyer add light..
But I dont think it would work.. (maybe I try it) ..

And you shoud test out solenoid
Se my other post where I did buy from eBay.. only 5$ each solenoid !
And they are easy to use.. the biggest problem is how to mount them

And to control my light and the cutter, I have a Relay Board, with 16 relay output
My computer will control my setup all day..

This is my relay card:

http://cgi.ebay.com/USB-16-Channel-Relay-Board-Automation-Robotics_W0QQitemZ170305988044QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item170305988044&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72:1205|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318|301:1|293:1|294:50

thanx for reading

Well... I was planning on using the Arduino because it is cheap (around $30 USD), highly programmable, and can easily control the lighting and the cutter.

The Arduino board is highlighted here: http://www.arduino.cc/

I will start with a proto board and then move up to the board that doesn't require the full board.

I wonder if your solenoid is strong enough to push the cutter arm and then back again - are you using two or are you using a spring / rubber band type of setup?

I have setup one solenoid thus far and when the water stream hit the arm, the solenoid wasn't strong enough to pull it back again. I am thinking push/pull might be the way to go.

Hi out there, nice to have you here in the Forum

I made my solenoid by my self. A 2 Way solenoid, covered in safe place from splashing water. A 0.3mm cupper wire, a aluminum tube and a moving iron center. Its not a easy job to make a good cutter, controlling by any Microcontroller is easy, but you need more electronics than just a uC board. You need to add 2 TTL MOSFET and a Diode, to control it. Programming of Atmel chips is easy in basic. I Work with Bascom.
For my whole system i used 3 Mega 8 and 1 mega 88 (PWM RGB). I controll the Pump Power, RGB Lights 3x 3W Luxeon hi Power leds injected in Fiber Cables, a Knocker for the light flash effects traveling the water arch, a Wind meter to shutdown the water when its very windy, a light sensor turns on the light when its getting dark and chage the programm. Everithing is controled by a IR Remote from a old sattelite reciever. I think thats all.




Here are some Pictures of my Cutter solution.






I hope this will help a little.

thanx for sharing ..

As I did mention, I use my "small" solenoid, and that did work out perfect..

I just wish my pump arrive soon so i can continiue on my nozzl..