Water Pump || DIY or Buy 

I noticed that quite a few people are disappointed that I did not improve the 3D printed pump with a metal shaft. So here is a quick explanation why I stopped at that point. The reason is quite simple and is called time. I already spent 60 hours on this project when I got to the point when the shaft broke. That of course includes everything like planning, getting parts, writing a script, doing test, filming,......... Of course I could have tried improving the pump with a metal shaft but due to other problems I noticed that come with such a 3D printed design, I decided that such an option would not be sufficient for my garden and declared buy as the winner. If I would not have done that, then there might have been a successful water flow with the 3D printed pump but then again I would probably not have enough time to produce the next video for my channel. I appreciate all your feedback and I also love to tinker and get things to work. But I still have to think about getting content out regularly because this is my full time job. You can always support me through Patreon if you do not like this concept. So I can pretty much independently decide how much time I want to spend on projects instead of thinking about how to please the RU-vid algorithm. Thanks for understanding.

You should have drilled the plastic rotor axle, to replace it with a metal one. I guess this could have made your pump work a little better.

There's a lot of issues with your diy solution. 1)the axle was thin enough that there was no contact with the bearing. The oscillation of not being held perfectly centered could have contributed to the shaft breaking 2)the long axis of the shaft was printed upright, meaning it could easily shear along the layer lines. Print it sideways so the layers run along the long axis of the shaft 3)petg is one of the most brittle 3d filaments out there. Abs would probably have been a better solution in the first place 4)3d printing the shaft was probably not the best idea in the first place 5)you could add a u groove in one of the sides of the pump enclosure, and lay a thick bead of silicon in it to create an o ring Those are the issues I'm seeing right off the bat. I'm sure there are more issues that led to failure, and I also saw a lot of areas that could be improved, but didn't necessarily lead to failure.

You got so close and just said “eh whatever “ 😂 all you needed was a metal shaft and your gasket would’ve worked and you need to prime the pump but it’d have done the job

I'm watching your channel after a long time. Used to watch it regularly. Great to see you grow so big.

I noticed this in the first instance. I have made my own pumps but without 3d printing. I made small pumps by casting exposy resin and grinding it down. Now all you need to do is screw in proper shaft and add a waterproof bearing. These you could get from old blenders. Yes, the size will be large but you can adjust your shaft to be thick in the middle.

4:59 Your fins are mirrored, that causes a lot of extra stress and resistance to flow.

Did you see the "rocinante" and the drawing of the ship from the expense on the ship ? Nice touch ahah

Should have tried a metal shaft. The rest could be 3d printed

9:16 anyone with a 3d printer saw that one coming since 4:20 such a small cross section of 3d printed material is really weak especially when printed along layer lines

Hadn’t heard of Trinamic. Now I have, checked out their site. Just what I needed! Good sponsor to have.

Great job mr scott you proved that everything is possible by ourselves. I really appreciate your work and dedication.

Why didn't you make a 5mm hole in the rotor and put a M5 bolt to be used as a strong shaft? I think your huge pump could work well! 💪

The vanes on the orange pump curve the wrong way, that would put more strain on the shaft, although the shaft sould be bigger or replaced with metal

Any other "The Expanse" fans caught the reference? :D

Dear Greatscott, Thank you very much for giving us Directions for our DIY projects through your experiments ...

9:26 they probably used the motor shaft instead of a 3d printed one, judging by how close the motor is to the impeller

7:38 *The Expanse* fans? 🚀

Love your videos bud. Been a subscriber for a while now and never miss a video. Keep up the good work.

8:52 „… does not work well with my small balls.” :-D

You could use a long m4 screw with two washers to act as a shaft . It would be more durable

Use a metal shaft for the impeller and it will work perfectly. I have made several 3d printed pumps with no issues. Simply attach the impeller directly to the metal shaft of the motor. I understand that it wasn't worth your time though. Also your pump impeller had blades that are curved in the wrong direction. they need to be curved backwards to the direction of rotation.

I bet that Trinamic are great 'The Expanse' fans :) Lovely print on that chip!!

Great Scott, you are great. Thank you for all your awesome videos. You can always replace the plastic impeller shaft with a metal one.

0:08, yeah, the "winter" in Germany now is incredible!

the sweep angle of the 3d printed vanes is backwards.

Always appreciate your videos, buy vs build. Keep up the good work. Thanks

"I noticed the big tubes did not work well with my small balls (bowls)" Funny :)

That was such a wrong use of teflon tape in the beginning I love it

Nice experiment there. I enjoy your sunday videos every time. A steel shaft for the impeller(fine tuned inner diameter for the shaft) with two 608s in line would improve things. Mach weiter so!!!

Very good video. You have not only printed a pump set but also discussed about its advantages and disadvantages. Some other RU-vidrs are there who just takes credit of making a pump without any actual result.

Fantastic video and I'm glad you tried so hard. Love your videos and keep up the good work. X

Idk why, but i really like water pumps

Dude you need an aquarium ;))) And at 5:09 the pump vanes are backwards bud 6:08 STILL BACKWARDS...!!!!! ;))) If you have the canes in the correct orientation then it might not fight itself and won’t have such stress forces.

Instead of printing the shaft as a cylinder, you can rotate the model in the slicer 90deg and print it so that the layers are parallel to the axis of the shaft. This will add a TONNE of strength compared to your current design. You will have a lot of supports to remove in the end it won't looks as pretty bu it will be hidden anyway😉

Awesome, the same I was trying to get a automatic water supply solution for my garden, which works on three input (humidity/moisture, time and temperature)

Please do the irigation automatization. It would help a lot.

the diameter of the impeller axle shaft, made me react instantly :-) Otherwise it was a nice video

Great video. I have done quite some 3D printing myself, and I saw the weak point from a mile away ... 😀👍

this guy is one serious engineer. he knows his stuff

You need make a second part for upgrade and fix the pump.

Every video he says "Stay Creative" his voice gets up a tone xD

This video just need a second episode. It is so fun.

Wtf?!? I looooove the motor controller board with the IC named Rocinante!! It's the ship from the expanse, but u guys knew that already. It's a must watch show!

second attempt with metal shaft?

00:14 I totally *NEED* that 😋

I have that Chinese exact pump. It's been sitting at the bottom of a water butt for two years. Still working. It switches on when the soil gets dry. I designed a capacitatave sensor thing to activate the pump. It moslty works. I added a float sensor so that it never runs when the water butt was empty. Happy plants.

Amazing pump. Engineering is just like this...try, try, try and try it again until you get the desired results. Congratulations.

Your impeller is wrong. As it is, it tries to draw inverts.

The Expanse :D 7:35

I've made small water pump with junk plastics, metal and dc motor. I've made the fan by cutting and and glueing plastics and metal. The performance is satisfactory for a small pump. The most important thing is I had fun doing it :)

Ahh, look at that Noctua fan on 3D printer! Beautiful! :)

2:43 why do I find this funny

Never seen anyone use Teflon tape on barb fittings before....

I liked it, thx for the comment on the time to put things together.

I designed a similar project a few years ago. I used a submersible aquarium pump which is self-priming with magnetic drive. You need to ensure that not only the flow is good but the "head" or how high the pump can pump the water is also adequate. I had some hanging plants. Interested in seeing the control and measurement part of the design.

Why didn't you try that with other materials? (in the 3D Printer)

3:43 That's what she said...

I love the look on your face as you scowl at the garden out the window.

oh my that pcb with the Rocinante spaceship from The Expanse looks awesome

Nobody: Great Scott: *H O T G L U E*

Next episodes of Greatscott: LEDs - DIY or buy? p-n junctions - DIY or buy? n-type silicon - DIY or buy? silicon crystal - DIY or buy? sand - DIY or buy? 🤣🤣

Nice project. I like it

Muy buenos tus videos...excelente trabajo. Saludos desde Argentina. Me suscribo.

8:52. That's what she said :)

The design you chose is pretty terrible. Also not really comparable at all to the commercial one.

I use flexible filament for seals on outdoor long term timelapse cameras, and they work pretty well

My first time seeing this youtuber & I appreciate his efforts & I have subscribed. I do have a comment for all those who are coming across as critical. His purpose was determining whether it was worth diy or not. So he succeeded in his purpose. Realize that commercially manufactured pumps are (generally) designed by college educated engineers who are experienced in pump design. While I found many of the comments to be beneficial to my own education, it simply wasn't worth the time for him to research and learn all of that in order to accomplish his goal.

I am watching you now for some years and normally enjoy your videos, but this was unfortunately your worst one.

I have long ago predicted that the laminated 3D printing is rather (we have one in the lab.) weak; thank you for proving my foreseeing!

I love this series

Definitely Always Look at the Dimensions!

Lol... Printing the smaller pump with metal axle is a winner... Not a commercial one

Hey dude that was a good effort ! You really are good at putting stuff together. I could use your help on some projects haha

I did a same type with an old vhs tape motor. Its powerful even with 6Volts. I used two soda caps and a lot of hot glue But the wheel was flat. Not rounded

You could use stainless steel shaft attachad to pump fan hole. Also ball bearings should be sandwiched with simmerings on both sides to prevent leaks. Great vid!

Awesome job, dude! 😃 The only thing I can think of is to modify the design to use a metal shaft. Maybe it could work. 😊

I had this same problem. Get an RV style pump and a ballast. Works perfectly with hoses. Much less work than 3D printing. Shuts itself off, runs on 12V. Cheap. Extremely effective.

You can always make parts like the shaft thicker to increase strength. Additionally, there are many other materials you can print with, such as carbon fiber, to get much stronger parts. I would consider magnetically coupling the impeller instead of a direct drive. Also, I would experiment with different blade design to make for more efficient fluid transfer.

Thanks for this interesting video.

lol I like the Expanse reference on the speed controller.

I feel like this boils down to your R&D restrictions: there are numerous solutions that all might help fix the issues with DIY that you found. Perhaps try to use those solutions when you actually get to implementing it in your greenhouse system. Printing in another direction or not with the layered extrusion method might help, or using metal parts for things like the shaft will very likely solve it. Great video even if it was less conclusive than you like to be, time constraints are tough to work with! :)

I think your conclusions are VERY debatable, and I wish you'd admit that more. But all in all, you do great projects and I really enjoy your content. Lastly... You asked my opinion. And you got it :)

Can't wait to see the green house project, I am planning to do that to

Very instructive.

Hi GreatScott, i like your Videos very much. Thank you for sharing your great projekts with us. I'm new in the world of electronics and so i struggle with Projekts to learn more. It would be very helpful if you make a Video like "How to design/create a electronic Projekt in generell". How to choose Components where, when and why to place resistors, coils, transistors, ic's etc. I hope i could explain it right.

I printed one of those small ones and sized it up to fit a small portable vacuum motor any it works great.

When i was younger i built a couple of small water pumps and one thing to say never start with big one. Me and my friend tinkered with mamy designs ,diferent propelers, etc. After that we built one from old drill motor and pvc tube. She had very good flow it was frickin good even at 6 volts. It still needed some tinkering overall. I have it disassembled on my workbench and when the time comes i would definetly improve it.

Amos approves your mechanical skill, Naomi wrote that code.

Amazing videos thanks!!

I'd say, if you want a custom fit and cavitation is not a concern, you can print one. If a person wanted to print that big orange one, they'd need to build a metal bolt plate which is coupled with a chrome or stainless metal shaft to hold the impeller which would then needs to pass through a bearing (double is better) and a mechanical lip seal. Obviously that is time consuming so often buying is better for basic use. One thing not often considered in most pump videos is the difference between a volume pump and pressure pump. If you were to insert a metal shaft into that big plastic impeller, it would ultimately chew out the center, this is simply due to the resistance of water across the given surface area.

Yet again we get projects exactly at the right moment. Logged into RU-vid after closing a dispute with AliExpress over failed delivery of a 12v water pump and voila! We now know how to make one ourselves. Some day in near future I think we need a material science class with regards to 3d printer materials.

I'm also into hydroponics and purchased the little tan pump from Amazon, w/o realizing how small it is. IMO, Shurflow pumps are among the most reliable, but much more expensive (depending upon the price of your time 🤔). I'll try the little pump to circulate HW in a radiant floor heating system for my new camper van build. IMO, the flaw in your 3D printed pump is that you should have used a stainless steel shaft all the way through the impeller with set (aka grub) screws holding them together (similar to your shaft coupling).

That automated greenhouse project that you mention at the beginning of the video sounds really interesting. Please keep us updated on that.

Go for a gear or screw pump, they are self priming. This might be a better option for your garden, as you will not need to fill your pump with water each time you need to water your plants. Gear and screw pumps can also be used to prime a centrifugal pump

For low pressure I use Rule boat bilge pumps, cheap and rock solid. For high pressure I use RV water pumps that will do 55 psi, for things like spray emitters irrigating my lawn.

Those mini pumps that you showed at the end work good and you could probably make half a dozen of them for less than the price of the buy option.

I found that shearing forces are the death of 3dprinted parts but can be easily fixed by desining in a bolt into such axles and the thing will stay in place. So your shaft can be printed with a smaller diameter bolt inside and it will work.

Large pump is worth a revisit BUT using: 1. A stainless steel shaft instead of the plastic one 2. Stainless lock nut on the outside end of the shaft, captive bolt head at the inside 3. Use normal bathroom silicone sealant bead to seal the outside cap 4. Probably MOST important ... Use a sealed bearing AND shaft water seal on the inside between the bearing, the shaft and the housing Great video as usual.

2:53 "and it seems the water can onlky enter this way , and exit that way" well i dont know what you were expecting but the last time i ckecked, centrifugal forces always paint outwards from the center of rotation. I mean its literaly called centrifugal pump. These basically create a more or less stable pressure difference between inlet and outlet. based on rpm. On the other hand there are positive displacemetn pumps that "trap" whatever they are transporting and transport it to the outlet. these have a fixed transport volume that is linear to the rpm. some like gear or scew pumps can work in both ways.