Restoring Grandpa's National Walking Sprinkler

I recently did some spring cleaning in my parents shed. I found what turned out to be my grandfathers walking sprinkler from the 1950's On the bottom of the sprinkler there was a nylon elbow where the garden hose used to attach that was broken off. I did some research and found out that the company was now out of business, and the part missing was no longer available. If I had a 3d printer or access to one this would have been a great opportunity to 3d print a replacement part. I do however have access to a welder, and a scrap bin full of "good stuff" So I did some digging and came up with some parts I could make work to replicate the part that I needed for the garden hose to attach to.

Supplies

Aero Kroil Penetrate

Rust-Oleum Rust Converter Spray paint

Krylon Farm and Implement Paint Oliver Green and Massey Ferguson Grey

1 sheet of gasket material

Scrap of garden hose

Female Garden hose replacement end

Hose Clamp

Antisieze compound

Tools

Assorted screwdrivers

Wrenches

Plyers

Hammer

Sandpaper

Wire brush

Pre-treatement AKA Penetrating oil

The first step of any restoration project is pre-treatment. I like to soak any fasteners, points of rotation, or anything that moves in a quality penetrating oil. Personally I like to use Aero Kroil, however liquid wrench, WD-40, or anything of that type will usually work. Generally I will do this a few times before I begin taking things apart. Just a quick spray, you don't have to go crazy, then give it time to do its job. Sometimes it also helps to apply a little pressure with a wrench or screwdriver, and give a very light tap with a hammer to see what moves and what will not.

Photos

Photos don't cost anything these days, so take pics of everything, you can always delete them later. Also always remember to photograph as you go, so you have pics things unseen from the outside.

I then begin disassembly of the sprinkler. As I disassembled the sprinkler, . The fifth picture show the what the broken/missing part should look like. Upon doing some research at home and online, my father tells me that the old nylon part had broke many years ago, and he could not get a replacement. I looked online and found that National Walking Sprinkler has gone out of business and parts are not available, but they had pics of some of the parts. This would have been a outstanding time to have a 3D printer and use Fusion 360 to draw a part, however, I don't have, or have access to a 3d printer, but I do have access to a welder. So I took some measurements dug thru the scrap bin of "good stuff" and found some parts that would work. Its not pretty, but gets the job done. (pic 6).

Because many of the parts were rough cast iron, and I could not get all of the rust out of the nooks and crannies of the part. I used Rust-Oleum Rust reformer as the prime coat for the parts. The rust reformer converts the any rust to a paintable surface and will and slow or stop the rust that could not be removed from spreading. I then painted each part with 4-5 light coats of Krylon farm and implement paint (this paint is very thin). I chose the colors based on the original paint on the sprinkler. Remember several light coats of spray paint are better than 1 heavy coat of paint.

To highlight the lettering on the rear wheels, I sprayed some yellow paint on a piece of thick paper. Then used a dauber to pick up some of the yellow paint and then daubbed it on to the wheels. The yellow paint stayed on the high spots, highlighting the lettering on the wheels.

After the paint had a few days to dry and harden. I began to reassemble the sprinkler, taking time to review my disassembly photos. Here I used a bit of anti-sieze compound on the bolts, to prevent them from locking or rusting together in the future. I then used a couple punches to cut out a new gasket for the bottom of the sprinkler from the gasket sheeting. and finished assembly of the sprinkler

I took the sprinkler outside to my yard and hooked it up. I began to spin and crawling across the yard. I had to make a few minor adjustments to the wheel to get the timing correct for the sprinkler to walk correctly. It now looks good and should last for several more decades.