Two Bar Vertical Lift, Water Feature.

"Two Bar Vertical Lift, Water Feature" is an extension of my two bar vertical lift mechanism.

The two bar lift mechanism is actually rotated clockwise by 22.5 degrees in this model to allow a bucket to lift water from a reservoir and deposit it in an accumulator. The accumulator has a small nozzle allowing the water to exit onto a water wheel.

Designed using Autodesk Fusion 360, sliced using Ultimaker Cura 4.12.1, and 3D printed in PLA on Ultimaker S5s and an Ultimaker 3e.

Soldering Iron and Solder.

I acquired the following parts:

1. One 6vdc 50rpm gear motor.
2. One 4 cell AAA battery box with switch.

I 3D printed the following parts at .15mm layer height, 20% infill and no support:

1. One "Accumulator.stl".
2. One "Arm 1 and Gear (16t 2m), Herringbone.stl".
3. One "Arm 2 and Gear (8t 2m), Herringbone.stl".
4. One "Axle (M8 by 8.4mm).stl".
5. One "Axle (M8 by 16.8mm).stl".
6. One "Base.stl".
7. Two "Bolt (M8 by 8mm).stl".
8. One "Bolt (M8 by 38mm).stl".
9. One "Bucket.stl".
10. One "Gear (8t 2m), Herringbone.stl".
11. One "Gear (8t 2m), Motor, Herringbone.stl".
12. One "Gear (16t 2m), Herringbone.stl".
13. One "Motor Mount.stl".
14. One "Reservoir.stl".
15. One "Retainer (Gear (16t 2m), Herringbone).stl".
16. Water Wheel Axle.stl".
17. Water Wheel Mount.stl".
18. Water Wheel.stl".

This mechanism is a high precision print and assembly using at times very small precision 3D printed parts in confined spaces with highly precise alignment. Prior to assembly, I test fitted and trimmed, filed, drilled, sanded, etc. all parts as necessary for smooth movement of moving surfaces, and tight fit for non moving surfaces. Depending on your slicer, printer, printer settings and the colors you chose, more or less trimming, filing, drilling and/or sanding may be required to successfully recreate this model. I carefully filed all edges that contacted the build plate to make absolutely certain that all build plate "ooze" is removed and that all edges are smooth using small jewelers files and plenty of patience.

This mechanism also uses threaded assembly, so I used a tap and die set (M8 by 1.25) as required for thread cleaning.

To assemble the lift bucket, I performed the following steps:

1. With "Arm 1 and Gear (16t 2m), Herringbone.stl" and "Gear (8t 2m) Herringbone.stl" meshed as shown, I slid both onto "Base.stl".
2. Positioned "Gear (16t 2m) Herringbone.stl" onto the base assembly hexagonal mount with one tooth pointing straight up as shown.
3. Secured the gears onto the base using "Retainer (Gear (16t 2m), Herringbone).stl". I tightened the retainer such that arm1 would not wobble but rotated with ease.
4. Attached "Gear (8t 2m) Herringbone.stl" to arm 1 using "Axle (M8 by 8.4mm).stl" making certain it was mounted one tooth clockwise (22.5 degrees) from the 16t 2m herringbone gear vertical pointing tooth.
5. Attached "Arm 2 and Gear (8t 2m), Herringbone.stl" to arm 1 using "Axle (M8 by 16.8).stl making certain it was in line with arm 1.
6. Secured "Bucket.stl" to arm 2 using "Bolt (M8 by 38mm).stl".

To add the accumulator and water wheel the the mechanism, I performed the following steps:

1. Attached "Accumulator.stl" to the base assembly using one "Bolt (M8 by 8mm).stl".
2. Threaded "Water Wheel Mount.stl" into the base assembly.
3. Attached "Water Wheel.stl" to the water wheel mount using "Water Wheel Axle.stl" making certain the water wheel rotated with ease.

For final assembly, I performed the following steps:

1. Soldered the battery box wires to the gear motor such that the gear motor rotated clockwise when viewed from the gear motor shaft end of the motor, then pressed the gear motor into "Motor Mount.stl".
2. Pressed the gear motor shaft into the motor herringbone gear, aligned the motor mount hole with the threaded hole in the base assembly, then secured the motor mount to the base assembly using on "Bolt (M8 by 8mm).stl".
3. Pressed the base assembly into the mounting hole in "Reservoir.stl".
4. Filled the reservoir with water.

With final assembly complete, both the accumulator and bucket angles can be fine tuned to optimize the water flow.

And that is how I 3D printed and assembled "Two Bar Vertical Lift, Water Feature".

I hope you enjoyed it!