Water Wheel for Rain Downspout

I've been meaning to build one of these for months so I figured that I would share my successes, failures, and give general instructions as I'm building it, but feel free to make yours differently and shape it to your personality!

• Waterproof wood glue
• Hand saw or electric saw
• Sandpaper
• At least 2 small clamps
• Drill with 4.5 inch hole saw attachment
• A bolt (You choose the size!)
• Drill bit slightly smaller than the bolt
• Drill bit slightly larger than the bolt
• About 2-3 feet of 0.25 in thick, 1.5 in wide piece of wood
• Pen or pencil
• Tape measure
• A medium sized clamp
• 2 square feet of 0.25 inch thick plywood
• Hammer
• A sturdy table or workbench

Now is the time to grab your 2 square foot piece of plywood and your drill equipped with the hole saw. Cut two holes out of the piece of plywood being careful not to push too hard as this can break the wood. You may also want to clamp down the wood so you can get an even cut (I had to redo one of mine since it was lopsided due to not being clamped down). When you are finished, drill a hole that is slightly smaller than the bolt in the center of both circles.

This is probably the most tedious part of the whole process (unless you have an electric saw). In order to make the water wheel move (which is, you know, slightly important) you will need paddles. Grab the long thin board and cut eight 3/4 inch long pieces.

Place the paddles evenly around the outer part of the circle and then glue them down with the wood glue (make sure that the wood glue is waterproof or else it will fall apart when in use). When the glue is COMPLETELY dry place a thick layer of glue around the outer border of the other circle and push the two circles together. Using clamps during the drying process makes a stronger bond between the circles and the paddles.

This step can vary depending on the conditions that your water wheel will be in. Places that get more rain will need longer pegs and a less pointy end while dryer places that get hardly any rain will need a shorter peg with a much more pointy end. The peg that I made was about 8-9 inches long and had a fairly pointed end. The important part is that the hole in it has to be slightly larger than the bolt so that the wheel can spin freely.

Thread the bolt through a peg, then through the wheel, and finally through the other peg (You may need washers between the pegs and the wheel so the wheel doesn't rub on the pegs). CARFULLY tap the pegs into the ground and adjust the downspout to the proper height (I used a piece of leftover wood to elevate the downspout) so that it pours onto the edge of the water wheel.

The most important part of this is to take it slowly and to have fun. Thank you for checking out our very first Instructables project by Warthog Labs!