Homemade Soaker Tips
Posted: Sun Sep 10, 2006 5:23 pm
I didn't see an existing thread dealing with the issue...at least, not a stickied one.
A few tips concerning nozzle drilling:
- Use the most powerful drill available, so you can drill the nozzle quickly and thus cleanly
- The best technique to use is a quick drill; send the drill bit straight through and then just stop drilling then. Don't try to rotate the drill bit or move it in and out to make the aperture cleaner; you will only be ensuring that the sides are no longer parallel.
- Use a chisel head or something to remove the "rim" of PVC that builds up when you drill.
- As Croc said, sand each face of the nozzle to further eliminate imperfections that could cause turbulence.
- Create a good selection of about 2-3 different nozzles, starting small and drilling through those until you hit the optimal size.
- If any of those nozzles was drilled poorly, then feel free to drill through it to create the largest nozzle so far until the set is good overall.
- If you want a shotgun nozzle, then don't go and drill multiple tiny pinhole apertures into an endcap. Instead, just take a small or medium-sized drill bit and swivel it as you drill to make a conical shape for each face. This will ensure thorough coverage without wasting water. Also, if individual holes aren't drilled parallel, then the streams will look bad.
- When drilling a shotgun nozzle, don't swivel or drill multiple holes (not recommended) in only one plane as in the Wookiee Bowcaster; if you do that, the direction of spread will change depending on how much you screw in the nozzle.
A few tips concerning nozzle drilling:
- Use the most powerful drill available, so you can drill the nozzle quickly and thus cleanly
- The best technique to use is a quick drill; send the drill bit straight through and then just stop drilling then. Don't try to rotate the drill bit or move it in and out to make the aperture cleaner; you will only be ensuring that the sides are no longer parallel.
- Use a chisel head or something to remove the "rim" of PVC that builds up when you drill.
- As Croc said, sand each face of the nozzle to further eliminate imperfections that could cause turbulence.
- Create a good selection of about 2-3 different nozzles, starting small and drilling through those until you hit the optimal size.
- If any of those nozzles was drilled poorly, then feel free to drill through it to create the largest nozzle so far until the set is good overall.
- If you want a shotgun nozzle, then don't go and drill multiple tiny pinhole apertures into an endcap. Instead, just take a small or medium-sized drill bit and swivel it as you drill to make a conical shape for each face. This will ensure thorough coverage without wasting water. Also, if individual holes aren't drilled parallel, then the streams will look bad.
- When drilling a shotgun nozzle, don't swivel or drill multiple holes (not recommended) in only one plane as in the Wookiee Bowcaster; if you do that, the direction of spread will change depending on how much you screw in the nozzle.