My question is how to create a hanging drip bottle that I can hang above my stone cutting station. I want to control the water drip speed down my grinding area if possible. I can use a small clamp for that. I am not sure what type of liquid container to use to hold the volume if water and what type of valve to purchase and what cement to use. To permanently attach it to the water container and completely seal it so it won’t leak.
I know I can experiment with this project, however I have ask previous questions on this forum and everyone has been so helpful and useful. I felt this forum was a perfect place to ask this question? I know this has been done numerous times before and very inexpensively compared to purchasing a system out on the market.
I want thank for their help, ideas and suggestions…
Hello Larry,
You want to create a drip bottle for your stone cutting station. I’m not a lapidary, so can’t offer from my experience. However, if you know a veterinary, nurse or anyone else who deals with interveneous delivery (ie. an IV), ask for the tubing from a saline drip. Explain what you will use it for and I’ll bet you will be gifted one - or as many as you want. As the IV units are disposable, you are saving it from the trash. You will have to adapt a fitting to connect the tubing to your bottle, but the clamp on the tubing adjusts to control flow. I have used the tubing to transfer wine to bottles, to create a circular knitting needle, and to tie stuff up.
Check it out, Judy in Kansas where it’s a beautiful sunrise today, with temps predicted to drop and a front will bring in snow.
Judy - why couldn’t you use the bag from the saline drip as a water source? I don’t know how to fill it, but hanging the bag would provide a nice gravity feed obviating the need for a pump.
Judy H from Colorado where it’s dumping the white stuff today.
If the bag could be filled it certainly would serve as a water reservoir. Once in hand a person could probably jury rig it. I’ve just used the tubing- didn’t need the bag.
I have a 1gallon bucket from the hardware store suspended above my setup. I drilled a hole in the bottom to accommodate a rubber grommet that I silicone in place. Then I got a barbed tubing hardware that goes through the grommet, also siliconed in place. To that I attached clear 1/4” flexible tubing with a hose clamp. I use a 1/4” inline needle valve for a swamp cooler, they come with compression fittings for 1/4” copper tubing, I put in a few inches on each side and hose clamp my clear tubing to it. Very low tech I have been using this set up for 15+ years. This all would cost under $10, easy to refill the bucket with a jug.
Judy, lots of white fluffy stuff this morning! image|375x500
I have a dry shop. Luckily I have a divider with a shelf on top 2X8”. I have a 5gal. bucket with 1/4” brass fittings in a hole that I drilled in the bucket sitting on top and a hose going to the valve manifold on my ancient Star Diamond. Works great I fill it with 1 gal. Juice jugs. Works great.
The lapidary studio where I learned used this setup as well. The machinery would run pretty solidly for 3 hours at a time as students would pop from station to station etc. it was a sweet setup.
do not remember where saw it, but i use a cheap plastic pump up sprayer, I cut the sprayer nozzel off and replumbed with a shut off valve and drip nozzle for lapidary use
