Handheld car wash 10 steps with pictures - instructables

Handheld Automotive Wash.

About: Robb was as soon as an Artist-in-Residence at Autodesk’s Pier 9. He went to Carnegie Mellon to check Artwork. He principally does tangible artifacts which might be usually advanced. He could be reached at www.robb.cc Extra About Robb »

I constructed a fully-featured backpack-mounted highly effective motorized answer to your soiled automotive issues.

Bored with washing your automotive whereas tethered to the backyard hose?

Did you get pleasure from watching Ghostbusters? Do you’ve an previous Scuba tank laying round?

Considered one of my greatest pet peeves is having a unclean automotive, there’s nothing worse than exhibiting as much as a date or a gathering trying like a slob. Final week, my automotive was tremendous soiled and that i needed to do one thing. I had this previous scuba tank and I had a loopy concept; to make a proton-pack model moveable automotive washing equipment.

I used two scuba tanks, plumbing bits, air blower, a water cannon, a water-proof energy drill, 8 mops and another odds and ends.

I constructed a 4 stage backpack-gun system for cleansing vehicles.

Soapy water gun Excessive-speed microfibre spinning flappy hyper brush water rinse gun Air water removing.

Step 1: Plan and Design.

My first step was to sit down down with a pencil and take into consideration what a automotive wash wants.

Cleaning soap, water, scrubbing, and drying appear to be the core tenants of automotive washing.

I discovered a Cleaning soap Water Cannon on Amazon, which took care of the cleaning soap and obtained me began on the design. It strongly jogged my memory of a firehose or the ghost catching weapons in Ghostbusters.

I knew that it will want a provide of pressurized water, so I began eager about methods to have moveable water stress. Since water itself can’t be compressed, water tanks should all the time have a propellent of some sort. Some use bladders or sprung pistons, however the majority use a gasoline like air.

I made a decision to go along with a easy air/water tank that makes use of air stress to push the water out on the backside of the tank.

This is similar manner aerosol cans work, however they’ve a brief tube inside to make sure the liquid and never the propellant gasoline is launched when the button is pressed.

I knew I needed a spinning brush and {that a} drill could be a great way to spin it, nevertheless it took plenty of trial and error to make the comb and get it to spin easily. At this stage, I had no concept how I used to be going to connect all of it collectively. I had a sense it will work out, however I knew it was hopeless to plan with out the precise objects in my fingers.

Step 2: Discovering Your Elements.

The Drill.

Security was a priority. Though the voltage is low, water and electrical energy are identified for his or her unhealthy relationship. Fortunately, the web offered me with an unimaginable Waterproof 18V Drill . It had greater than sufficient torque for the applying and I knew I would not get shocked. It is not low cost, however it’s a improbable drill for all types of makes use of.

The Mops.

It took me a little bit of procuring to search out mops appropriate for constructing the HyperBrush. I attempted wool felt, artificial felt, cotton rope, a poly mop, and ultimately settled on this Microfiber Material Mop Refill . I used 8 of them. I purchased a Cob Internet Duster for cleansing my rims and a broomstick to mount all of the brushes on.

The Cylinder.

I had a decommissioned dive tank laying round. it was too previous to make use of for all times supporting dives, so I made a decision to offer it a brand new life as a water tank. These can in all probability be discovered at dive outlets or storage gross sales. A model new tank would work as properly, however they price about $200 USD.

The Air Blower.

With a purpose to dry the small print of the automotive shortly, I needed a strong air blower. Seeing as there will likely be compressed air within the tank, I went with a line-fed Whisper Jet Air Gun . It’s tremendous sturdy, all metallic, and quiet.

{Hardware}.

I used a 14" size of perforated unistrut, just a few unistrut particular fittings, plenty of plumbing bits, and a few nuts and bolts. I will get into the specifics later.

Uniform.

Don’t forget your Air Power Fashion Army Flightsuit Coveralls . They’re to your security.

Step 3: Put together HyperBrush Shaft.

This is without doubt one of the trickiest components, and I made some unhealthy choices.

In hindsight, I want i had simply used a 3/8" metallic rod that would match instantly into the drill. Utilizing the mop pole made it tremendous straightforward to mount the cob internet duster, however tremendous troublesome to mount to the precise drill.

What I Really did:

Screw the cob internet duster onto the mop pole Lay the pole on prime of all of the mops Guestimate the specified legnth Mark the pole Take the cob internet duster off the pole Reduce the pole on the chop noticed Rigorously mark the precise heart of the rod finish with a middle finder Gently punch the middle Discover a lengthy(2-3") spherical drill/driver little bit of some sort(I used a 3" Phillips driver) Measure the diameter of the bit Discover a drill bit barely smaller than the bit (greater than comfortable) Drill a 2" deep gap down the size of the pole Hammer the bit into the pole.

Now you’ve a particularly lengthy drill-compatible spinning wood rod with a brush on the tip!

This labored for me, however seemingly depends upon how good your mop pole is.

Step 4: Destroy 8 Mops.

This can be a enjoyable step. You begin with 8 mops and you find yourself with an superior automotive washing hyperbrush.

Get mops Drill your rivets Discard all of the plastic bits Gently wrap ziptie spherical heart, throughout the present blue string Reduce Blue string Tighten zip tie barely Thread mop round hyper brush pole Tighten ziptie Return to step 1. till you haven’t any mops left.

Hyper brush is sort of full!

Step 5: Constructing the Arm Brace.

This factor is sort of heavy.

As quickly as I completed the HyperBrush and examined it with the drill I spotted my wrist was not sturdy sufficient to single handedly wield an influence drill with a protracted spinning soaking moist brush.

I toyed with some concepts and landed on a each a two handed system and a forearm brace to take a few of the weigh off my hand.

I based mostly the brace on a bit of Uni-Strut channel. Uni-strut is a really robust and low cost erector-set like system of securing heavy issues. It’s usually used to maintain electrical conduit, plumbing, and AC gear in its correct place. It’s bought within the electrical isle of your native big-box dwelling enchancment retailer. Along with being a really inflexible perforated metal beam, it has a lipped channel that accommodates a bunch of equipment for holding pipes and bolts of various sizes. Listed here are another issues it’s used for.

I had not but discovered my plan for mounting the water/cleaning soap cannon or the air blower, however I knew there could be some method to mount to the versatile strut.

Mounting the brace to the drill took some trial an error. Fortunately, the drill I used had a facet deal with for additional management with an uncovered bolt gap. I used to be capable of merely take aside the deal with and put it again collectively in a manner that it captured the strut. For the secondary connection level I used hose clamps to carry the strut tight towards the physique of the drill.

Hose clamps are one among my favourite fasteners. They’re terribly robust, they love irregular shapes, and they are often reused infinitely.

Step 6: Carving the J-shaped Arm Cradle.

I discovered a pleasant Oak scrap in our bin, so I used it for the J-shaped arm hook.

You’ll need a lag bolt appropriate for the wooden form you find yourself with. A lag bolt is a really robust kind of wooden screw that usually requires plenty of pre-drilling.

Tough out your j-shape with a bandsaw, jigsaw, coping noticed, or hacksaw Spherical the sides with an influence sander or a file Use a Spherical Over 1/2-Inch Radius Router Bit to spherical all of the remaining corners Hand sand all the factor with growing grits of sandpaper End with paste wax or urethane Drill a pilot gap within the straight a part of the J, sized to your lag bolt Connect the J-shaped arm cradle to the brace with a lag bolt.

Now you’ve a pleasant clean hook to assist help your tremendous heavy gun.

Step 7: Assembling the Gun.

That is the magic of Uni-Strut.

You possibly can simply mount issues to it, wherever alongside it, with out drilling any holes. Should you make a mistake, you possibly can simply transfer it. Metal Ok’nex, type of.

Our blow gun has a hook on prime that completely accepts a 1/2" bolt. It was mounted to the channel with a particular 1/2" Unistrut nut.

Our Water/Cleaning soap cannon had no holes, however a pleasant spherical physique in entrance. It’s mounted with a clamp that’s designed to safe spherical electrical conduit. I rigorously drilled a gap within the cannon for a 2" inch 1/4"-20 screw on the rear of the cannon to maintain it steady.

There may be some meeting footage in the primary video, test it out!

Step 8: Prepping the Water/air Tank.

I had just a few concerns once I was determining a tank answer. I needed a single tank with water and air, the place the air may very well be used as each a propellant for the water and to provide the air gun to assist dry the automotive.

With a purpose to present garden-hose stage pressures, I wanted a tank that would maintain pressures of 120 psi, placing any purpose-built backpack sprayers out of the query. I thought of utilizing a water-type fireplace extinguisher which is already similar to what I needed, however I’d have had restricted modification choices as a result of skinny partitions. I had a decommissioned scuba tank laying round, and realized it was excellent. It comes with a again pack, it’s designed to hold immense pressures, and its thick partitions enable for me to drill and faucet pipe threads wherever.

The tank comes with a single specialised valve on prime that I did not need to trouble with. I opened the valve all the way in which to double verify that the tank was empty earlier than I started any work. It in all probability goes with out saying that drilling a gap in a full tank of a compressed gasoline just isn’t a good suggestion.

I added a multitude of options to this tank.

Strain gauge Air Regulator Air Filling Nipple Backyard Hose Spigot A sight glass for figuring out water stage, made out of a bit of vinyl hose working down the facet.

Its plenty of work, nevertheless it finally ends up trying nice.

The tank is to be stuffed half manner with water then pressurized with 120 psi of air from a motorcycle pump, air compressor, or an actual scuba tank. The air presses the water down permitting it to be disbursed at excessive stress from the spigot mounted on the underside of the tank.

Tapping.

What’s tapping you ask? Tapping is the method of forming or slicing threads onto the within of a gap. The instrument is known as a faucet. Tapped holes are often used for bolts and screws, however particular Pipe Faucets exist for making manifolds and automotive wash weapons, apparently. Tapping is a pleasure and actually could be the distinction between a kluge and a very nice object. See my Alphaclamps Instructable for some good tapping motion for a threaded rod. To make use of a faucet, you first drill a gap of a measurement specific to the faucet you’ll be utilizing. All of our plumbing bits are ¼"-18 NPT, a quite common small measurement of Nationwide Pipe Thread and the scale practically all the time used for compressed air. The outlet we should drill has a diameter of seven/16"(0.438"in. or 11.11mm), which is far bigger than ¼". It’s because pipe is sized based mostly on the inner diameter of the pipe, and never the scale of the particular becoming. Tapping is considerably troublesome bodily and requires finesse if you do not need your faucet to snap or your threads to be uneven. You will need to maintain the faucet very co-axial with the drileld gap and to not go in at an angle. Your seal depends upon the standard of the threads.

Step 9: Connect Bucket to Maintain HyperBrush.

You hyperbrush is lengthy and heavy.

A 5 gallon Bucket is ideal for this. I drilled some holed within the bucket backside with a spade bit to permit water to empty then drilled a ¼"gap in each the bucket and the scuba tank holder. I used a ¼"-20 Button-head socket screw and a nylon lock nut to safe them collectively.

Step 10: Fill Your Tank and Wash Your Automotive!

To arrange the system:

Get flight go well with and rain boots on Make sure the tank is drained of air stress Fill scuba tank half manner with water by way of the spigot with air bleed valve open Pressurize tank to ~100 PSI with air utilizing an air supply, akin to a motorcycle pump, air compressor, or one other air tank Fill water-cannon cleaning soap cup together with your favourite automotive washing cleaning soap Connect all hoses to gun Have a good friend assist you to get the 60 lb tank onto your again Choose up gun Put the HyperBrush within the quiver.

You at the moment are prepared for a automotive washing expertise not like any you’ve ever had.

If an image speaks a thousand phrases, a and a video accommodates a thousand photos, I can save time by reffering you to the video on the highest of the ‘ible. Who has time to learn one million phrases?