Hobbies And Interests
Things You'll Need
Instructions
Make a base for your tipping bucket water gauge by mounting an approximate 10-inch length of 1-inch by 1-inch wood on a flat piece of wood. Stand it in the middle of about a 10-inch square of flat wood so it stands out to form an upright. Screw the two pieces of wood together.
Drill through the upright piece of wood about one third of the way up it from the base. Now drill through the middle of another section of wood that is about 8 inches long to form a see-saw. Push a bolt through the hole in the see-saw and mount it onto the upright, with a washer placed in between. Add a nut to the bolt, but do not over-tighten the fulcrum. Ensure the see-saw can tip freely on either side.
Glue a small plastic vessel to the right side of the see-saw to act as the tipping bucket. The vessel should be flat enough so that it will drain completely when the see-saw tips, and ideally have a spout to aid this. However, it should be large enough to hold at least 5 fluid oz. of water without spilling any. A small food container makes a good bucket. Glue it right at the end of see-saw.
Make a counterbalance at the other end of the see-saw. Glue some wood on the left side of the see-saw so that it lies tipped to the left side when the bucket is empty. Now pour 5 fluid oz. of water into the bucket and test that the see-saw tips all the way to the right when just this amount of water reaches the bucket. You can fine tune the balance of the see-saw by adding and taking away modeling clay from either side of the fulcrum.
Drill a drain hole in the base of your water gauge at the point the bucket tips water out. Make the hole large enough to accommodate a small funnel and drop this into the hole. Connect some flexible piping to the bottom of the funnel so you can direct any excess water to a convenient location.
Push some flexible piping onto the bottom of a large funnel. This will act as your rain collector and you can mount this outdoors in a suitable location, with the funnel facing upward. Run the piping to the rain gauge, which should be in an indoor location. Mount the other end of the piping to the upright section of wood with some electrical tape. Leave enough piping at the end loose so you can position it directly over the tipping bucket. Any water collected in the funnel should run into tipping bucket.
Strip a little of the sheath back from two lengths of electrical wire. Wrap the exposed section of electrical wire around a thumb tack to form a terminal. Push it into the underside of the see-saw on the right hand side, close to the end. Make sure you don't pierce your bucket. Make a second electrical terminal with a thumb tack and the other wire. Push the terminal into the water gauge's base underneath the first terminal, so they meet when the see-saw tips fully.
Connect the two wires running from your tipping bucket terminals to the terminals on an electronic counter. Ensure the wires are positioned so they neither interfere with the movement of the see-saw nor get wet when the bucket tips and drains. When the bucket tips the circuit should close and the counter should record one. As the bucket drains the circuit should open and the counter should wait to count two when the bucket tips once more.
Set a stop watch running for a 24-hour period. At the end of it, the electronic counter should have recorded the number of 5 fluid oz. buckets the funnel has collected in that period.