Sully has just finished a cool millhouse.

I made him a plexiglass box:

Sully still doesn’t understand the benefits of making things of plastic, so he made the roof of wood covered with crimped aluminum.

He glued these “tiles” from Lowes to the plexi with some exterior construction adhesive. To cut out the windows and the gable ends, I got him a tile cutting bit for his rotozip tool. The rotozip worked quick and easily through the stone pieces. I thought that would be a nightmare. I cut the gable ends for him in just a few minutes.

Nice looking building…

Nice building.

A dremel with a carbide bit cuts those stones very easily. I’ve made a number of buildings with those tiles.

The wheel and sluice looks like the one Stoneworks sells. Good looking mill.

I used a fiber reinforced cut off wheel in my Dremel to cut my stone.

That is Stonework’s water wheel. We have the whole set. But when Lisa was thinking to build the millhouse, we all thought, “there’s got to be a better way.”

We’re going to re construct all 3 water features. Already finished one. This will go with the one that empties onto the patio.

Empties onto the patio? So, your patio is covered in water?

Awesome. I do love the use of those tiles. Each time I see them in action it just looks tailor made. Very well done.

David Maynard said:

Empties onto the patio? So, your patio is covered in water?

I’m sure I have a photo somewhere, but no time to look right now. The stream spills off the layout into a basin in the patio where the pump is. I’ll dig through photos tonight and post. The sound of the thing is beautiful, but it leaks water badly, so it only runs when there are people around. It’s getting rebuilt in the spring. Of course, since this is Oklahoma, much of the winter is suitable for such outdoor activities.

Oh, ok. Now I understand.

I couldn’t find a photo of how the stream spills onto the patio, so I had to wait for a nice enough day to take one. I made a video.

This stream leaks water badly so it usually doesn’t run except when guests are here. The plan is to rebuild it, making the initial spill more stepped, having it wander a bit more and adding the new millhouse, water wheel and water chanel.

Tom,

How much water is that pumping? I want a small stream on my out door layout and that looks just about right maybe a tad big but at least I can gauge off of yours.

Looks like about 4000 gallons per hour.

Well I wont be pumping 4000 gallons an hour.

Tom, Looks pretty nice to me. Good on ya (youse).

Devon Sinsley said:

Well I wont be pumping 4000 gallons an hour.

You’d be surprised how much capacity is required to produce even a small but respectable stream, especially if there is any rise involved.

Yup, I have a 535gph pump, and its a decent stream, but only because its narrow. If I made a wide stream it would have much flow.

Well 500 gph I could see

At my sister’s home I maintain 4 pumping systems…

Head is; volume x lift. The higher you go determines the amount of flow.

You can always divert some flow unseen back to your collection spot. Plumb a U of pipe to the out flow, add a T and a valve to control the out flow and reduce the return pipe one size, the back pressure feeds your stream and the water will increase speed in the return to balance out. Set the flow you like and go play trains!

Better to use a bigger pump than strain a lesser.

Might take 2 or 3 to get a good one, chinese you know… make them easy to service.

John

Yea, I have to replace my pump every few years. Fortunately Lowe’s carries (or carried) the pump I use, and its not too expensive. I didn’t split the outflow, I just made sure my stream could handle more then I was putting through it. I am probably only lifting the water 2 feet above the pond’s surface. And the length of tubing isn’t more then maybe 4 feet, and its a larger diameter then the outflow pipe on the pump, to help reduce resistance to the flow in the tubing.

One thing I did do, is I have the pump on a ledge in the pond that is not far below the water’s surface. I did that to make it easy to access the pump. It has also been beneficial when the stream gets clogged, the pump will only pump out so much of the pond water before it starts sucking air. If I had placed it closer to the bottom, it would drain more of the pond when the stream gets clogged. It was an unforeseen benefit, placing the pump as high in the pond as I did.