Home built tornado tube

this is a water "tornado" tube i built with some parts i bought and had on hand. its not quite finished yet but its up and running as you can see here.
power is an aquarium pump slightly modified to take out the air intake. this one was ideal because the intake is on its own hose so you just plug that and now its a water pump :)
some other fittings and parts from hardware and hobby shop finished it off.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Lamp
• Tornado
• tornado display

[TheWombatSlayer]

Flying wigs,

I'm trying to make my own tornado tube just like you. Do you have anything besides the pump to move the water? Also, where is the intake for the pump? And lastly, what did you use to seal around the pump?

[Flyingwigs]

@TheWombatSlayer to seal it i used JB Weld putty, CA glue (super glue) and a contact cement. but i think that the Loctite brand silicone would work good also.

i do not have anything other than the pump to rotate the water, as you can see in the video the pump's output is angled towards the inside wall and flattened to cause it to start rotating by itself. the stronger the pump, the faster it can rotate the water : )

[TheWombatSlayer]

@Flyingwigs Thanks for the advice. I originally intended to use a small prop to spin the water and pull it downwards, allowing it to resurface at the edges. This may be a little easier. I also want to put some light absorbant particles in there, so I gotta find a pump that doesnt completely filter the water, else it will get clogged. Do you plan on doing anything else aestetically to your tube?

[Flyingwigs]

@TheWombatSlayer the one i found isnt filtering the water, its just an impeller in a coil. the magnetic part is attached to the impeller so anything in the water would just flow through the pump. for mine, i want to paint most of the base black and wire in some LEDs in the base shining upwards. also i left out the lid on the video, it keeps the water from splashing up.

[TheWombatSlayer]

Thanks ahead of time for any input!