Making a Composter out of a Damaged Geyser

 Making a Composter out of a Damaged Geyser

Materials:
1. 10 PVC pipes:
   4 pipes of length 35 cm
   1 pipe of length 40 cm
   4 pipes of length 30 cm
   1 pipe of length 20 cm
   2 90-degree pipe joints

2. 2 wooden boards of length 40 cm
    2 wooden boards of length 20 cm

3. 21- 5 cm length and 5mm diameter screws and nuts
    8- 3 cm length and 3mm diameter screws and nuts
    7-8 washers of diameter 5mm

4. 21.1 cm diameter, circular acrylic sheet

5. 3D printed, 1 handle, 1 latch, and 1 hinge

6. 3 M-seal 20g packets

7. 4- 7-8 cm diameter, strong-grip wheels 

8. 4 PVC pipe caps

Tools:
1. Drilling machine

2. Drilling bits of width 3mm and 5mm

3. Haksaws

4. 3D printer


Instructions:
Part 1: Making the structure






















1. Take 10 PVC pipes and cut 4 of them to a length of 35 cm, 4 of 25 cm- 30 cm, 1 of 40 cm, and 1 of 20 cm.

2. Take the 40 cm pipe and take markings of the 90-degree pipe joints at 5 cm from both ends. Cut the pipe at these markings and stop at half of the pipe. 

3. Take the drilling machine and put a hole in the centre of the part below the joint and the hollow part where we're going to place our joints in a V-shape. Do this on both sides. Then, with screws and nuts, connect these two V-shaped joints in the pipe and keep them aside. 





















Then, take markings on the four pipes, drill the inner sides of the pipes, and connect the wheels with screws. Then, cut the pipe into two pieces of length 10 cm each, and then again into two pieces of length 5 cm each, but cut it like you're slicing a cucumber vertically in half. 

4.  According to your geyser's size, take markings on the side of the 4-35 cm pipes for making holes for the screws that will go through the pipe entirely so that the geyser will rotate smoothly and touch the wheels properly. 



















5. According to the geyser's size, also take the markings on the outer side of the pipe, opposite to the holes of the wheels. These are supposed to go through the pipe entirely. Take the small-cut PVC pipes and then drill them to the four pipes on the outer side at a 45-degree angle. These are supposed to stop our composter from sliding sideways and falling down while rotating.






















6. Take the 4- 25-30 cm pipes, 2 at a time, and take markings on each of them of each other while they're kept at an angle of 80 degrees and cut them. After that, they should get interlocked with each other, then drill them to each other.



















7. After that, take the 2 V-shaped pipe structures that we had made before. Then put it on the X-shaped structure. Then, after taking measurements and markings, put 3 holes from the joint in the X-shaped pipe structure like a 3-lined asterisk or even like the lines in the peace symbol. Then, put the screws and bolts to connect the V-shaped structure to the X-shaped structure.
















8. Take 2 wooden boards and nail the X-shaped structure to those wooden boards such that one end of the board is connected to one pipe of one of the X-shapes, and the other one to the same as the first. 












9. Take 2 other small wooden boards and nail them horizontally to both boards.

10. 3D print a handle according to the size of the composter's cylinder, and then laser cut an acrylic sheet with the same size as the hole you've made at the side of the composter cylinder. 




















11. Connect the lid to the clinder with a 3D printed hinge and a latch to keep it locked. Then, put a hole in the composter according to the size of the handle, and then put a screw in the handle and the composter to connect them together. 






















12. Then, take the M-seal and, after mixing it, apply it to every joint and then let it dry for a couple of hours. 

13. After it's dry, apply white paint and wood polish to the PVC pipes and the wooden boards, respectively. Let it dry, and then your composter is ready!

 





These were just instructions, read our story and process below!

So, the other day, our geyser got damaged. It had been with us for 10 years. The next day, it got replaced with another one, and the old one had no use now. But that's what I thought... The next day, my father brought it to the lab and told me to open it (disassemble it). Curious about what might be inside, I was eager to do it. 
I sat down, took some tools, and started opening it. 

First, I removed the outer covering, then the heat-insulating material, then a cylinder with some tubes connected to it, etc. After fully disassembling it, I told my father about it, and he told me to find some use in it. I thought, and then it clicked, I'd make a composter out of it—a functional and useful composter. 

Incorporating my ideas and innovations. I sat down with Sakib Dada and Nirzar, and we started discussing how it should be, how it would function, and how it should be placed, and all the other necessary things we should do to make it work. After discussing, I started sketching some ideas with variations in structure and shape, etc. After a lot of ideation, we came up with a final decision. After finalising our decision, we started taking dimensions and gathering our basic materials. 

The idea was simple: we were going to make the structure from PVC pipes in two V-shapes, with a connecting pipe in between them, and the whole thing placed on two X-shaped pipe structures on opposite sides of each other on the ground. But, little did we know, it was going to be hard.

So, we distributed our work and started doing it. We made a lot of iterations in our design and structure. After some research and discussion, we decided to 3D print our handle, the latch, and the hinges. Then, we cut the lid on the laser-cutting machine. 
After that, we realised that the structure needed some support, so we cut some wooden boards and nailed them to the pipes. 

After that, we realised that the structure was kind of wobbling, so we applied M-seal to every joint and then let it dry. 

And then finally, we noticed that it looked pretty unclean. So, we bought white oil paint and some wood polish to cover the stains and the M-seal. Then, we started painting it. Painting was fun and amazing. 

We had completed our composter. Everything was working great. The wheels were rotating smoothly, and the composter was rotating, too, smoothly. 

OUR COMPOSTER WAS READY!!! 

Skills that I used or learnt:
1. Cutting with a saw (used)
2. Designing skills (used)
3. Oil painting (learnt)
4. Hammering a nail perfectly (learnt)
5. 3D printing and laser cutting (used and taught)


Now the composter was ready to use!   
























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