How to Make a Great Recirculating Stream Table on the Cheap (Less than $50)
Updated 5/10/2021
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I tend to get frustrated when science supply companies charge teachers like myself obscene prices for what turns out to be simplistic and often flimsy lab equipment. When I was a new teacher in need of stream tables for my fledgling geoscience classes, I had my school pony-up $100 a pop for what I thought were going to be awesome stream tables (I mean, for $100 they must be awesome, right??) They turned out to be nothing more than long plastic troughs that were designed to have buckets poured over them while draining to the grass! Not exactly what I had envisioned. Necessity led me to modify those first tables by adding pumps, sumps and tubing. I've since built my own class sets of tables using off-the-shelf parts, and new for 2021, I've also included plans for 3D printed threaded nuts that allows for easy removal of the drain pipe. THe tubs nest within one another with the drain pipes out which makes for great storage!
As you can see from the videos and pics on this page, the end result works quite well. They also drain much better with the modified 5/8" tubing and drain. The tables' transparent sides nicely demonstrate stream channel profiles and sediment transport.
Fluvial geomorphology made easy! An entire class set of six would cost less than $300!! Instructions & parts follow.
As you can see from the videos and pics on this page, the end result works quite well. They also drain much better with the modified 5/8" tubing and drain. The tables' transparent sides nicely demonstrate stream channel profiles and sediment transport.
Fluvial geomorphology made easy! An entire class set of six would cost less than $300!! Instructions & parts follow.
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UPDATE 5/10/2021
- After a bit of experimentation it has become clear that cutting a plywood baseboard for the stream tables works VERY well to prevent warping and usage fatigue of plastic boxes. (Sand weighs a lot!).
- To prevent the sand from slumping along the box bottom, I highly recommend putting down weed barrier cloth in the box. Enough so that it will overlap the sides. The win-win is that the cloth can be pulled out with the sand still on top of it, laid on the grass and sun-dried before storage.
- 3/8" inside diameter tube is just a bit too small and can cause drainage back-up. To remedy this problem I 3D printed nuts to fit a threaded 1/2" garden irrigation elbow that fits a 1/2" inside diameter vinyl tube. I cut rubber gasket material to make my own washers.
- 200gph pumps are the ticket if they can be adjusted down. The pumps need to have a enough oomph to push water at least 5 vertical feet when doing gradient vs speed tests, otherwise they just trickle out at some of the highest elevations. You may need to create a flow restriction device in the hose if its too strong. I used a small highlighter cap with the end cut-off.
Parts
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Hunt around for the best deals. The prices I list are for brand new parts. If you're like me you may already have most of the stuff lying around the garage which would then make this project REALLY cheap! I ordered the tubing and pump from Amazon Prime. I got the Sterlite box at Walmart/ Target and everything else at local hardware stores. I would recommend making four or more tables at once so you can buy in bulk and shave-off a few more bucks.
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Original List
Putting it TogetherOriginal Stream Table Constructions.
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Modified List w/ 3D Printed Nut/Washer & Larger Drain Tubes
Putting it TogetherStream Table Modified with removable 5/8" Garden Irrigation Elbow. Follow most of the constructions of the original. Note, the hole is now drilled and leaves enough space for the hexnut to be spun and tightened, but is still low enough to allow for good drainage.
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