- Dirty.
- (groans)
- Dirty!
- I'm Nate from Design Squad, and this is my son Calvin.
Calvin loves to dig and play with dirt.
- Dirty!
- Trouble is, he gets really dirty.
So I think I've identified a need here.
We could build you an outdoor sink
so you can get clean before you come back inside.
The sink is gonna be a recycled plastic bin.
I've got an old faucet
from a friend who wasn't using it anymore.
This is the wood that I got
from taking apart a couple of old shipping pallets.
So it's kind of nice.
Instead of throwing them into the trash,
take them apart and use the wood for something else.
All around the world,
especially in places where resources are scarce,
a little bit of creativity and some engineering knowledge
can help you make best use of the materials available.
So by reducing the materials you're using and repurposing,
recycling things, you can accomplish great new things.
(tools whirring)
Do you know why this screw head is purple?
This screw was probably used on season two of Design Squad.
I'm reusing things from Design Squad.
Awesome.
All right, I've got the top platform.
Nice.
I'm gonna draw an X in the middle.
Boom, X marks the spot.
This is the center, no matter how wide this is.
(whistles)
(imitating a trumpet fanfare)
Perfect fit!
The next step is to add the legs that hold up the sink,
but I need to know how tall to make the legs.
Calvin, will you stand and see if you can reach the sink?
I put a couple raisins in the sink
so Calvin would reach into it
and I could estimate if it's at the right height or not.
It was actually a little bit of a hard reach,
so I'm gonna put it down
a little bit lower than I might have.
Will you see if you can reach this raisin?
Sweet, okay.
This height looks good, so I'm just gonna make a mark.
Now, in building this sink setup for Calvin,
I'm really not inventing anything new here.
The general approach for how to build a sink
and attach a faucet is really well established.
But then I'm making my own modifications
to suit the specific needs of Calvin
and to make best use of the materials that I have available.
I forgot something important:
I have to drill a hole in the base
so the water can get out!
(laughing)
Well, the plastic's kind of brittle,
and I certainly could have done a better job
supporting the plastic from underneath,
maybe with a piece of wood.
So I think I'm gonna try to repair the bottom a little bit,
and I think it'll still work fine.
So I've got this bucket.
By pouring water into the bucket
and holding the bucket up higher than Calvin's sink,
gravity will provide the pressure
that makes the water feed through the faucet.
You've probably seen a water tower before,
sticking up high above a city.
This is a miniature version of that,
where I can catch rainwater
or fill it up with a hose and let gravity do the work
of making Calvin's outdoor sink work.
Wait a second...
- (shouting)
- There's no water coming out, and Calvin's visibly upset.
And I'm kind of disappointed too.
I have the difference between here and here
that drives the pressure from the water
going from the bucket
out of the hose and through the faucet.
So this faucet was designed to go in a kitchen sink,
where you have access to normal water supply
that will go into your house.
That water supply's at pretty high pressure.
There's a couple of extra valves and hoses on the inside of this
that constrict the flow of the water.
Those constrictions really matter
because we don't have as much pressure
as what comes into your house.
The first thing I'll do
is try to raise the bucket up in the air
and see if that increase in pressure will make it work.
Oh, I can see some droplets coming out.
What we did have enough water pressure for
was letting water just trickle right out of the hose.
Plenty of pressure for Calvin's hose to work
if the faucet is not in the way.
But I still need a way to turn the flow on and off.
(laughs)
Or maybe Calvin can just put his finger in it to stop it.
Instead of the faucet, I'm making a structure
to support the hose by itself, and then we'll figure out
how to turn the water on and off.
- Sink off!
- Sink off.
Can you turn the sink on?
- Sink on!
- Now the sink is on.
Calvin had no problem starting and stopping the flow
with his finger, which gave us an idea.
Can you try putting that in the hole?
- Yeah.
- (laughs)
You did it!
The sink is off.
- Sink off!
- Can you turn the sink on?
Yeah!
Now you can wash your hands.
Now, we don't want this water to go to waste.
We'll let it drain into the watering can
so we can water the plants.
I put a little tiny screw into the end of the plug.
I've tied a piece of fishing line to the screw
to make a tether.
This way, I can attach it to the sink.
He can use it and it won't get lost.
- Push!
- Push, push!
Good job, buddy, the sink is off.
And your hands are clean!
Cleaner than they were.
What I've done is repurposed a little reusable lid
for leftovers for food
and used that to plug the bottom of the sink.
This way, we can fill up the sink with water
and Calvin can play.
It's fun and awesome to use a little bit of creativity
to use fewer resources to build something new, useful, and fun.
- Sink on!
Sink on, sink on!