Alright, so I got this itch the other day, you know? My kid’s little toy cars were just caked in mud, looked like they’d been through a rally. And I thought, hey, why not try to build a tiny little washer for them? Seemed like a fun little project for a weekend.

Getting the Bits Together

So, I started rummaging through my junk drawer and the garage. You know how it is, you always find something useful. Here’s what I managed to scrounge up:

• A tiny little water pump, the kind you see in small fountains.
• Some flexible tubing, pretty thin stuff.
• An old plastic container, like for food storage, to hold the water.
• A basic on/off switch.
• A battery holder for a couple of AA batteries.
• And, of course, some wires.

Nothing fancy, really. Just stuff I had lying around. Didn't want to spend any money on this if I could help it.

Putting It All Together

This was the fun part, and also a bit fiddly. First, I had to figure out how to get the pump into the water container. Drilled a small hole in the lid for the outlet tube and another for the wires. Sealing those holes up a bit was key, didn't want water getting everywhere, though a bit of leakage is almost expected with these things, right?

Then I wired up the pump to the switch and the battery pack. My soldering skills are, let's say, functional. Not pretty, but they get the job done. I made sure the switch was somewhere easy to get to, outside the water container, obviously.

Hooked up the tubing to the pump outlet. I even tried to make a tiny nozzle at the end by pinching the tube a bit, hoping for a bit more pressure. Spoiler: it didn't do a whole lot, but hey, it’s the thought that counts.

The Big Test

Filled up the container with some water. Put a dirty toy car on an old towel. Took a deep breath. And flipped the switch.

And... it worked! Sort of. Water came sputtering out the end of the tube. It wasn’t exactly a high-pressure jet wash, more like a gentle stream. But it was enough to rinse off the loose dirt from a small toy car. The pump buzzed away happily.

There was a bit of a leak around where the wires went into the container lid, just as I suspected. Nothing a bit of hot glue couldn't mostly fix. It's never perfect on the first try, is it?

So, What's the Verdict?

Well, it’s not going to win any engineering awards, that’s for sure. And it’s definitely not replacing a proper hosepipe. But for a quick, fun project built from scraps, it was pretty cool. My kid actually thought it was amazing, which is the main thing, I guess. He spent a good hour "washing" his entire collection of cars.

It’s one of those things, you know? You get an idea, you mess around with some parts, and sometimes you end up with something that, against all odds, actually does what you hoped. Even if it's just a mini car washer for toys. Kept me busy, and it was a good laugh. Probably make a better one next time, if I ever get another crazy idea like this.