How To EASILY Build A 1/2 Gallon Injector Pump For Under $25 Step By Step Pics
 

I have been wanting to do this for some time now. I am sick of paying for injectors that either break or don't work quite the way I want them to so today after work I went to Home Depot to build myself an injector.

After an hour or so of testing fittings and some employees looking at me funny, I finally figured out everything I needed and brought it all home to be assembled.

Here is the cast.

1/2 Gallon Garden Sprayer $6.97
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/12/10/31/gadavyzy.jpg

20" Faucet Supply Line. 3/8" female compression with rubber seal on one end, and regular 3/8" compression fitting on the other. $6.57
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Brass Adapter Fitting. 3/8" compression on one side and 3/8" female flare thread on the other. Make sure you get the one with the FLARE threads and not the regular PIPE threads. They look almost the same but the pipe threads will not work. $4.40
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OO 1/2" beveled faucet washers. You only need one, but they come in a 10 pack.$1.67
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And finally you will need an injector needle. I tried both of these types and they both worked fine.
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I already had these so they were free.

OK time to build!
First unscrew the nozzle from the pump sprayer. Note the white plastic piece inside the nozzle. We will call this part the nozzle seat. You will need to remove this and keep it. The sprayer will not be able to build pressure without it. The cone shaped part in the sprayer seats against the hole until you press the spray button.
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To get it out unscrew the tip of the nozzle and remove the clear plastic piece inside like so.
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Then use your needle or something else that will fit and push the nozzle seat out from the other side.
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Now take the brass adapter fitting apart like so.
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And put the nozzle seat into the female side EXACTLY the same way it was in the nozzle.
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Now screw the brass fitting onto the sprayer where the nozzle was. It should be snug, but not super tight. The male threads are plastic, and might strip if you go too tight.
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Now take the female end of the faucet hose and screw it onto the male end of the brass fitting. Hand tight should be good enough but hold a backup on the brass fitting so that you aren't tightening against the plastic threads.
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Remove the compression nut and ferrule from the other end of the hose.
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Now for the hardest part. Getting the needle ready to be installed.

Take the needle of your choice and one faucet washer, and push the washer onto the hub end of the needle. This is a very tight fit, but I found that using a clothespin as pictured below to push it downward helped. And obviously try not to stick yourself.
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Now that you have the washer in place on the needle hub, all thats left is to take the compression nut from the faucet hose and use it to secure the needle onto the hose.
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And now you have a fully assembled ready to use injector pump!
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/12/10/31/arapymyq.jpg

So now for the obvious question. Does it work? Well I haven't used it on a hunk of meat yet, but it looks like it will work fine. Yeah I probably could have bought one for not that much more than what I spent, but it was an easy fun project, that will hopefully end my injector searching.
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/12/10/31/gujugy4y.jpg

I have taken so much info from this site, that I like to contribute what I can, when I can. This may not be much, but hopefully someone will find it useful.

Thanks for lookin!

Wow, great post Q, thanks for the info!

This is a great thread with an awesome tutorial, thanks for posting!

Thx brotha useful build info, you'll get hung for not using food grade materials but what they don't know won't hurt.

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2

Thanks for posting!

Awesome tutorial!

Great post, and great write-up! !

Sent from my DROID RAZR

Looks like a great whole hog injector! Thanks for sharing.

Very nice. Thank you for sharing that project!

great project.

Great idea! Are toilet lines food grade? :laugh:

Very cool. Thanks for sharing. Very interested to see how it performs in action. I would be curious as to how easy it will be to operate with both hands as I assume you need to hold the needle in the meat with one and operate the trigger with the other.

Heh well they are used for potable water. Thats good enough for me!

Just playing around with it, it seems like it will be easy enough to use. Bigger cuts should stay put when injecting, but small things might be a little more tricky.

That looks like it should work well. thanks for the tutorial and pics.

Looking at that bottle, does it have a "lock" to allow for continuous flow? I ask because you could pressurize the system and then engage that lock. You would then only need some sort of "stop" switch down by the needle that could be activated by a single hand while the other hand could be holding the meat or whatever. Just a thought that popped into my head.

Thats actually plan B in case I decide I need both hands for injecting the meat more than I thought.

It does have a stop, so I'm thinking one of these would work.
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/12/10/31/y8aju3e8.jpg

Great idea and WELL explained directions.
Thanks.

Nice tutorial!

While I've tried the NoCents clone and didn't like the feel of it, yours with the stainless braid line is a step up above, but its still a two hand operation.

If you were to ad a nozzle with a delivery line like the KnuckleHead injector, you have something going.

http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t...b/IMG_4213.jpg

http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t...b/IMG_4212.jpg

I don't pull it out much unless I'm doing quantity meats, but it certainly is easier than a syringe. The needle is on a swivel joint and there is a positive flow lock and it has enough pressure to get the job done.

B-O-B made me a "stitch needle" injector for briskets.

http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t...b/IMG_4215.jpg

Now brace yourself for the squeamish "is it food grade" material onslaught!!

Let it flow!

its like im going to 'que-linary' class when i surf this forum...did i just coin a phrase?!:loco:

and i hope to give back as well...

learning so much from y'all!!:hail:

Oh yeah I'm expecting it! :D

Thanks!

This shoudl be roadmapped if it hasn't already!:clap:

Dang...I aint never had no nuthin get roadmapped before!

food grade until.
 

Everything you used your build could be labeled as food grade. The lines couplers and fittings you find under a kitchen sink. The sprayer, first use only is too. Go with the airhose stuff and it's not anymore because of lubes used.

Great post!!

Yeah if I used the air nozzle I would definitely flush it really well and re lube with food grade.

Not sure what you mean by "first use only" concerning the sprayer. Are you saying that it can't be considered food grade after it has been used?

That's pretty sweet! Thanks for posting!

Great post. Thanks, I find it very helpfull and will build myself one

I wonder if the acidity or salt will have an adverse reaction to the rubber seals designed for use with plain water as well as the lining of the shrouded tubes.

I built a small brewery years ago and used the same shrouded tubes described. After a while I started noticing off-flavors in the beer only to discover it went away when I re-plumbed them with flexible copper pipe.

It probably would have an affect long term, but hopefully washing and running clean hot water through it after every use will maximize its life span.

Thank you for posting this! I'm not immediately in need of this kind of volume, but I'd definitely like to try something like this before too long. Your post has plenty of pics and info to make it look like something I could put together successfully!

I'm thinking you could find the correct Pex fittings and Pex line to make it "food safe".
You would have to find a freind with a crimper is all.
Ed

Bookmarked this a while back and just built it last night. Took an hour including the trip to Home Depot. Easy build thanks to this step by step post and now I am ready for my 100 lb hog this weekend.

Mighty Fine Q-Dat! Thanks for sharing the build and pic's!

How has it held up? Any "off taste" noticed? I know the potential was mentioned above.

I also want to thank you for the tutorial. Some of the parts really can be done by our self, the only thing we need is just a good, detailed tutorial. That way, keeping the pump, consequently and the house clean, will be easier.

Thanks for the advice!

Finally, something to repurpose my round up sprayer.

This is amazing! Thanks for sharing

Great post, thank you for all of the detailed step by step instructions.

That is awesome, thank you for the great idea and instructions!

That's a must have for the big cooks! :thumb:

Nice post. Thanks for sharing. We use a similar setup. Works great!

Bump-This is too awesome, not to bump

Just built one. Mine wasn't the exact same sprayer but I think I got it to work. Def required some "massaging" to everything together. Walked out of Home Depot for some change over 20 bucks. Ran soapy water, vinegar, and just plain water through it. Some stinky plastic.

To funny... definitely not food grade!

http://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/...ps1tgal8cn.jpg
Ham
On the right pumped up. Ridiculous how much you can fill them in comparison

Worked well. Not anything unlike the chops I borrowed for my previous hog. Put 2 gallons through it