In this instructable iam going to explain you haw to make a reciprocating pump in a very simple way. This is not much efficient but useful to understand the working and parts of a reciprocating pump. Before going into the make let us know what is a reciprocating pump and its working.

Reciprocating pump is a positive plunger pump. They are used widely in lifting water from ground to the storage tanks in residential areas. They develop high pressures but has limited use. Reciprocating pump consists of "suction stroke" and a "delivery stroke". Suction stroke is the place where the water is sucked in from the ground and delivery stroke is the place where the sucked water is delivered to the required place.

During the suction stroke the piston is moved backward and the inlet valve opens and water enters in exit valve will be closed. During delivery stroke the piston moves inward by forcing the water through the outlet valve but the inlet valve remains closed. This cycle continues infinetely till the pump is stopped.

materials needed:
1/2" PVC pipe of required length(see picture)
Two "T" joints
Two end caps
One 10ml syringe
Two marbles(acts as valve)
one 1/2 inch tube to fix the syringe.

Tools needed:
Hacksaw
hand driller

Step 1: Making the Suction Stroke

Suction stroke requires a 10ml syringe, remove the head of the syringe using an hacksaw, you can see that in picture. Be careful dont reduce the syringe length too much. The purpose for removing the head is to create more suction pressure if the hole is too small suction will be less and becomes difficult to deliver enough water. And after cutting it try to insert the syringe into the 1/2" flexible tube as shown in the picture.

Step 2: Making the Delivery Stroke

Use one of the end caps for this purpose, make a hole of 5mm diameter using the hand drill. Since i dont have hand driller i made the hole by melting the top surface of the cap. it should look as shown in the picture.

Step 3: Making the Pipes

You can make the pipes for suction and delivery stroke for required size but i recommend to use 150mm length for the top and bottom pipes, 45mm length for the pipe at the centre and 20mm length for the pipe placed at the delivery stroke. Using the other end cap close the top end of the delivery stroke to prevent the loss of pressure in the pump. Leakage may decrease the efficiency.

Step 4: Placing the Valves

place the two marbles as shown in the picture because this is the heart of the pump which acts as valves. Place one marble at the suction stroke and other marble at delivery stroke.