Quick DIY: Make your favorite spray bottle work upside down

cshamilton

cshamilton

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First, I want to say that I was just playing with this idea; I definitely used the wrong material for the tubing. You really need some latex tubing and I found some online being sold as "surgical tubing." My local Lowes has some, but it's in the 3/8'' sizing: too big for this application. If you use latex tubing, this will be a very nice addition to your spray bottles, and you won't have to use a $4 part as the "weight." On to the good stuff:

" and yet a true creator is necessity, which is the mother of our invention. " -Plato​

Using my interior cleaner this weekend, I got pretty annoyed when trying to reach the bottle upside down under certain spots. To get the coverage that I wanted. I needed an aerosol-style bottle that would spray upside down. This is what I came up with.



My favorite spray bottle:

GGsprayer_zpsf2538e62.jpg


These are the parts that you'll need. Note the aside above: you'll need to use latex tubing for this. I happened to have a piece of Poly tubing that was the same size as the original, 3/16 ID. You can trim the original tube if you'd like; I prefer to preserve the original in case of a return to factory form. The vinyl that I used is not quite flexible enough. The weight that I used is a 1/8" hose barb. Using latex tubing, you'll be able to substitute this for just about anything, glass beads come to mind, possibly even the original strainer from the GG sprayer.

PartsNeeded_zpsd337b358.jpg


Trim the tubing to match the length of the original tube.

Tubelength_zpsa3faf683.jpg


Remove the factory tubing from the sprayer.

RemoveTube_zps114f653a.jpg


Insert a small piece of the new tubing, preferably latex, into your original (or original sized) piece.

PushTube_zps825187ea.jpg


Trim the original or original sized tubing to an inch or two, and apply the weight. I used a hose barb on this one.

FinishedTubing_zps8545ddb4.jpg


Gently push the poly tubing back into the sprayer.

Reattached_zps9e478f95.jpg


This is the final result. This is what you're looking for. The ability for the "draw tube" to react to gravity- the same way product inside your spray bottle will. This will help with any presoak applications on lower panels of cars, interior cleaning in tough to reach spots, pretty much anything that you may need a spray bottle to work upside down.

SPfinal_zps61b1093c.jpg

Hope it helps!

Scott
 
Does anyone have a Kwazar 360 ?

Please take a few pictures of the innards.
 
Cool trick. I don't really see a need for it myself but I won't forget it if I ever do.
 
Why not just remove the tubing all together and keep it simple if you are only going to be using it upside-down?
 
valleyrider said:
Why not just remove the tubing all together and keep it simple if you are only going to be using it upside-down?
Click to expand...

+1 couldn't you just remove the tube all together? I mean yes a tiny tiny bit wouldn't get sucked up but at that point you just refill it.
 
Quite inventive. Nice effort. Don't want to be a buzzkill here, but there is an SM Arnold yellow "upside down" trigger sprayer that works at any angle. They work really well and cost $1.50.
 
Nice write up yeah you can buy one but making one yourself and putting into your arsenal shows that you can make what you have work in many ways then just intended also it shows that you care about detailing too...good luck, and keep inventing
 
Thanks for the responses. I definitely know of some that are available to purchase, but I had these parts in the tool bag already. I've seen those SM Arnold mechanisms on some sprayer before, but didn't know what it was called. Thanks for the info. If you're curious, they have a "BB" in the chamber that seals off the tube if sprayed upright; but, as soon as you turn it upside down, the BB releases and uses the chamber at the top of the sprayer.

Removing the tube all together would work spraying upside down, but the point of this one is that if you used latex or other extremely flexible tubing- you could use the spray bottle in any direction. I see the confusion that my last pic caused. The weight will draw the tube back to the bottom if you are spraying upright. Sorry for the lack of an upright pic.

My initial problem was when I wanted to spray upside down it wouldn't spray. I use the bottle upright 95% of the time. Removing the tube would only help me in the 5% of the time that I need to spray upside down.
 
cshamilton said:
Thanks for the responses. I definitely know of some that are available to purchase, but I had these parts in the tool bag already. I've seen those SM Arnold mechanisms on some sprayer before, but didn't know what it was called. Thanks for the info. If you're curious, they have a "BB" in the chamber that seals off the tube if sprayed upright; but, as soon as you turn it upside down, the BB releases and uses the chamber at the top of the sprayer.

Removing the tube all together would work spraying upside down, but the point of this one is that if you used latex or other extremely flexible tubing- you could use the spray bottle in any direction. I see the confusion that my last pic caused. The weight will draw the tube back to the bottom if you are spraying upright. Sorry for the lack of an upright pic.

My initial problem was when I wanted to spray upside down it wouldn't spray. I use the bottle upright 95% of the time. Removing the tube would only help me in the 5% of the time that I need to spray upside down.
Click to expand...

That makes sense now
 
Ok that's makes much more sense now. Sorry must have read to quickly and not realized that it will draw from the bottom also. I thought it only stayed near the top.
 
Just curious. Why would anyone have to spray with the bottle upside down?
 
swanicyouth said:
Just curious. Why would anyone have to spray with the bottle upside down?
Click to expand...

Subbing for future use! Thanks for the write up!

I may not find many use for a completely inverted bottle but will find plenty use for horizontally tilted almost empty bottles where the tube seems to flex in the opposite direction... or is too short to reach the bottom section where the fluid is. I do find it to be a major pain to spray an almost empty ironX bottle on the upper most portion of a barrel, or spray some product on the inner fenders, and at time some glass cleaners on the interior portion of a moon roof :) Also found myself frustrated with the delivery of Folex on a headliner stain :)
 
Dr_Pain said:
frustrated with the delivery of Folex on a headliner stain :)
Click to expand...

Folex on the headliner and Apc on the lower part of the glove compartment have been my main offenders. I always end up just spraying the towel but I prefer to apply to the spot.

I used the latex tubing today and it's 100x more effective. I'll snap some pics later.
 
Updated with some latex/surgical tubing.

Check it out.


Sunk to the bottom

rightsideup_zpsb23b3061.jpg



Spraying at a forward angle with little solution

Forward_zps425a13bd.jpg



And of course, upside down

upsidedown_zps0e9362d1.jpg

​

It's much more flexible, it adjusts very quickly. I made it a little long, so sometimes it takes a quick shake to get it right on the bottom. If I were to trim it, it would be perfect. Enjoy.
 
All I can say is WOW!!!!! To some of the posts here. I didn't find it one bit hard to understand!

The reason you don't take the tube out completely is to use the bottle regularly, upside down and sideways. If you take the tube out it is strictly limited to upside down spraying, then you would need two bottles.

Great write up!! I'll have to give it a try, I have this issue all the time, thanks!!
 
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