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[herpderp]

You're supposed to be able to build a screw pump with the output side on an open space, right? That's how you route power down to the screw pump on the level below. I did it in my last fortress, but for some reason now I can't. there's nothing unusual about where I'm building it, just diorite ground. i asked a friend to try it and he couldn't either. what gives? Or, what's another reasonably efficient way to power a waterfall?

[SquirrelWizard]

From my experience with screwpumps, you cannot power them from below unless there is a mechanical connection higher up the stack (assuming you are making a stack of screwpumps) otherwise the pump is hanging, and will deconstruct.

to power the pump from above you have to channel out teh floor before putting in the gear to supply power to the pump (you may be able to channel out the floor with the gear on it, but I've never tried it.)

[Derakon]

Take a look at the floors on the wiki's screw pump article. You need to channel out every other floor, or else there's no way for two pumps to connect to transfer power.

[Quietust]

I think SquirrelWizard's got the correct answer in this case - while it is possible to build a "hanging" screw pump (i.e. the impassable tile floating over empty space), the pump must be connected to another machine component which is supported, whether that be a gear assembly, axle, another screw pump, windmill, water wheel, or even a millstone.

[herpderp]

Oh, the problem was that apparently the gear assembly must be built directly above the input side of the pump. if you have it so the output side is below the gear assembly, it won't let you build the pump.

[Quietust]

Not true - power can be transferred through either tile, though if you're linking something above the pump then you have to build the pump itself first, which means that the pump must be either supported itself or attached to some other machinery which is supported.

[SquirrelWizard]

my current map makes use of several screw pumps. The constructed volcano (yeah its not fully constructed yet, still working on it) and the perpetual motion power plant both utilize screw pumps which are powered from different angles.

Remember that you want to seal off the deposit area with walls to avoid leaks (the output tile acts as a wall in this case) so typically when you power from the side you run it to the input tile. From above, anything goes.