180 gallon build: Modular control system, 3D printed equipment, open-source
- Thread starter jrhupp
- Start date
The rock structures are hollow underneath. The logic with the egg crate was that it would lock the base pieces in place so that the structures could be hollow underneath, and that it would let me tweak the position of the two structures without having to disassemble them. Rather I can move them around a bit intact.
I plan to leave it in place. As I understand it, it is fairly inert and the main risk it posses is that it may potentially contribute to detritus build up in the sand bed.
Some updates:
I've been working on getting this plumbed. Fitting the rigid PVC and making sure things are secure, clean, and there is no stress on the surge tank bulkheads has been so slow going. This is three days worth of work!
Here is the return to the tank and one of the surge lines. The return ended up about 1" higher then expected. Thankfully I had not glued the elbows with the line-loc in place yet. So they can still be lowered a bit.
I'm still waiting on the DIN rail to start putting the equipment enclosure together. But in the meantime I have been thinking about cable management in the enclosure. I wanted to use one of the off the shelf cable management systems, but in small quantities these are prohibitively expensive for me. So instead I modeled up a printable version and will now be printing the cable track.
The main down side is that I am limited to about 7.5" pieces. So rather then having one continuous piece down each side of the enclosure I will wind up with four pieces placed end to end.
The upside is, I get the track in black now. With the off the shelf stuff it looks like I would have ended up with tan or grey; not great compliments to neon green and black.
I can print all parts for a single section in one run (it takes ~4.5 hrs):
The track prints flat, as shown above, and then folds into a channel. This makes sure the tabs as strong and won't snap off. It also lets me put the print bed surface to the inside where it is not seen. This is a personal thing for me; I don't like how the bed side of the print looks.
Three supports go into it to help keep its shape (one can be seen at the end). This way the cover can snap in place and stay there, as the sides are held rigidly at 90 degrees at the base, but the tabs can still flex.
I've been working on getting this plumbed. Fitting the rigid PVC and making sure things are secure, clean, and there is no stress on the surge tank bulkheads has been so slow going. This is three days worth of work!
Here is the return to the tank and one of the surge lines. The return ended up about 1" higher then expected. Thankfully I had not glued the elbows with the line-loc in place yet. So they can still be lowered a bit.
I'm still waiting on the DIN rail to start putting the equipment enclosure together. But in the meantime I have been thinking about cable management in the enclosure. I wanted to use one of the off the shelf cable management systems, but in small quantities these are prohibitively expensive for me. So instead I modeled up a printable version and will now be printing the cable track.
The main down side is that I am limited to about 7.5" pieces. So rather then having one continuous piece down each side of the enclosure I will wind up with four pieces placed end to end.
The upside is, I get the track in black now. With the off the shelf stuff it looks like I would have ended up with tan or grey; not great compliments to neon green and black.
I can print all parts for a single section in one run (it takes ~4.5 hrs):
The track prints flat, as shown above, and then folds into a channel. This makes sure the tabs as strong and won't snap off. It also lets me put the print bed surface to the inside where it is not seen. This is a personal thing for me; I don't like how the bed side of the print looks.
Three supports go into it to help keep its shape (one can be seen at the end). This way the cover can snap in place and stay there, as the sides are held rigidly at 90 degrees at the base, but the tabs can still flex.
I have also been working on the temperature controller for the tank.
It will control two heaters at independent set points and is setup to use two thermistor based temperature sensors. I haven't finished the sensors (though I have the thermistors and the housing materials) or built up the outlet box for it yet (parts are printed). But I have the board done and tested. And have a frozen version of the firmware.
Some features:
- Full isolation between the micro-controller and mains.
- Two independent temperature measurements from two sensors with error checking and reporting.
- Access to individual measurements and mean. Control is done on mean.
- Two independent control channels for heaters, each controlled on its own set point.
- Conditional compiling for SI or american units.
Here is the solder side of the board.
As you may notice, there are a couple of through hole resistors tacked onto the board. My original plan was to put the pull-down resistors in the sensor body. I'm still not sure why I thought this was a good idea; as it was not and in theory I know way better then to do that. And so through holes tacked on are the fix for a bad decision. Without them, the thermistor channels made an excellent proximity sensor.
The Eagle files below have SMD pull-downs included. Also some modified geometry so the board fits better in the enclosure.
Here is the board in the enclosure with everything wired up.
And here is the module all packaged up and powered on.
If you want to build one or just get a better look at what I'm doing here are the files:
SketchUp model
Eagle files for ver 1.1
Arduino sketch
It will control two heaters at independent set points and is setup to use two thermistor based temperature sensors. I haven't finished the sensors (though I have the thermistors and the housing materials) or built up the outlet box for it yet (parts are printed). But I have the board done and tested. And have a frozen version of the firmware.
Some features:
- Full isolation between the micro-controller and mains.
- Two independent temperature measurements from two sensors with error checking and reporting.
- Access to individual measurements and mean. Control is done on mean.
- Two independent control channels for heaters, each controlled on its own set point.
- Conditional compiling for SI or american units.
Here is the solder side of the board.
As you may notice, there are a couple of through hole resistors tacked onto the board. My original plan was to put the pull-down resistors in the sensor body. I'm still not sure why I thought this was a good idea; as it was not and in theory I know way better then to do that. And so through holes tacked on are the fix for a bad decision. Without them, the thermistor channels made an excellent proximity sensor.
The Eagle files below have SMD pull-downs included. Also some modified geometry so the board fits better in the enclosure.
Here is the board in the enclosure with everything wired up.
And here is the module all packaged up and powered on.
If you want to build one or just get a better look at what I'm doing here are the files:
SketchUp model
Eagle files for ver 1.1
Arduino sketch
Well crud, as an identifiable idiot, making one of those from scratch is beyond my intelligence.:hmm3:
If I may ask, what did it cost you to complete the 3D build. If you prefer to PM me as opposed to stating in the forum,that is fine as well.
I think the kit was around $500 or so. The enclosure and reworked bed were all done with stuff I had on hand. So no cost there. I added auto-bed leveling to it; that was mostly printed parts, but did require a $5 servo from amazon. There are a few other printed parts that I added or reworked, but that is was just the cost of filament.
rjjr1963
New member
What program are you using for the models?
Pardoned! Thanks much.
I don't have much to update at the moment as I have been traveling this week. But I did manage to get part of the sump system siliconed up before I left.
This guy will be the first chamber that the primary overflows go into and will sit next to the sump (a 40 gallon breeder). It will hold two filter socks and be about half full of rubble. It still needs to be drilled/plumbed and I need to fab up the filter sock tray and cover. I'm thinking those will be done in Corian (as I have a small stock pile).
Here it is laid out before I siliconed it up. This was recycled from an old 135 gallon terrarium I had collecting dust in the garage. Its 1/4" glass.
Wish I had grabbed a pic of the front of the terrarium coming off; it was most exciting. But my garage is not heated and I was more concerned with the cold and the giant sheet of glass I was dealing with at the time.
This guy will be the first chamber that the primary overflows go into and will sit next to the sump (a 40 gallon breeder). It will hold two filter socks and be about half full of rubble. It still needs to be drilled/plumbed and I need to fab up the filter sock tray and cover. I'm thinking those will be done in Corian (as I have a small stock pile).
Here it is laid out before I siliconed it up. This was recycled from an old 135 gallon terrarium I had collecting dust in the garage. Its 1/4" glass.
Wish I had grabbed a pic of the front of the terrarium coming off; it was most exciting. But my garage is not heated and I was more concerned with the cold and the giant sheet of glass I was dealing with at the time.
Thanks.
I'll have to live vicariously through your knowledge.
Looking forward to watching this progress.
