Another DIY skimmer...

[scottallert]

damn thats nice
you should make a bunch of these and start selling them.

 

[RussM]

Update...

Update...

Having been in service for a week now, the new skimmer is getting broken in and is working well. Skimmate production was only fair at first, and rather wet. Over the past week, I gradually had to adjust the water level down as foam production improved. The collection cup was cleaned yesterday afternoon, so this is about 30 hours worth...

There is only about 1" clearance between the cup and the bottom of the tank, so cannot get a pic of the foam head from the top, so this is the best shot I could get:

 

[Tajjo]

omg, people like you kick so much azz, i would love to have the know how, to do that.

 

[RussM]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14040806#post14040806 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Tajjo
omg, people like you kick so much azz, i would love to have the know how, to do that.

Thanks! I didn't do too bad for an IT geek, eh?

I got a lot of great info here on RC in the DIY and Lighting, Filtration & Other Equipment forums. Looked at a lot of skimmer pics, and picked and chose the features I wanted, and came up with a few wacky ideas as well. I learned how to make a bayonet flange set from a thread here on RC. Fabrication was quite a challenge for me... all I'd made from acrylic before were a couple of sumps, an ATO reservoir, and a kalk reactor. It took a bit of innovation and a great deal of improvisation to do it with the limited tools I had available, but I persisted when I got to a difficult part. Many years of woodworking experience helped in some ways. My scrap bin has a number of pieces that I screwed up, so they were written off as "lessons learned" :eek2:, but my second or sometimes third try came out OK. Even if it had turned out to be a total failure, I can't begin to express how much enjoyment I got out of the project.

 

[2pairs]

WOW
I would have to say you hit the mark, not only looks good but actually works too.

 

[kgross]

Very nicely done.

Kim

 

[brians4671]

very impressive!

 

[SS7]

Very nicely done!

I'd like to see more information on what tools and process you used for the collection cup flange.

SS

 

[RussM]

The bayonet /twist-lock flanges were made using the same general method as depicted here In that thread, liveforphysics mentions that he followed the example in BeanAnimal's skimmer build thread, but I've never been able to to find it... Bean Animal is a PostAnimal Some details and pics of BeanAnimal's build can be found here

In hindsight, I really wish I'd taken more pics as the build progressed.

 

[Ken_wied]

Awesome job!!!! Lol how much would you charge to make one for someone less handy lol

 

[RussM]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14045772#post14045772 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Ken_wied
Awesome job!!!! Lol how much would you charge to make one for someone less handy lol

A case of Captain Morgan Private Stock would do nicely. Oh yeah... plus all attorney fees for the divorce which would result.

 

[saltwaterjames]

Thats the most impressive DIY work I've ever seen well done RussM!

 

[coralcrazy2]

Very nice acrylic work.I have been looking into building one myself.Thanks for sharing it give me something to go by.

 

[troylee]

:thumbsup: look's good glad it's running ok for ya.........

 

[vuanhquoc]

beautiful man.

 

[THEUNION1]

Damn man that is awesome!

 

[savichus]

Sweet!!!

 

[One Dumm Hikk]

Re: Another DIY skimmer...

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14006359#post14006359 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by RussM

I made an angled fence jig for my table saw, set it at the right angle and started cutting some 1/4" acrylic. Next step... make a jig to route the proper angles on the long edges of the panels, which needed to be beveled for the 8 panels to fit together properly. Now let's see who's paying attention... what's wrong in this picture?

I have been trying to figure out what was wrong with that picture since you posted it. I give up. Whats wrong with it?

 

[RussM]

LOL! I was beginning to wonder if anyone was going to take the challenge!

As positioned on the jig, the piece about to be routed would have the bevel on the wrong side if I ran it past the bit since the opposite long edge was already routed. (I would have ended up with a parallelogram cross section instead of a trapezoidal one. The black Xs were there on each piece to say to me "hey dummy... flip me over" to keep me from messing it up.

 

[MotherFish]

Love the design.
Wonder what you'd be capable of making if you got that divorce... hmmm.....

lol