Robster84
New member
I am from the UK and normally on a UK forum but thought people may be interested in this
I fancied a small project and opted to build my own auto cleaning head. I originally wanted to control it via a relay and my Apex. This has not happened yet as i was advised against doing this through the variable ports. Once i find out a safe way to utilise the variable port to trigger this, i will change my electronics. I also programmed an arduino nano to do the job but decided i didn't really want to do it with that.
Off i went to ebay to purchase the following:
80 od, 74 id, 100mm long acrylic tube
2x 90mm acrylic discs
a piece of 12mm nylon rod
a 12v 25rpm high torque motor
a dc cable extension
I already had:
Power on led '
Resistor
Wire
Cable grommet
Long bolts
Short screws for the motor
Tiny o-rings as motor vibration dampers
A car squeegee
12v 1a power supply. It doesn't need to be 1a, can be smaller
I started by making the motor mounting holes in 1 of the discs
I then made 3 holes in the skimmer lid and the same disc so the 2 could be mated together
I started work on the top lid with making a hole for the power led and a hole for the cable gland
Happy with these parts, i took the disassemble parts to work and cut my acrylic tube to length on a lathe. You can do it with a saw if you can cut straight lines, i can't
I glued the tube to the base disc, installed the motor to the previously drilled/tapped mounting holes and lined up the lid. Once i marked up where i wanted my lid screw holes, i drilled the top ones at 6.1mm and the ones in the base are tapped out at M6 x 1.0
The wiring was then soldered and bare connections were wrapped in heat shrink tubing. The lid was put on and M6 bolts were fitted to keep the lid on and make the internals fully accessible for maintenance and servicing should it need it.
A 18mm hole was made in the skimmer lid and a 12mm id rubber cable grommet was inserted.
The nylon rod was drilled carefully in the end with a 5/16" drill so that it was a tight fit on the motors 8mm shaft.
Using the skimmer cup for measurement, i cut the rod to the desired length. Then i cut the piece of squeegee and screwed it to the nylon rod in a position the makes the squeegee push nicely against the skimmer neck
And voila, here is the finished lazy man cleaner, I spent £20 on bits that i did not have
Here is a video of it in action
Click the picture
I fancied a small project and opted to build my own auto cleaning head. I originally wanted to control it via a relay and my Apex. This has not happened yet as i was advised against doing this through the variable ports. Once i find out a safe way to utilise the variable port to trigger this, i will change my electronics. I also programmed an arduino nano to do the job but decided i didn't really want to do it with that.
Off i went to ebay to purchase the following:
80 od, 74 id, 100mm long acrylic tube
2x 90mm acrylic discs
a piece of 12mm nylon rod
a 12v 25rpm high torque motor
a dc cable extension
I already had:
Power on led '
Resistor
Wire
Cable grommet
Long bolts
Short screws for the motor
Tiny o-rings as motor vibration dampers
A car squeegee
12v 1a power supply. It doesn't need to be 1a, can be smaller
I started by making the motor mounting holes in 1 of the discs
I then made 3 holes in the skimmer lid and the same disc so the 2 could be mated together
I started work on the top lid with making a hole for the power led and a hole for the cable gland
Happy with these parts, i took the disassemble parts to work and cut my acrylic tube to length on a lathe. You can do it with a saw if you can cut straight lines, i can't
I glued the tube to the base disc, installed the motor to the previously drilled/tapped mounting holes and lined up the lid. Once i marked up where i wanted my lid screw holes, i drilled the top ones at 6.1mm and the ones in the base are tapped out at M6 x 1.0
The wiring was then soldered and bare connections were wrapped in heat shrink tubing. The lid was put on and M6 bolts were fitted to keep the lid on and make the internals fully accessible for maintenance and servicing should it need it.
A 18mm hole was made in the skimmer lid and a 12mm id rubber cable grommet was inserted.
The nylon rod was drilled carefully in the end with a 5/16" drill so that it was a tight fit on the motors 8mm shaft.
Using the skimmer cup for measurement, i cut the rod to the desired length. Then i cut the piece of squeegee and screwed it to the nylon rod in a position the makes the squeegee push nicely against the skimmer neck
And voila, here is the finished lazy man cleaner, I spent £20 on bits that i did not have
Here is a video of it in action
Click the picture
