Calcium Reactor is finally underway

[Kevin McG]

Well I finally picked up the rest of the material and the machine shop is underway with the machining of the parts. I am doing a dual chamber with the bubble counter mounted right the the flange. I will be posting
all kinds of pictures with assembly and such in the near future so be sure to check back.

Here is a 3D model of the parts minus the plumbing of course. That will be added after the machine shop is finished. The pump will be mounted on the right and I'm not sure which brand I'll be going with just yet but probably a Eheim or Mag.


Feel free to ask any questions, if there are any that is.

I am exited to get this finally rolling :rollface:

 

[Kevin McG]

Sorry for the double post

 

[Kevin McG]

OK Something fishy is going on. The other post was created and I'm not sure why.

 

[MarkS]

Very cool design. How much is the maching going to cost you? What is the purpose of that little lip on the flange?

 

[Kevin McG]

Very cool design. How much is the maching going to cost you? What is the purpose of that little lip on the flange?

Thanks

The machining is basically going to cost me nothing. I am a machinst/cnc programmer myself and have a friend who owns a small shop that agreed to do it for me for nothing, as ling and did the programming part


The lip on the left flange is where the bubble counter is going to be located.

 

[toxqc]

LOL I thought I was the only one using mastercam, we learn that at school and I never saw a compagny use it... anyway, can you send me the file, I would love to see it. In action too

 

[Kevin McG]

LOL I thought I was the only one using mastercam, we learn that at school and I never saw a compagny use it... anyway, can you send me the file, I would love to see it. In action too

Mastercam is widely used for cad in the area I live in....


I can send but I need to add a lot more 1st

 

[BeanAnimal]

mastercam is very common in the industry.,,,

 

[MarkS]

How much does MasterCAM cost? Let me guess.... $2000+?

 

[Kevin McG]

How much does MasterCAM cost? Let me guess.... $2000+?

The new version is like 10k +

I use version 9.1 here at home and work

 

[ricochetts]

looking good ...Kevin....

 

[jimmyj7090]

Any updates on the project? looks awsome. Are you going to go reg flow or reverse flow? After making my reverse flow and running it for a while I'm a big advocate of that design. Build with it's not really anymore work or materials but you never get Co2 bubbles accumulating anywhere in the reactor.

Also, Do you have any design/plan info you can share on the bubble counter? I've got the same style top flange mount but when I tried to install nylon fittings into tapped acrylic I couldn't stop the slight leaks.

Aren't projects fun....

jk

 

[Kevin McG]

Update - 2-26-2006

Update - 2-26-2006

Well finally after a pretty long wait I have most of the parts that needed to be machined. Still have a way to go but here is some of the progress.


all the parts

Base has a groove to axcept the tubes.

This is the flange that will have the bubble counter attached.

Flange without bubble counter

Lookdown into tubes

Bubble counter

All dry fitted

This will probably be the configuation I will go with on the final assembly.

Well that's it for now still need to get all the plumbing together and I think I am going to get a ehiem pump for this instead of a mag drive like I previously noted.

 

[CLAMM]

Very nice Kevin. Where is the co2 going to be inject to? the bottom of the tubes? Are you going to have any pressure guages or anything fancy like the pro-cal's? what material are you using to keep the media off the bottom where im guessing you are going to bring your c02 and tank water in?

Looks great.

 

[Kevin McG]

Hi Casey

Where is the co2 going to be inject to?

The Co2 will be injected into the inlet from the pump somwhere not sure just yet.

Are you going to have any pressure guages or anything fancy like the pro-cal's?

I will have a pressure guage mounted on the top of the second chamber.

what material are you using to keep the media off the bottom where im guessing you are going to bring your c02 and tank water in?

I will have some liitle plates made with acrylic legs to keep the media up of the bottom. I still have to come up with a design with another member.

I and another member of our club are building these and he mentioned an idea he's going to work on

 

[xinumaster]

Very nice. Are you going to flame the edges?

 

[Kevin McG]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6831438#post6831438 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by xinumaster
Very nice. Are you going to flame the edges?

Flame the edges?? isn't that a polishing technique

 

[nhanson]

Holy Crap Kevin! Nice work!

I think I might position the bubble counter so it's at about 4 or 5 o'clock (if you call the current position 9 o'clock). That way the bubble counter would be protected a bit between the two chambers. I'd be a little worried about some clumsy moment bumping that bubble counter tube and cracking it's bond to the upper flange.

Nate

 

[jimmyj7090]

Hey, that looks awsome.

Just to add a design question/suggestion.

(do you remember my reactor, you posted the pic on the BRS fourm for me because I couldn't figure out how to do it myself)

I ran it for a while with the needle valve on the outlet of the main reactor chamber. After I messed with it to add more media it started to leak a tiny bit from somewhere on the fittings on the Ehiem pump. I moved the needle valve assembly to before the reactor (I'm assuming that this makes for lower pressure in the reactor chamber) on the inlet line. This change made the leak stop.

My question/suggestion is "does the pressure in the reactor matter?" If it doesn't make a difference in the effectiveness of the reactor, then It's probabally a good idea to keep the adjustment for the input/flow for the reactor before the reactor so that the pressure in the reactor is minimized. This would be good for not encouraging leaks in a DIY reactor.

If the pressure does make a difference then it would be a good idea to strive for %100 seals on the reactor and keeping it at pressure.

Not really offering a suggestion, just food for thought. If you come to any good conclusions let me know.

jk

 

[jimmyj7090]

Oh yea, I forgot to add,

Putting the needle valve before the reactor seemed to make it fine tune a lot more accurately. That was the thing that really seemed like an advantage. I have no idea why changing the valve placement would make a difference but in my case it seems to have.

jk