DIY cylinder idea

[One Dumm Hikk]

In these two threads the ideas were coming up for trying to make a cylinder from sheet acrylic. One idea was to take thin acrylic and make a cylinder, wrap it again and again (laminating it) to get a thicker wall. James (Acrylics) said it wouldn't work (I didn't think it would but asked him for help with it to make sure I was right). The second idea that came up was to use flat panels and glue them together. That idea is in the HUGE skimmer thread.

Another DIY Skimmer

Buidling a HUGE skimmer

If you took 1" wide strips of acrylic that were beveled at 5 degrees and had 72 of them, they would form a circle. What problems would you have trying to make a tube that way? It would end up approx 24" in diameter.

Anybody ever tried anything like that?

 

[freddy4130]

Go for it bro. Especially if you have like a month of Sundays to work on it.

 

[One Dumm Hikk]

I am disabled (back surgery) so it would give me something to tinker with. As long as the idea will work and I am not wasting my time/effort trying to do something that someone else has tried and knows it won't work.

 

[jbird69]

I dont see why a series of thin sheets of acrylic wouldnt work. get them warm and plyable and use something like a sauna tube as a form (you know those big, round cardboard concrete forms?) Cut the sheets of acrylic so they just touch end to end inside the form. Paint it with liquid acrylic solvent and install the next one inside, with the seam some distance away from the first. Repeat 4-5 layers. Just thinking out loud.

 

[One Dumm Hikk]

Thats basically what I asked about with trying to make the tube with thin sheets. James (Acrylics) said it would cause me trouble trying to get it glued good and then trying to bond to the ends of the tube. I may try it some day if I run across some thin acrylic sheet but not going to buy the stuff to try it.

The narrow strips, if it will work, won't cost a whole lot because I could buy scraps from the acrylic shop and go from there.

 

[RussM]

Having done this during my skimmer build with 8 panels, I shudder at the mere thought of doing 72 joints. 8 wasn't bad to do, maybe even 16 wouldn't be too much hassle. 12-16 panels seems to me to be a pretty good compromise between reasonable assembly effort and a perfectly round product.

 

[One Dumm Hikk]

Thats a good point Russ. That is definitely a lot of joints to try to deal with.

 

[RussM]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14149877#post14149877 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by One Dumm Hikk
Thats a good point Russ. That is definitely a lot of joints to try to deal with.

...especially if the assembly technique used is anything like I did my cone... glue up two joints, put in form ensure proper final shape, let the #40 set for 4-6 hours, repeat. Each set was another small batch of #40 to mix.

 

[One Dumm Hikk]

That is about the only way you could do it and be able to make sure it was even close to round at the end. If you tried to glue up more than one joint at the time you are asking for trouble.

I have access to more 3/4 mdf scraps than I could burn in a year (local cabinet shop owned by a friend). I think I might go by there and get him to cut up MDF strips for me to make some wooden cylinders the sizes I need. I could glue/nail them together and get the round shape I need and then try rolling a cylinder on it.

There has to be some way to deal with the ends of a rolled cylinder not wanting to deflect. With a wooden mold, I could glue it, vacuum bag it and see.

Trying to figure out some way to make 24" cylinders without having to buy them and still be able to see in them. Need some 16 and 12 as well. If I can figure out the 24, I can make the 12 and 16" cylinders as well.

 

[mavgi]

Randy

Do you look for a clean look finish 100% ?

 

[das75]

There was a thread a while back where guy warmed a sheet of acrylic over a cylinder (garbage can?) and joined the ends, wasn't laminated though.

 

[One Dumm Hikk]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14150823#post14150823 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mavgi
Randy

Do you look for a clean look finish 100% ?

Right now, no. Eventually I might but not right now. I have seriously considered taking a 55 gallon drum and stacking two on top of one another and bonding them together. Yes, I can bond HDPE together. Eventually, i will make something that is clean and 100% finished but looking for a cheaper alternative to do some R&D with before purchasing anything that is more expensive per foot than my car payment is.

Short and simple? I want something along the size, scale and capacity of the Volcano skimmers.

 

[8BALL_99]

Uhh I'm about 90% sure that Volcano skimmer bodies are made from a single sheet heated and bent into a tube. Atleast thats what I've read on here a few times. If your looking to make a volcano sized skimmer you should be able to use the same method. lol for all thats worth there are several people on here not happy with their Volcano's you might could just buy a used one cheap and experiment away

 

[One Dumm Hikk]

Volcanoes are what actually gave me the original idea of making my own cylinders.

Do you have links to threads on people not happy with the skimmers? I was reading the archives earlier and found a volcano skimmer thread and it read like a "Volcanoes are the savior of the world" type thread. Knowing some of the things people don't like about them might help me keep from making some mistakes that led to what people don't like about them.

I was looking to see if I could find a thread where it showed how he made the cylinders.

 

[8BALL_99]

I don't think you will find a thread with him showing how he made them. He was doing it for a living and I'm sure he wasn't showing people how to make their own.

There are several threads with people not happy. If you notice spazz is no longer around and people with Volcano skimmer can no longer get any parts or service for them.. A search for Volcano would probably find you any thread there is on them. For the most part people just didn't think they performed up to par. I know they pretty much had to have a Air pump because the Dart just doesn't cut it for such a large skimmer body. Even the Reeflo skimmers with their much smaller bodies don't pull all that much air.

 

[EnderG60]

guys the point of the round tube is no edges for bubbles to get stuck to. All your doing with the facets is adding more edges.

your better off doing a square one, rather then a faceted one.

 

[RussM]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14151892#post14151892 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by EnderG60
guys the point of the round tube is no edges for bubbles to get stuck to. All your doing with the facets is adding more edges.

your better off doing a square one, rather then a faceted one.

There are no bubbles sticking at the seams and angles inside my octagonal skimmer cone. Maybe there is a magic anti-bubble-stick coating on the acrylic I used.

 

[EnderG60]

my point is that unless your swirling the water inside the main chamber, which most modern skimmers dont due since they use bubble diffusers, round bodies have bascially no gain over square besides being cheaper to assemble in manufacturing plants.

Save yourself the effort and just make a square one, they work just as well, as long as you have a smooth transition from body to neck.

 

[jbird69]

is there a diagram of a good skimmer design that a DIY'r could look at? I would like to see a drawing scymatic of an effective skimmer design with all the components explained.

I dont know a whole lot about skimmer design. They are an important, expensive part of this hobby and they seem quite buildable for a handyman.

 

[One Dumm Hikk]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14151346#post14151346 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by 8BALL_99
I don't think you will find a thread with him showing how he made them. He was doing it for a living and I'm sure he wasn't showing people how to make their own.

There are several threads with people not happy. If you notice spazz is no longer around and people with Volcano skimmer can no longer get any parts or service for them.. A search for Volcano would probably find you any thread there is on them. For the most part people just didn't think they performed up to par. I know they pretty much had to have a Air pump because the Dart just doesn't cut it for such a large skimmer body. Even the Reeflo skimmers with their much smaller bodies don't pull all that much air.

I will look later tonight when I have more time to sit and read through the search results and find the ones with complaints. I don't know a lot about Spazz as he was before my time here. I did assume from looking for his posts that he had stopped posting here and with the website gone that he was pretty much out of business with it.

I did read about the air pumps and I don't think you are going to find very many pumps that can handle the 6' height and still pull any decent amount of air through a venturi.

I don't want to duplicate a Volcano. Not even close. It was the only one I could come up with to give a scale of what I want to do. Something in the 24" diameter 6' tall or so range.