DIY Red Dragon Pumps, gathering ideas.

[douggiestyle]

well i was wrong <A href="http://www.sisme.it/lavastoviglie_eng.htm">sisme</A> builds the pump. its the one on the top right. but check out the bottom one. that could be really cool.

here are some pics with descriptions.
this is half the volute. notice the similarities to a tunze.

the other half, showing the impeller.

here is the impeller. notice the intake (center) its ducted.

here is a side view of the impeller. you can see the blades.

 

[douggiestyle]

sorry for the lousy camera

 

[hahnmeister]

Looks very cool. The spiral contours in the volute to help move the fluids around cant hurt either. When looking at some older H&S/Deltec eheims, and now on the inside of the Aquaclear, there is a small flap, or plate, sometimes employed at the outlet of the pump volute. Where the air/water mix would otherwise spin right past the outlet, there is a small ...aww, bugger... heres what Im talking about in a pic... the red thing!!

 

[quangtam7]

When have time I will take pictures of of the volute's parts and upload a video of it running. Man, air is freaking loud!!

 

[douggiestyle]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9721616#post9721616 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by hahnmeister
Looks very cool. The spiral contours in the volute to help move the fluids around cant hurt either. When looking at some older H&S/Deltec eheims, and now on the inside of the Aquaclear, there is a small flap, or plate, sometimes employed at the outlet of the pump volute. Where the air/water mix would otherwise spin right past the outlet, there is a small ...aww, bugger... heres what Im talking about in a pic... the red thing!!

ive removed the red thing from the mag9.5 that i use. it was rubber and would get bent in one direction. if i would shut the pump off and if the pump restarted in the opposite direction, the output would be less until the rubber thing got bent the other direction. this would drive me nuts with adjusting the overflow. so i removed it.

 

[spykes]

Red dragon has serveral features the hagen pump does not support. They have titanium shafts and no rubber bushings to stay centered. The lime bypass was also inserted. I'll take some pics of my BK400's impeller. Also like mag drive those 4 screw attachments needs to be bored out and the venturi on the BK is very diffrent in adjustment. I dunno if you can just make a RD pump. Even their regular RD has changed over a bit. My friend used my old titanium impeller for his RD pump. It didnt function like my RD skimmer pump did.

 

[spykes]

but this is really interesting never the less. i am looking foward to your results

 

[douggiestyle]

i noticed in the red dragon that the outtake is asymetrical in how it connects to the volute. would this mean that the pump is unidirectional?

 

[douggiestyle]

some thing ive noticed, why do 90% of all mods take place in the kitchen?

 

[hahnmeister]

douggiestyle, Im not sure how RE knows for sure, but the Aquaclear 901s do tend to start in the same direction 90% of the time. The larger pumps, if you look closely at the impellers, appear to be unidirectional as well.

 

[hahnmeister]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9724065#post9724065 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by spykes
Red dragon has serveral features the hagen pump does not support. They have titanium shafts and no rubber bushings to stay centered. The lime bypass was also inserted. I'll take some pics of my BK400's impeller. Also like mag drive those 4 screw attachments needs to be bored out and the venturi on the BK is very diffrent in adjustment. I dunno if you can just make a RD pump. Even their regular RD has changed over a bit. My friend used my old titanium impeller for his RD pump. It didnt function like my RD skimmer pump did.

REAAAALLLLLYYYYY? You need to take a closer look then, because the Red Dragon pumps ARE Laguna pumps, in case you missed me saying that before. And while the smaller models have the ceramic+rubber shaft supports, the larger ones do not. The Red Dragons simply swap the ceramic shaft for the alloy one. The anti-lime port can be duplicated easily with a drill and some 1/4" JG fittings. The screw attachments CANT be bored out because UNLIKE mag drive pumps they are not plastic screws, but full machine screws with threaded nuts in the housing to mate with. The whole point of the mod is that the volute is being swapped out like how RE does it. If my machine screws arent done 100% the same, Im not too concerned. Otherwise, we would be trying to find red PVC right now... .

Sorry, but did you read everything in the thread before you posted? I covered all these topics already.

Well, I await your pics of the BK400s impeller. I do suspect that there are different impellers, and so one shaft will not fit all pumps... just like with the Lagunas.

 

[hahnmeister]

dp

 

[JCTewks]

where can i get blocks of pvc to turn the volute on a lathe?? also what about sheet pvc for the mounting plate?

 

[andyjd]

Interesting pics of the Eheim, I hope to use one on my Orca Skimmer

 

[douggiestyle]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9724430#post9724430 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by JCTewks
where can i get blocks of pvc to turn the volute on a lathe?? also what about sheet pvc for the mounting plate?

was thinking the same thing.

usplastics should have it i will check........

they have in thier online catalog max 2"deep 10"x10" sheets. i dont think the volute would need to be more than 2" deep. hth

 

[BeanAnimal]

The Red Dragons simply swap the ceramic shaft for the alloy one.

I would not be so sure. As was mentioned, the housings may be the same, but it is very trivial to wind the motors differently. They may have even added poles to ensure that the motor always starts in the same direction and has more torque.

Most motor OEMS will happily wind to spec, the bobbins/armatures are wound by computer. It is trivial to change the number of turns or use a different pole piece.

 

[hsvtoolfool]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9724797#post9724797 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by douggiestyle
was thinking the same thing.

usplastics should have it i will check........

they have in thier online catalog max 2"deep 10"x10" sheets. i dont think the volute would need to be more than 2" deep. hth

Forget sheet stock for lathe-work. USP has 1-foot PVC Rods in
4", 5", and 6" diameters for $35, $80, and $120 respectively.
I also checked nylon, teflon, and acrylic prices but PVC is the
least expensive.

A 1-foot rod should permit you to turn at least 3 volutes and
perhaps 4. The only question now is how large diameter do you
want to try?

 

[JCTewks]

i would think a 4" OD volute would give you enough room for a 2.5-3" meshwheel. i don't have my pump yet so i am not sure how big a volute would fit on them. i am not sure wether to get a 5000, or 7000 pump. looking to make a 12-18" diameter skimmer.

how do you all think thes pumps will hold up to head pressure? could you put this on a skimmer with a 36" reaction chamber? if so, what pump would be best for that size skimmer. i wnat to get in on this action...just don't want to buy and mod 2 different pumps if i don't have to.

 

[JCTewks]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9725180#post9725180 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by hsvtoolfool
Forget sheet stock for lathe-work. USP has 1-foot PVC Rods in
4", 5", and 6" diameters for $35, $80, and $120 respectively.
I also checked nylon, teflon, and acrylic prices but PVC is the
least expensive.

A 1-foot rod should permit you to turn at least 3 volutes and
perhaps 4. The only question now is how large diameter do you
want to try?

take a look at these...holow rod

they are cheaper...and we don't need that pesky middle anyway

or we could try this...you could see whats going on inside this way
Clear pvc
it's even cheaper!!!

 

[quangtam7]

Some older pictures that show how I attached the impeller housing to the pump.

http://www.dfwmas.org/Forums/viewtopic.php?t=29391