diy seaswirl

[ctripi]

What is the grey object encircling the white PVC tubing located between the white PVC and the grey housing box on your latest photo post of 3/4/08 at 11:41am ?

 

[slug]

1" coupler filer out to fit over the other pvc piece

 

[ctripi]

So top part of the device is glued completely solid ?
I've just order a few 3/4 rpm motors. I figure that should get 2 sweeps of the output every 1.5 minutes.
Thanks for the project !!!!! I have one small patch of cyanobacter directly in the front-center of the tank. I hope its days are now numbered.

 

[slug]

Yeah the top part(the third picture I posted) does not move at all.

 

[ctripi]

About how many degrees of rotation do you get with your set-up?
Did your span coupling seem hard to hand turn?
Have you gotten much salt creep out of the male part of the coupler?
Hows the motor holding up?
In hindsight, would you change anything ?

 

[art19]

ctripi where did you order you motors from?

 

[slug]

About how many degrees of rotation do you get with your set-up?

I'm getting about 60 deg of rotation. Around 100 isn't too hard to do but I wanted 60 for my setup. I put an eductor on it and any more rotation and it would be blasting straight at the tank wall too much.

Did your span coupling seem hard to hand turn?
Have you gotten much salt creep out of the male part of the coupler?

I greased it up pretty well with high vacuum grease. I don't think it is hard to turn but I don't have torque numbers. I think if it turned much easier I wouldn't trust the seal. I don't have any salt creep. Once I added the eductor the pressure went way up and I thought it might leak but it didn't. If you run one with an eductor be careful because the pressure pushing the top and bottom apart is substantial.

Hows the motor holding up?

I'm surprised it is still chugging along. I'd like to replace the motor but haven't found anything good yet. The motor is the only thing I'd change.

 

[ctripi]

Art19... I got my motors from the surplus center. Check the swirl-stein thread for the link. The motors didn't get great feed back. But for $2 each, I'll give them a try.

http://www.surpluscenter.com/item.asp?UID=2008031513194331&item=10-958-A&catname=electric

Slug...there is mention of a good motor from the McMaster company on page 16 of the swirl-stein thread. It was about $20 but the post mentioned it was really quiet. This motor is going to be my next choice if the ones on order don't pan out.

www.mcmaster.com search for synchronous ac motors

No eductor for me. This unit is gong to be my sump return. I'm making it out of 3/4 PVC. It'll push about 6-700 gpm across a 18" wide DT.

 

[ctripi]

Well, I've built a prototype using a 3/4" slip coupling. Unfortunately the gear motors stripped out within about 20 minutes of testing. Reading the swirl-stein thread, it may seem that the torque rating of the 3/4rpm motors was rather poor. I'm hoping that the alternative motors (3 rpm) everyone is using may hold up but where can I get one. I'm thinking of trying the $20 mcmaster motor because it may have a higher torque rating. But again I feel hesitant given the load on the gears.
I've also built another prototype that is essentially a "swirlstein" but it is made up of a solid pipe that connects to a polyethylene tubing. It requires less torque to move as one motor moved it for about 1 hour before stripping.
Anyone have any feedback re torque strength of these little motors?

 

[slug]

Just an update to say it's been running with the original $3 motor for over two months straight now. No leaks even with a eductor(greatly increases pressure) on the output. I still need to find a better motor.

 

[tangreefkeeper]

do you have pics that show your step by step .. really interested in trying to make two for my tank

 

[luv951]

how is this working after 1.5 years? Still holding up?

If anyone has more pics or vids I would love to see em

 

[slug]

I ran for a year then I switched to a 75g tank and didn't have room for it in the hood. This winter when I get more interested in the tank I'll probably fit it up.

 

[luv951]

Thanks for replying!

Do you think you could repost some of the pics? It seems like some are missing, like the ones where you circled parts.

I like the idea, but I am having trouble figuring out exactly how it goes together.

 

[luv951]

I started making two of these this weekend. I am waiting on the motors to show up. I ordered one 4 RPM and one 2 RPM, so that, by rotating at different intervals, it will provide more randomness. Here are the pics thus far.

Slug - Great idea....I appreciate your offer of reposing/retaking pics, but I got it now....

 

[MrRyanT]

I am following along here. Considering making a couple of these for my tank. I'm really interested in seeing how you attach something to the pvc to which you'll attach the arm to the motor. I'm having a tough time figuring out how to get something to bond strong enough to the pvc.

 

[luv951]

That is one thing that I am thinking about too. Not sure of the best way, but I think I have a plan....will continue to post pics as I work on it this week.

 

[shabreeson]

ctripi-I am thinking of getting one of the heavier (44$) gearmotors from www.mcmaster.com for one of my own aplications. is there any spacific wiring I need to do with these or do they come ready to plug in?

 

[MrRyanT]

That is one thing that I am thinking about too. Not sure of the best way, but I think I have a plan....will continue to post pics as I work on it this week.

Have you made any progress on yours? I started one of my own tonight, but gonna be a slow process for me. Don't have much time, and don't have proper tools. Guess I'm gonna have to buy me a few tools(namely correct size hole saws)to get this done. I've put a little thought into the way to attach to the pipe assembly. I'm going to try to cut a piece of acrylic into a circle with hole in the middle to fit tight over the expansion joint and cut small slots on inside of hole so that slides onto the expansion joint piece that screws on and off. Then make some small holes on outside of that acrylic piece to insert the drive shaft into. Hope that makes sense.

 

[luv951]

Ya, I have finished two of them...or so I thought. I was going to give them a test run to see how well they worked before posting pics. That way, if I went down the wrong road, I could fix before others followed me.

For the attachment to the PVC, I used the handle of a couple of ball valves from an older plumbing project. I looked and looked for some sort of PVC square rod that would work, but could not find on locally. Then one night, I happened to look over and see the old ball valve and :idea:

I used my PVC scissors to but the handles off, put them against a sanding drum to create an arced surface and used PVC glue to weld them on. Worked perfectly.

Unfortunately, while mine ran great dry, I tried to hook them up yesterday and by this morning, both had stopped rotating. Not sure why.

I will try to figure it out this week.

Also, since I will be unhooking them, I will snap some pics and post them.