diy seaswirl

Wow! Great idea with the handle of the ball valve, don't believe I would've ever thought of that. Were the motors shot? or did they just quit rotating?
 
they just stopped rotating....not sure why. Seems most likely that they are binding a bit. I think, from having messed with them before that the spinning portion eventually gets a bit off kilter and then jams up a bit.

I got home too late to want to tear into them and figure out why + take pics. Hopefully tomorrow won't be such a long day.
 
I need a little help if anyone can give suggestions. I made one of these and got it hooked up today but it's making a squeaking noise. The noise is being caused by the link arm scraping inside the hole where it's attached. Here's a quick video so you can see how bad it is:
 
why is your sea swirl making noise? it sounds like something si rubbing your housing or the pvc piceses need a little more silicone greese? do you know what the noise is from?

oh, by the way, i love it. what motor did you endup using? it seems to work fantasticaly by the way.

(i have been looking into this for a while, but school and money are holding me back..)
 
I can see what our next Club meeting is gonna be about!

I can see what our next Club meeting is gonna be about!

Is the arm connected to the hole tightly? Or is the joint too tight for the arm to rotate in as the disk turns?
I'm thinking the pin connecting the arm to the acrylic disk it snugged in there too tight. I say cut another disk and make the pin hole a little larger. If that don't get it you should try silicone greasing the hades out of it.
 
it only makes the noise when it points straight forward all the way till 45deg. but not the last 45. so i am not set on the pin being too tight otherwise it would make the noise all the time. i think it is something else, but only one person will be able to tell us.

i think it would be a cool thing for a club meeting too.
you should do a workshop meeting. kind of like what HD does for builders and DIYers
 
Sorry guys, been playing softball. It was scraping inside the hole. I cut a new, thinner disk and it quit making the noise, but the motor has started binding up also. Its still running right now, but not very well. Gonna have to find a better motor. The one I used was a 3rpm 120v designed for a microwave turntable.
 
Those all look pretty good. One thing I did that helped a little was put a lot of silicone grease on the o-rings, helped it turn a little easier.
 
slug said:
Those all look pretty good. One thing I did that helped a little was put a lot of silicone grease on the o-rings, helped it turn a little easier.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I used silicone grease on mine also. I took one of the 2 o-rings off to help it turn easier too. It actually turns fairly easy, I think I may have messed up the motor myself when I was trying to get it set like I wanted it. Thanks for replying, this was a great idea.
 
MrRyanT
what motor did you end up using? it seems to work fine. there was no real hesitation and it seems like it was working fine. also, did you use a motor with a gear reduction or just go straight off the shaft with some sort of disk/throw mechanism.
thanks again
 
I went straight off the shaft. The motor was doing fine when I took the vid, started hesitating later. I got the motor off of ebay, here's a pic:
motor.jpg
 
One problem I had is that once you are running water through it it becomes harder to turn. The two parts will come apart from the water pressure if not kept from moving away from each other by the top and bottom of you enclosure. It should be pretty obvious that would happen but I missed it and almost had a big mess on my hand will experimenting with mine... I only put one screw in to hold the box together and I could see it starting to pull apart, luckily I shut the pump off fast enough.
 
slug said:
One problem I had is that once you are running water through it it becomes harder to turn. The two parts will come apart from the water pressure if not kept from moving away from each other by the top and bottom of you enclosure. It should be pretty obvious that would happen but I missed it and almost had a big mess on my hand will experimenting with mine... I only put one screw in to hold the box together and I could see it starting to pull apart, luckily I shut the pump off fast enough.
Click to expand...

thats a good observation. (one that sounds obvious but is not something that you think about right away)

if there is room, take 4 washers (that will fit around the pipe) and place 2 on top and 2 on bottom of the assy. then use plenty of silicone grease and it will act like a bearing and take stress off of the motor and allow the assy to pivot more freely.

we did this with metal pins and washers for joints and it makes a world of difference. its worth a try. especially if there is room. (it might help the motors last longer, especially if they are failing due to heat, friction, or not enough torque)
 
slug said:
One problem I had is that once you are running water through it it becomes harder to turn. The two parts will come apart from the water pressure if not kept from moving away from each other by the top and bottom of you enclosure. It should be pretty obvious that would happen but I missed it and almost had a big mess on my hand will experimenting with mine... I only put one screw in to hold the box together and I could see it starting to pull apart, luckily I shut the pump off fast enough.
Click to expand...
I thought about that but also thought my plumbing would hold it together. So far that's been the case, but I have been keeping a pretty close eye on it just in case.
 
Now that I think back to when mine really pulled apart hard I had put an eductor on it... I think it may even be in some of my pictures. That led to too much pressure and I burned that motor out, but possibly using a couple washes like Dahenley suggest might have helped.
 
After ordering a couple motors for my DIY sea-swirls from surpluscenter.com and finding out they were actually 2.5 RPH (as in rotations per hour) I decided to give the ones from McMaster-Car a try. I am very happy with them. They have a larger shaft (.25" vs. .125"), and are much shorter (.95" tall vs. 1.32" tall). They are also DEAD SILENT!!! You cannot hear them until you press them against your ear! They also have a lot more torque then the other ones. They were a bit more in price, but still very reasonable!

DSC09500.jpg


DSC09505.jpg


DSC09501.jpg


DSC09502.jpg


DSC09503.jpg
 
I'm planning to build another one for my tank and think I will go with the McMaster motor also. The one I have now with the microwave motor is working pretty good, but really seems to struggle. Mine is made with a 1" expansion joint which is just a bit much for that motor I think. If you make one 3/4" or smaller then I think that motor would be fine.
 
Quick Video Update

Quick Video Update

Well, I'm now beginning to think this motor might be ok. I ordered a new one and installed last week, because I thought that I may have done something to mess up the previous one. After running for about 4 days straight, the new one is running pretty much flawlessly. Here's a quick video of it running:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

BigEZ77
DIY Plumbing Repair Options?
Replies
3
Views
1K
Uncle99
Uncle99
K
What happens if you cut into glass while removing a baffle from the tank?
Replies
6
Views
382
wvned
wvned
A
Canister + pre filter ?
Replies
4
Views
260
kharmaguru
kharmaguru
L
Sick Hippo Tang
Replies
3
Views
825
Uncle99
Uncle99
LClay
Turning rusty water collector into outdoor pond
Replies
14
Views
2K
SantaMonica
S
Back
Top