DIY Skimmer and an attempt at making my own tube

[olemos]

I started with the idea of building a reeflow/volcano type skimmer but with a twist, the pump will sit up high and have 4 feeds to the body.

So here we go.

36”x69” sheet of acrylic a metal drum and a kerosene heater to try and make a 22” diameter cylinder.

And this is where the fun stopped

 

[olemos]

The seam and the edge came out with a few waves, the more I try to straiten it the, worse it gets

 

[not_sponsored]

Probably due to non-uniform heating and cooling, hard to find an oven big enough for something that size though...

 

[olemos]

You’re right on that, it is also hard to gage when the sheat is ready, I tried a second time with a new sheet and it cracked, if your to quick it will brake and if you wait to long it starts to deform .

 

[not_sponsored]

Doesn't spazz roll his own tubes for those monster skimmers? I wonder how he does it

 

[olemos]

I belive he does, but don't know how he does it, if you don't have a good circle you end up with all kinds of problems when making the flanges or tring to seal the two pieces.
I'm working on a fix, will try to post the idea tomorrow.

 

[jgs107]

if you look at spazz's skimmer bodies,they all have a strip of grey going along it.im almost possitive thats what he uses to seal the seam together.maybe thats what you will need.

 

[olemos]

Jgs107 that’s what I was planning, actually a strip larger then what spazz uses and to be safe maybe another one on the inside, but what is messing me up right now, the top rim is not a perfect circle, a small section did not bend correctly, I have places where I get 21” in diameter and others 23”, the other thing is, if you put a strait edge from top to bottom on the seam, there are a few waves/deformations that will make it difficult to get a good seal.

 

[biecacka]

cant you bend it around something already circular to make it conform to the correct shape?

 

[kcress]

Talk to a power coater. They all have large walk-in ovens...

 

[Young Frankenstein]

I did this in my previus skimmer but I found a more efficient and easier solution

 

[olemos]

Today I succeeded in making the tube for the neck, it is not perfect but I think it will do.
Left the camera at work, will post some pics tomorrow.

Biecacka- your right that is the way to go, I tried looking for something to use in my project but the only thing I was able to come across was the metal drum, that’s how I got the 22” diameter (this is the inside of the drum) to go with the outside (because of the ridges and the thickness of the rim) I would wind up with more then 24” in diameter .

Kcreesard- from what I observed, you need a good mold and you would need to constantly adjust the acrylic around that mold, it is not something that you can set and forget, you would need to go in and out several times, so I don’t know if a oven of that kind will allow you to do this.

 

[olemos]

frank- what kind of pump mod you have there?

 

[olemos]

After realizing that it might take a few sheets of acrylic to get the it right, I decided to go another way.
I will use the tube I made on the inside of a square box.
Let me see if I can explain this.

Bottom section of skimmer has 4 pipes ¾” diameter fed from recirculation pump

mid section will take the messed up tube that I made, possibly with a funnel on the bottom, the objective is to create a tangential injection and maximize the spin.

Top section, each exit from the manifold will connect to one bottom pipe (tried drawing them in the sketch but was having a hard time, this should be enough to get an idea.

 

[One Dumm Hikk]

olemos, not sure what temperature you need (never tried forming acrylic but am curious) you can try to find a body shop that has a heated paint booth. The booth bakes at 180 degrees and you can walk in them. You can go in quick or you can flip a switch on the booth and it will temporarily kill the heat so you can go in, rearrange, exit and turn the heat back on. Not sure what they would charge you but probably not near as much as a 22" diameter acrylic tube would cost.

You could also post in the acrylic thread or send James a PM and ask about it.

 

[olemos]

Since it was a smaller piece, this one worked out better.
This will be used on the neck.

 

[alpine]

What diameter is the neck tube? Have you thought of trying an acrylic strip bender to slowly form the tube.Its what I plan to try,and if it doesnt work I guess I will have to buy an actual tube.

 

[lth03]

What size of tank will this skimmer running on?From the diameter 22" and 24" outside box,my estimated is at least 1500 to 3000 gallon size?

 

[olemos]

Alpine- the neck tube (or some people call it the riser not sure what is the proper term) is 9” in diameter, a strip heater big enough for the body (in my case the sheet was 36”x 69”) mite be difficult to come across, you mite have to go to a acrylic fabricator.
The kerosene heater works and is easy to get or borrow, just need to be patient and give it time to let the acrylic reach the right temperature without over heating a particular spot, I should have worked on the smaller tube first to experiment and get a little familiar with it, then go to the big one, so far I’m not disappointed with the results.

Ith03- right now I have a 350gl, its 8’Lx2’Wx3’H and is in need of a better skimmer, the plans are (if this skimmer works) to go with a 600gl tank and possibly around 1000 total volume.

I’m setting up to make the cone now, keeping my fingers for this one, will post some pics of the results when done.

 

[lth03]

The cone is the most difficult step in the process of making this skimmer.I wish you luck on that.My friend made the cone with a very common size 6" in the bottom and cone up 4" on top with total high 4".This is very good experience to see you can cone up from 22" to 6" or 8" neck.I love to see some picture when you finish it.It gonna be a monster skimmer.