DIY Skimmer and an attempt at making my own tube

[olemos]

The cone was some what easy to make, this surprised me… I thought I was going to have a hard time with this part, or even if I was actually going to be able to pull it off at all.
I did have to give it two shots, the reason was the first time I cut the plywood exactly 22” diameter and what I found, was that the cone would only start to form 2” away from the edge of the plywood, so cut it again another 2” wider.

Here’s what I did, cut two circles out of plywood and routed on of them, ( the one that the acrylic would sit on) I did this to give the acrylic a round edge to start bending, now I realize that there is no need to for it, as the acrylic only deformed 2” from the edge of the plywood.

Screwed the two pieces of plywood, with the acrylic sandwiched in between.

After cutting a 7” circle in the center of the acrylic, I got a 8” 90* elbow, suspended it in front of the heater and above the center of the circle.

I had a piece of a fire pit patio set (the part where you build the fire on) that I used to once in a wile press down and help form the cone.
Other things you mite be able to use, is the cover of a round barbeque, a rounded metal bowl or pot.

You can see here how the edges stay strait

So far this is what I have, a (little twisted) 22”x36” tube for inside body, a cone and a 9”x 30” tube for a riser.

 

[91yota]

that is absolutely beautiful *tear*

 

[alpine]

What kind of pumps you plan on useing for this beast?

 

[lakee911]

I've been thinking of trying to bend a dome like that. Any thought about putting a smaller plywood-acrylic-plywood sandwich in the kitchen oven?

 

[alpine]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13669555#post13669555 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by lakee911
I've been thinking of trying to bend a dome like that. Any thought about putting a smaller plywood-acrylic-plywood sandwich in the kitchen oven?

Thats what a lot of other RC members have done.

 

[tonyf]

Love the enginuity in creating the dome, bravo Olemos!

Regarding bending the tube, do you think it would work to form the tube inside the steel barrel using the natural flex tendency of the acrylic sheet to return to the straight form to keep it bent uniformly?

Would forming a cone be easier to achieve? There was a DIY thread recently making a cone skimmer

 

[GIJOE007]

I've been thinking of trying to bend a dome like that. Any thought about putting a smaller plywood-acrylic-plywood sandwich in the kitchen oven?

I just did that this past weekend. Took a few times but I did get it to work. Word to the wise, you can heat acrylic sheet in your oven simply by placing it on a sheet of parchmant paper. Does not stick to the acrylic and allows you to heat for a long time with out any issues. I made a cone from a 6" base to a 2" neck with a 2" rise from base to top of neck. If you heat acrylic in the oven, watch carefully for the boiling point. I used 1/8" thick sheets and I found that 300-325 was the max temp before it started to bubble the acrylic. You also have to work very fast once you pull it out of the oven.

Nice build, keep up the good work.

 

[Klaus Jansen]

@tonyf..
i am agree.... make a Cone with the same Construction. It is easy for make a cone-Tube from Clear-Plates. PVC-Glas, PETG or Acrylic..

regards... Klaus

 

[olemos]

alpine- I’m planning on using a reeflow 3600 gold

lakee- it should be fine, just make sure the plywood and the acrylic doesn’t come in contact with, flame, if it’s a gas or the heating elements, if it’s a electric oven.

Tonyf- that’s what I thought would happen, but from what I experienced, gravity would pull the part that would be on top down, I kept spinning the drum, but it would keep forming and deforming.
It looks that using a form and then shoving it in the drum (letting the drum act as a oven) works better.
Forming a cone shouldn’t be a problem, leave extra material and then cut the seam after it cools down, same goes for the tube, on the big tube, I had the material exactly and didn’t work as well as the smaller.

 

[olemos]

Klaus, I have seen you around other threads and you seam to be very knowledgeable when it comes to skimmers.
What are your thoughts on the design? Not the construction but the idea of using the pump up high and then teeing off in to 4.

 

[91yota]

saying klaus is knowledgeable of skimmers and their construction is probably the understatement of they year

cant wait to see this beast get fired up!

 

[alpine]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13675929#post13675929 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by 91yota
saying klaus is knowledgeable of skimmers and their construction is probably the understatement of they year

You beat me to it.

Klaus is the owner of Royal Exclusive,the company that makes Bubble King Skimmers.The brains behind the skimmer if you'd llike.

 

[alpine]

Also are you going to use a needle wheel or mesh wheel on the new dart?

 

[olemos]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13676847#post13676847 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by alpine
You beat me to it.

Klaus is the owner of Royal Exclusive,the company that makes Bubble King Skimmers.The brains behind the skimmer if you'd llike.

I did not know that about Klaus, just noticed that his input on several skimmer threads, was very impressive.

 

[olemos]

This is the concept/plan right now:
Have every connection in a way that parts can be modified and substituted as easy as possible for future modifications.

Setting the pump higher then normal (around where the cone meets body) for better air injection.

Having a manifold on pump exit with four (3/4” possibly ½” or a mix of both) pipes delivering to body.

Pump is a Reeflo Dart gold 3800gl, I’m leaning on keeping the stock impeller (no needles) for higher flow/pressure to avoid bubbles from joining to each other.

When bubbles reach the body, release the pressure and have them spin/spiral around with the least turbulence as possible.

Leave previsions for the possible installation of air stones on suction end of pump (first I’m going to test different Venturi, if the results are not good, have air stones deliver air)

I know this is deviating from a traditional skimmer design, but nothing is written in stone.
I would really like to hear any opinions or thoughts from all of you.

 

[reign]

The oven works very well unfortunately mine is not very big..usually they say around 200F works well..I have some molds from a fabricatior Ived used in the past that had heat settings and times on them ie. 210F for 11min...I like to go a lil higher like 220-240f..just keep an eye on it or it gets too soft too fast..I really like how your cone turned out olemos..
I know you want to make the skimmer look nice ..did you ever think of reg. pvc..I made a skimmer out of 18" that worked well and it was really cheap like $12-18ft...
I know aesthetics are probably an issue though..

 

[not_sponsored]

Not quite sure on why you would put the pump higher on the skimmer, why not just make the skimmer shorter and put it on the bottom?

 

[alpine]

If your going to keep the stock impellar how are you expecting the bubbles to be chopped up?Are you going to use a venturi on the outlet?I also didnt understand the whole airstone thing either.

What kind of skimmer are you actually trying to build?What you are stateing really doesnt make sense,and I dont mean that rudely so please dont take it that way.

 

[olemos]

I’ve played around (not with the pump I’m planning to use) with some smaller pumps and what I observed was, the higher the pump is the easer it sucks air, also seen some other members here once in awhile stating this, that’s why I want to keep the pump high.
Other observation the more pressure you can maintain the longer small bubbles stay separated. A needle v standard wheel, the needle will lose pressure.
A skimmer I’ve fallowed is the volcano, although a few people have had some issues, one being the ability to not suck enough air (having the pump high should help) and another is turbulence (the water being deliver by 4 different outlets instead of one big one should help) the one that Energy has, appears to work well, but needs an Alita 80 to achieve this, I will be “trying” (not saying I’m going to be able, just trying) to reduce the use of an air pump or use one much smaller.
The possible use of air stones, is if the veturi does not work, I will then experiment on removing the venturi and have some air stones introduce the air (at this point air would already be chopped up, so the pump wouldn’t have to).
Does this make any sense?
Feel free to throw in crazy ideas, this would ether become a good skimmer or a nice piece of conversation :lol:

 

[Felipe_Caetano]

olemos, it´s just an idea (forgive my poor english, i´m not American, i´m from Brazil)....
If the venturi wont work, why you dont use the air pump plugged in the inlet of the venturi instead of using airstones? this way you should be able to get small bublles mechanicaly, by using a NW or a Mesh modded standard wheel.... putting the pump down in the body of the skimmer should maintain the water pressure level high enough to keep them from joining themselves, and you would be able to control the amount of air by adjusting the air pump flow rate...
I´ve seen a lot of people here in Brazil (where skimmers are very expensive, an AP702 here is about 3000 dollars) using low flow pumps with needlewheel for bubble fractioning, and to solve the problem of low air/water ratio they´re using air pumps conected tho the venturis...
Good luck with your problem...
Once again, sorry for my english... i´m not used to write, just to speak...