DIY Swirler Stein

The glue is drying on mine right now. Hopefully Ill be able to post some pics in a bit. I used 2 1/2" coupling that I Dremeled out and slid the pipe through.
 
Along with the mods I did with the old units I have done more. I have removed the grey pvc and installed clear 3/4 inch O.D. acrylic tube. I was going through my stuff and remembered that I had a solid piece of 3/4 inch acrylic rod. The bearings that I am using are 3/4 inch I.D. This allows me to do minimal machine work. The problem with the rod is, I want to pass the cord through the tube. Then it came to me that I have about 4 feet of the tube that I used for my calcium reactor bubble counter. It turns out it was pretty close to 3/4 O.D. but just a bit too big for the I.D. of the bearing. So I took my dremmel, with a sanding drum, to it and with a little work I was able to fit the bearing snugly to the tube. It looked a little rough so off to work and I cut them smoothly on the lathe. If I did not have it I would have just used the dremmel, the portion that is machined is covered anyway.
I also removed the pivoting knuckle; we kept the K-4's pointed up about 5 degrees to keep the sand from blowing around. Off I went to the miter saw, and I cut 5 degrees to the bottom of the tube.
The first one is up and running, what a difference. They are much smoother and cleaner looking. I am very happy.
Here they are.

IMG_0202.jpg


IMG_0203.jpg
 
Can someone show some close up of your downtube coming outta the box. I used 2 couplings. I dremeled them out so the 1/2 pipe would slide all the way through. Then I dremeled out the box so 1 coupling would slide through the box part way. Then the other coupling sits on top with the pipe "arm" connected to it. The problem I am having is the force of the maxi is putting alot of pressure in between the down tube and the lower coupling. This thing is LOUD. I was hoping it would quieting down, but it hasn't. If I manually push the downtube away from the coupling the noise stop, so I know its coming from right there.


Any ideas? Is Vaseline reef safe?
 
I used grease, I will not need to lube the down tube bushings again. What you have looks very close to what I did. The only way I could get them to work with out too much drag was to use bearing grease.
 
I'm guessing the bearing grease caused no problems? If it drips, it'll fall right into my water.
Any special kind of bearing grease?
 
I used a film not a big gob that will fall. It was a thick film too. The grease was simple Lithium bearing grease. I tried food grade grease and it was useless.
 
Lowe's has a brand of silicone grease in the faucet aisle: Danco. The stuff worked amazingly to smooth my bushings. The tub cost about $3-4.

FYI...


Mike - How did the build turn out? You sparked my DIY bug with your build and I'm toying with the sealed bearing idea. How much surface rust do you have from the higher humidity after the bearing has been exposed some? That is really my only concern, as the PVC bushings work flawlessly right now with the faucet silicone grease?

DW302
 
The bearing is the way to go. I tried different greases and a couple did the job. This just did not cut it for me as a week went by and the pumps would bind in their arc. Then I had to grease again. I felt that I should have drilled a hole in the bushings and installed a zerk fitting.
I was asked to build these for a LFS and could not be there to grease them or depend on them to do this. So I took up the bearing solution. If I am going to build for the LFS then I must have a set too. So above is my solution. The bearing build is easier also. No fabing or gluing bushings, as the bearing takes those loads. They are incredibly smoother also. They can be had on Ebay at about $5.00 shipped.
 
We used crisco on equipment in the meat plant instead of grease. Use a light film should be fine. If so where to make its way into the tank the skimmer should pull it out with no ill affects. I am going to be making one of these after xmas...
 
I ended up trying to use a piece of packing tape folded in half to make 2 smooth sides, no sticky side. I then liberally coated it with EVOO and slid it in between the coupling and down tube. It seemed to work for about 12 hours. Then it started whining again.

I’m going to dry the grease from Lowes. After the holidays Ill probably end up making the next one with the bearing idea.

With the bearing did you use any kind of coupling, extending out of the box? Or is it all down tube?
 
Both of the original bearing versions are still running strong. No rust either. I've made a bunch more since with the same method and have been pleased with each.
 
Seems like you guys are going thro a lot of trouble with the bearing and lubricant. How come the sea-swirl does not have the same problem and I don't think they use bearings. I do know that they put a lot of grease on the tube.
 
I don’t think the Sea Swirl has the direction force that these do. The MJ Mods push alot of water forward, so that is equal to alot of rear pushing force as well.

I think some smart guy made 3 laws about it or something.

Mike can you post a link to the bearing. I searched all over Ebay and for racergirl's store, but I can find that exact one.
 
Well, I have a tunze 6201 hooked up to a 3/4" seaswirl and it is still "swirling" without a problem for more than a month. I do have to add a bracket to support the long PVC pipe to minimize vibration.

LINK
 
Racergirls store appears to be gone. I searched for '3/4 sealed bearing' last time and was able to find a vendor I liked after a few moments of clicking.

Sea Swirls do not use bearings. My Sea Swirl bound and snapped the rod though. ;)
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14009614#post14009614 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by swannking
Well, I have a tunze 6201 hooked up to a 3/4" seaswirl and it is still "swirling" without a problem for more than a month. I do have to add a bracket to support the long PVC pipe to minimize vibration.

LINK
Click to expand...

Your lower bracket is accounting for the directional force. All of my force is up by the top coupling. Take off your bracket and see how long it last.



Thats where I messed up. I kept searching for lawnmower bearings. Thanks.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14010480#post14010480 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by miwoodar
Racergirls store appears to be gone. I searched for '3/4 sealed bearing' last time and was able to find a vendor I liked after a few moments of clicking.
Click to expand...
They are still selling the bearings. They have 10 available.
250305495785 is the item number.
 
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