DIY- Ultra Beckett
- Thread starter Zephrant
- Start date
zeph, the way I visualize the swirling water is to eseentally lengthen the time of contact. even though the input and output remain the same, the water will travel a longer distance inside the tube (as opposed to a straight line). If you suck on a 14" coiled straw and a 10" regular straw of same diameter, thruput will be the essentially same in both straws but the liquid will be in the coiled straw longer.
I see that swirling as lenghtening the path of the water inside the tube. whether it will affect performance, I don't know.
I see that swirling as lenghtening the path of the water inside the tube. whether it will affect performance, I don't know.
Zephrant
Premium Member
Amigo- Close, but in your analogy, there is more volume in the 14" straw, hence the longer contact time. If the volume is the same ( as it is inside the skimmer ) then the swirling just means the water moves faster. Contact "TIME" is identical. Contact "DISTANCE" is greater.
As far as I know, no-one is claiming that distance has an effect on the foam generation.
Again, I'm not saying swirling does nothing, just that I don't understand the physics behind the claimed benefits. I fully intend to try it myself some day.
Hey Hector- Little trick on the 7-7/8" circle cutters. Take a grinder and grind off the stop on them, and you can open them up to 8-1/4".
Run them REALLY slow, and they chatter like crazy at that diameter, so grind a negative rake on the cutting edge so it drags on the acrylic, instead of cuts. (Think of what a drill bit looks like where it cuts, if you run it in reverse. It just drags, which works well in acrylic.)
For the 12" diameters, I use the Mill and spin the work against the stationary bit to make an MDF pattern. It's a PITA, but I don't have to do it often. The pattern is vacuum clamped to the acrylic, rough-cut on the band saw, then flush-trimmed on the router table.
Wait 'till I get my CNC put together, and I'll rip a set of patterns out of MDF for you in minutes.
Zeph
As far as I know, no-one is claiming that distance has an effect on the foam generation.
Again, I'm not saying swirling does nothing, just that I don't understand the physics behind the claimed benefits. I fully intend to try it myself some day.
Hey Hector- Little trick on the 7-7/8" circle cutters. Take a grinder and grind off the stop on them, and you can open them up to 8-1/4".
Run them REALLY slow, and they chatter like crazy at that diameter, so grind a negative rake on the cutting edge so it drags on the acrylic, instead of cuts. (Think of what a drill bit looks like where it cuts, if you run it in reverse. It just drags, which works well in acrylic.)For the 12" diameters, I use the Mill and spin the work against the stationary bit to make an MDF pattern. It's a PITA, but I don't have to do it often. The pattern is vacuum clamped to the acrylic, rough-cut on the band saw, then flush-trimmed on the router table.
Wait 'till I get my CNC put together, and I'll rip a set of patterns out of MDF for you in minutes.
Zeph
tigershark
New member
1 word.... scary!!
Zeph, you've got PM.
kanankeban,
S--------L-------O-------W.
This thing will shake, so the slower the speed, the tighter the press is bolted down, the tighter the calmps on the work, the better. Keep clear!
Give us your experiences, Zeph. Counterbalancer?
kanankeban,
S--------L-------O-------W.
This thing will shake, so the slower the speed, the tighter the press is bolted down, the tighter the calmps on the work, the better. Keep clear!
Give us your experiences, Zeph. Counterbalancer?
Last edited:
Zephrant
Premium Member
My mill goes down to 120 RPM, but I have to swap two belts to do it, so I rarely bother. I can run down to 770 RPM with a quick belt adjustment, so that is what I use. I should be using 500 RPM or less though.
I have not tried a counter-balance, but that would make a huge difference.
Note that the material is vacuum clamped to the table, meaning that about 10psi is applied to it, or 860 pounds clamping force for a 10.5" circle. (A little overkill, but it works well.)
I have also used four corner clamps to hold the material in place, that works fine too although sometimes the material bows a little in-between the clamps.
Zeph
I have not tried a counter-balance, but that would make a huge difference.
Note that the material is vacuum clamped to the table, meaning that about 10psi is applied to it, or 860 pounds clamping force for a 10.5" circle. (A little overkill, but it works well.)
I have also used four corner clamps to hold the material in place, that works fine too although sometimes the material bows a little in-between the clamps.
Zeph
hey zeph, i was thikning about making one of these myself and was gonna PM but since someone go tto it before i did ill just continue here. I did a search on EBay is there a specific pump i should look for? they have rotary vane, oiless, lab etc and also various HP what should we be looking for here?
Also some pictures of some of yrou jigs and setups would be awesome if you dont mind.
Also some pictures of some of yrou jigs and setups would be awesome if you dont mind.
Zephrant, what was your reason for using 1/2" for the box? did you hapen to get some cheep? I am thinking with your baffles glued in 1/4" might be ok but if not 3/8" should be more than enuf.
Do you think this skimmer would be able to handle between 4 and 500 gal of total water volume?
Also for pumps I have seen a becket run on a magdrive 1200 and on a Iwaki 55 and my next tank is going ot have a skimmer driven by the iwaki 55's.. (one for each becket)
Steve
Do you think this skimmer would be able to handle between 4 and 500 gal of total water volume?
Also for pumps I have seen a becket run on a magdrive 1200 and on a Iwaki 55 and my next tank is going ot have a skimmer driven by the iwaki 55's.. (one for each becket)
Steve
Zephrant
Premium Member
Wedfr- I'm not much of an expert on thinks that suck... er... Vacuum pumps. I did my research and was about to buy a rotary vane oil-less, when a friend at work came up with a oil-filled piston pump for cheap (and no shipping) so I am using it. The plus is that the pucka-pucka that it makes it pretty quiet, while the same person's rotary vane that he runs in his shop is at least as loud as a router.
I haven't done a DIY on vacuum clamping yet- I'll try to make some time for it soon. Ask away if you have any specific questions of course.
Steve- I have a customer that asked for the 1/2" base, so it would better withstand the rigors of commercial use. He is using a pair on a 3000 gallon reef system. Sizing a skimmer for a system is a hotly debated topic. There is no "industry standard", and using tank size as an indicator is poor at best. A real measurement would be on the amount of bio-waste that a system creates that needs to be removed. But that is difficult to quantify. So we use system size to make it easy. All that said, my best engineering estimate is that this design is good for at least a 1000 gallon heavily stocked system. More if you go easy on stocking.
I agree that 3/8" would be fine for home use, and a little cheaper.
See my Monster Beckett thread for a skimmer design that is smaller, but perfectly suited for a 500 gallon system.
Pump size also depends greatly on the bio load you expect to have. I run my own single Beckett skimmer (Monster Beckett design) on a LG4MDQSC. It is just barely big enough, but with a light bio-load in a 200+ gallon system it is great. An Iwaki 55 seams like a great match for a Beckett. I've seen a person run dual Iwaki 100's on this skimmer with awesome results (and a good size power bill!). I've also seen several people run AmpMaster 3000's on this design. It does not work as good as dual Iwaki's, but it runs far less power ($$$).
Thanks for the questions-
Zeph
I haven't done a DIY on vacuum clamping yet- I'll try to make some time for it soon. Ask away if you have any specific questions of course.
Steve- I have a customer that asked for the 1/2" base, so it would better withstand the rigors of commercial use. He is using a pair on a 3000 gallon reef system. Sizing a skimmer for a system is a hotly debated topic. There is no "industry standard", and using tank size as an indicator is poor at best. A real measurement would be on the amount of bio-waste that a system creates that needs to be removed. But that is difficult to quantify. So we use system size to make it easy. All that said, my best engineering estimate is that this design is good for at least a 1000 gallon heavily stocked system. More if you go easy on stocking.
I agree that 3/8" would be fine for home use, and a little cheaper.
See my Monster Beckett thread for a skimmer design that is smaller, but perfectly suited for a 500 gallon system.
Pump size also depends greatly on the bio load you expect to have. I run my own single Beckett skimmer (Monster Beckett design) on a LG4MDQSC. It is just barely big enough, but with a light bio-load in a 200+ gallon system it is great. An Iwaki 55 seams like a great match for a Beckett. I've seen a person run dual Iwaki 100's on this skimmer with awesome results (and a good size power bill!). I've also seen several people run AmpMaster 3000's on this design. It does not work as good as dual Iwaki's, but it runs far less power ($$$).
Thanks for the questions-
Zeph
Zephrant
Premium Member
Lol- Are you drilling tube? I go to great lengths to avoid that, it really sucks.
As far as drilling sheet, it is not bad. The hard part is when the bit breaks though the back side. For small holes (1/4" or less) that I don't have specially ground drill bits for, I run forwards until I get close, then reverse the drill and force melt my way though the remainder. That is good enough if you are just going to tap the hole.
I have drills that I've ground for all the common sizes I use though.
Check this thread for tips on using hole saws.
Zeph
As far as drilling sheet, it is not bad. The hard part is when the bit breaks though the back side. For small holes (1/4" or less) that I don't have specially ground drill bits for, I run forwards until I get close, then reverse the drill and force melt my way though the remainder. That is good enough if you are just going to tap the hole.
I have drills that I've ground for all the common sizes I use though.
Check this thread for tips on using hole saws.
Zeph
