DIY Wavebox! (With modded MJ)

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8970940#post8970940 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jjoos99
SMCNALLY let us know when you get the taam timer up and running and how it is working out.
Thanks
Jeff
Click to expand...

I'll let you know when I try it out. I haven't even had the time to order one yet. I've been really busy with a new job so it may be awhile before I get to play with this again.
 
smcnally, great job on the wavebox. Does your mjmod makes as much noise turning on/off like the one seen in eddybabyhd's video? Or does it only make noise when it has to reverse itself?
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8979754#post8979754 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by smells like fish
smcnally, great job on the wavebox. Does your mjmod makes as much noise turning on/off like the one seen in eddybabyhd's video? Or does it only make noise when it has to reverse itself?
Click to expand...

Yes, it makes that noise when it starts in reverse, but not as much as eddybabyhd's did in that video. I definitely need to figure a way to eliminate it from clanking.
 
The pulsing-dimming style timer won't work.

The pump HAS to shut off for the water to cycle back into the box. If it doesn't the pump and box will run dry and not cycle.

It looks as though the chavuet is work out of the box and its cheap.
 
I have a cheapo Chauvet light controller that I use for my wave maker. It has been running pretty much non stop for 2 yrs with no problems yet.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8989386#post8989386 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by daFrimpster
I have a cheapo Chauvet light controller that I use for my wave maker. It has been running pretty much non stop for 2 yrs with no problems yet.
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W/ what pump? and which chauvet? is it a wavebox or just for alternating pumps?
 
again i was just tinkering with the concept. You all have fun perfecting it. As i dont see myself putting that huge box in my tank
 
well i ordered the maxijet the mod for it and the timer posted in the begining of this thread we will see if i ever get around to building the wavebox and whether or not it works
 
Not sure this is much of an idea, i know flow switches were mentiond before, but if we can figure out the pump, w/ box size, could we not attempt to make a larger float switch. longer shaft so to speak for the float to travel, maybe attach styrofoam to the float to make sure it gets weight down and float back up to not get stuck.
 
so i went to the lfs today and i talked to a guy there who mentioned that there was a guy on here who made a surge device using just an air pump and some piping to displace water. the air would fill the pipe and displace water to a point and then the suction would be lost and the pipe would empty was the idea i got from it and i was wondering if anyone knew the thread about it or knew how it was designed if it worked and how well it worked.
 
The Monterey Bay Aquarium has a large wave maker on their kelp forest display. Basically all it is is a large piston shaped like a wedge that moves up/down at the edge of the tank. If you had the piston in rails, you could even allow it to free fall if it were heavy enough, and then just have something that raises it again. You could build the wedge/rails out of black ABS, fill it with sand and then seal the entire unit shut. It would be heavy enough, and the connection to the "motor" would be fairly easy.

The hard part would be how to raise & drop it.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9019348#post9019348 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Marc Daniels
The Monterey Bay Aquarium has a large wave maker on their kelp forest display. Basically all it is is a large piston shaped like a wedge that moves up/down at the edge of the tank. If you had the piston in rails, you could even allow it to free fall if it were heavy enough, and then just have something that raises it again. You could build the wedge/rails out of black ABS, fill it with sand and then seal the entire unit shut. It would be heavy enough, and the connection to the "motor" would be fairly easy.

The hard part would be how to raise & drop it.
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Man, I wouldn't know about the noise and the splash on something that just dropped into my tank every couple of seconds. :)
 
It isn't free falling from above the aquarium. The drop and rise is all under water. It has the same affect as a large hand pushing a wave across a pool.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8989894#post8989894 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ThunderousTalon
W/ what pump? and which chauvet? is it a wavebox or just for alternating pumps?
Click to expand...

Just for alternating pumps. Sorry if someone misunderstood. Another poster had stated they had no luck with Chauvet products. I was just relating the reliability I have experienced. :)
model number is sf-4005
 
If you guys want to try a really goofy DIY wave device, it's possible using your old Technics LEGO's and a 2 liter coke bottle. It's 90% outside the tank, but it does work.

I did it, but didn't take any pics - mostly because it was really ugly...

Get the Lego motor, and gears.

Build a lever with central support and pivot point.

Fill a 2 liter with enough sand to make it just a hair less than neutrally bouyant at the extreme lower limit of the lever action.

Attach the pop bottle (somehow) to the end over the tank

Get another pop bottle on the other end of the lever as a counterweight - fill with sand as needed.

Gear the motor to turn the biggest gear you have (probably 2" dia) - still at a decent speed for at least one or 2 cycles per second. Attach a Lego beam between the lever and gear to translate rotational movement into linear.

Put the whole mess over your tank and get a power supply and dimmer to control the speed of the motor.

If the bottle appears to be displacing too much water, try raising the whole assembly...
 
OK if you start doing LEGO waveboxes in the future please remember that no matter how bad you think it looks you MUST TAKE A PICTURE!!! lol
Has anyone considered using a tunze6080 for this? I mean if you throw up the change for the pump and then build the box it seems like you still are saving a substantial amount of loot and you have a dc pump to work with.
 
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