Getting back in--- deep

[BigDave]

I'm now 64 hours in to printing the parts for the CNC machine with another 30 hours left to go. I've had only two hiccups in all the printing.

One was some of the parts came out a tad small. I think the tolerances are a bit tight. I bumped up the prints by 1% and they printed better the second time.

The second hiccup was I had a nut come loose on the build platform. The plate went un-level. I caught it at about 4 hours in to the 6 hour print. I replaced the nuts with some NyLock ones and took the opportunity to add some thumb wheels to the nuts so I don't have to use a wrench to adjust the level anymore.

I actually have an inductance meter to use for auto-level, just haven't bothered to design a mount for it yet. I don't like most of the mounts on thingiverse... or I should say, I really like the fan blower I have and none of the mounts will work with that.

I'll try to get some more pictures of more of the parts this evening. I've decided to shrink the initial build platform. My CNC will have a 24"x24" cut size.

 

[zachxlutz]

I'm now 64 hours in to printing the parts for the CNC machine with another 30 hours left to go. I've had only two hiccups in all the printing.

One was some of the parts came out a tad small. I think the tolerances are a bit tight. I bumped up the prints by 1% and they printed better the second time.

The second hiccup was I had a nut come loose on the build platform. The plate went un-level. I caught it at about 4 hours in to the 6 hour print. I replaced the nuts with some NyLock ones and took the opportunity to add some thumb wheels to the nuts so I don't have to use a wrench to adjust the level anymore.

I actually have an inductance meter to use for auto-level, just haven't bothered to design a mount for it yet. I don't like most of the mounts on thingiverse... or I should say, I really like the fan blower I have and none of the mounts will work with that.

I'll try to get some more pictures of more of the parts this evening. I've decided to shrink the initial build platform. My CNC will have a 24"x24" cut size.

I just picked up some 3D printed things (testing vial drying rack and dosing tube holder) from Printed Reefing Solutions and now I want my own 3D printer. Such an awesome device.

 

[BigDave]

They truly are. When you can design something and start a print and be ready to test when you get home from work... it's pretty amazing.

 

[BigDave]

Last night while cleaning the glass, which I have to do every other night because some dumb@ss decided to put the tank next to a window... I noticed that coralline is starting to show up on a bunch of my rock. It's a nice pretty dark purple.

This makes me happy. The rock needs some more color.

I also cleaned out the skimmer cup and thinned the macro algae. My wife got a good sniff of the cup when I walked by her and I heard her gag a little. I guess next time I should warn her.

 

[zachxlutz]

Last night while cleaning the glass, which I have to do every other night because some dumb@ss decided to put the tank next to a window... I noticed that coralline is starting to show up on a bunch of my rock. It's a nice pretty dark purple.

This makes me happy. The rock needs some more color.

I also cleaned out the skimmer cup and thinned the macro algae. My wife got a good sniff of the cup when I walked by her and I heard her gag a little. I guess next time I should warn her.

Think that's bad? When I wash the filter socks the whole house smells like a gross tidepool!

 

[BigDave]

Another incremental update... I swear I'll do something more interesting soon.

I got the chiller installed. I'm not sure if it will ever actually run. We keep our house at 82, which is when the chiller is supposed to kick on. Watching the temps on the tank, I haven't actually seen it hit the chiller-on temp this year yet.

I plugged it into an always-on outlet and verified that it still works. I have it sitting outside the stand tucked away in the corner where no one will see it.

 

[BigDave]

Ok. I've been concerned lately that my Blastomussa hasn't been opening up as much as it first did. I thought it was due to water or light so I moved it... I was right, only I made the wrong assumption. It looks like it wants less water and less light.

I guess I'll be moving it again tonight.

 

[BigDave]

The Blastomussa is doing a little better back where it started. Still not opening up fully, so I'll wait a little bit and try moving it again.

I did another water change this weekend and again was amazed at how easy it is with my new setup. Hardest part was carrying the two buckets to go empty them.

 

[Darthv247]

nice. Blastos are one of my favorites.

 

[BigDave]

It's been a busy day.

I got the CNC machine working this morning and this afternoon we added some pajama cardinals, a cleaner wrasse, and a rock with purple mushrooms on it to the tank.

No pictures of the fish yet. The wrasse swims too fast so I'll have to grab the DSLR

https://youtu.be/62dHoQV_iK0

https://youtu.be/gtO9cNwwYbI

On the automated aquarium front... I've started playing with grafana and elasticsearch. I'm trying to get my stats uploaded to the elasticsearch so I can make some cool monitoring dashboards using grafana.

The Automated Aquarium 2.0 has taken a backseat to some of the other hobbies. While I'm not 100% satisfied with the current setup, it does at least work. Not sure when I'll get back to working on the other design. Probably when it starts to get cold again next year.

 

[BigDave]

My wife said I overly geeked out this weekend.

After getting the CNC running, I spent a lot of time getting an ELK stack working for monitoring tank parameters instead of the cheesy graphs I was producing. I'll try to get a screen grab of what my grafana dashboard looks like now.

 

[BigDave]

And because everyone likes pictures

 

[callsign4223]

Very Nice

 

[BigDave]

The CNC machine is pretty much done. I still need to make a spoiler board, but I have it working.

I managed to make a square out of 3/4" MDF. Now it's time to start designing some real projects.

 

[BigDave]

Now that I have the CNC working, I started designing a Kalk reactor. Some of the design elements I stole from Land's kalk reactor thread. Except I plan on doing a paddle stirrer design instead of the magnetic.

here's what I have so far

 

[callsign4223]

That is cool. You are giving me ideas my wife is going to have to beat back out of me LOL

 

[BigDave]

That is cool. You are giving me ideas my wife is going to have to beat back out of me LOL

Don't blame me... I got the idea from Landy. He's the one with the CNC machine.

Actually... I had the hardest time deciding between a 3d printer or a CNC. I knew that eventually I'd probably have both. I just didn't think that it'd happen within a few months of each other. Finding the CNC design that had most of the parts printed is what sold me on it. My entire cost was about $300. The 3d printer was about $500 to get it fully working... so all in all I've spent less than $1k on the entire workshop.

I did get some of the parts for the reactor cut out of MDF yesterday. I'm having to learn a lot about the CAM software, so getting an idea from design to cut is taking me a bit longer. The biggest thing I've run in to is getting the bit starting location correct all the time. There's been once or twice where I killed a cut just as it started because I lined up the bit in the wrong spot and there was a potential for it to slam into one of the hold down screws.

I plan on doing a full write up when it's done, but here's a teaser

 

[BigDave]

I finally finished the rest of the design on the kalk Reactor. I need to get the rest of the MDF parts cut out to test fit everything.

Then I need to order some more tools and parts before I'll be ready for the next steps.

* 1/4" NPT thread
* 3/4" NPT thread
* 3/8" Thread Mill
* 3/4" PVC flat stock

The motor and motor controller come in today so I can verify the hole spacing on the lid. I'll try to get the stirrer printed out in ABS this weekend. I think that will be strong enough to survive in the high pH liquid.

I spent some time with 3d Studio Max yesterday trying to relearn that software. It's been ages since I've done 3d renders, but I finally got a decent image from the software. The Inventor Renderer is 'ok', but it does horrible with transparent materials. Even in this image I still don't have the lighting on the stirrer good. I need to work on that some more :/

I also setup a new site for tracking my CAD designs

http://cad.wallings.net/index.php/my-designs/kalk-reactor/

 

[BigDave]

Another death in the tank

I lost my golden-headed sleeper goby.

That makes 4 fish in the last 30 days. I really think what happened was the first fish died and it cascaded. Either that or my cleaner wrasse is tormenting the other fish. I also know my pH had gotten higher then where I wanted to keep it. That might have contributed. Some of my corals weren't opening as much as they typically do during this time period either.

I did a water change over the weekend and the corals are opening up more again. I also stopped dosing Kalk for a week which I think caused the higher pH.

Last night I put some Kalk back into the top-off, but I put less. I think I was over dosing.

I plan on getting another golden-headed sleeper goby as he was my primary sand turner and I'm seeing algae showing up in the sand now.

 

[BigDave]

The cleaner wrasse ended up dead as well.

The store I typically shop at has been out of the sleeper gobies, so I picked up some more snails and a dragon goby.

I'm still trying to kill the aptasia. I was able to catch one of the peppermint shrimp that went to the sump, so he's back in the main tank again.

The kalk reactor design is going well. I'm still test cutting parts in particle board, but I'm getting closer to a final design. The motor for the stirrer came in and I 3d printed a box for the speed controller. I still want to design some type of 3d printed cover to go over the motor to help shield it from any water being splashed on it.