making my own reeflo orca 250

[jgs107]

so i have been doing a lot of research and i bit the bullet and decided to make my own orca 250.i just cant shell out all the money for a reeflo one,im pretty handy too so.well to my surprise today my acrylic from mcmasters arrived after just 3 days from my order.very fast and well packed.my reeflo dart needle wheel pump came in today also.well i knew i was going to need a table saw to cut the pieces so i did a little search on craigslist and came across a 10" ryobi table saw with stand for $60 so i picked that up and went to work.here are some pics of the pieces when they came out of the box.

12" diamter main chamber
8" diffuser
6" neck with a flange at 2"
1 3/4" for air intake silencer

the powerhouse with venturi pipe

the 2 pieces for the neck 2" and 6" pieces.will be together once flange arrives

diffuser.still need to make the bubble trey.

main chamber and collection cup.

beer for reference

and no the beer never made it back to the fridge.

this is all i got done today.will have to wait until i can get the flange,cone,and base made.willl hopefully have the materials at the beginning of next week.let me know your thoughts.

jason

 

[hawaiian_boi]

im subscribed i want to build one of these for me 240 ..good luck

 

[jgs107]

thats ill make sure i post as many pics as i can to better help people through the process.

 

[Crox99]

Thanks for sharing.

 

[jgs107]

well got some more work done today,its staqrting to look like a skimmer finally.i got my flange kit in the other day but its made for 1/4" pipe so they are sending me a new one.also good ol UPS lost my weld on package so i have onother set shipped out and i should be getting that friday.anyways.ive got everything cut now minus the bottom box.all i have left to do is cut the cone down,build the bottom box,order my sch.80 plumbing and fittings, and glue everything up.here are some pics to hold you over.

jason

that ruler is 30" to give you some reference.it will be a little lower once i glue the neck into the collection cup.

more to come soon.

 

[WaterbugJenn]

Very nice work so far.
What was the cost for all of the acrylic tube?
How did you form the cone? I assume maybe heat it and use a shop vac, Or at least thats what I would do. I just need to find the right form to use.

Tagging along, keep up the good work!!!

 

[jgs107]

thanks.i made the cone using my oven.the heat gun took too long.basically i put the piece of acrylic on a cookie sheet and heated it up.then once it was bendable i took it out and placed it on my 6" riser tube that was pre cut to 2"once i had it on there i took my 12" tube and pressed down until it cooled.made it very easy to form.overall i have about $260 in acrylic and another 200 in the pump,i did buy a flange kit from my reef creations for 60 bucks so you could save some money there.

 

[NCguy]

You'll probably end up saving at least half the cost of buying one even if you count buying the table saw.Looks very nice.

 

[JR's Reef]

Where did you get the acrylic tubing from?

 

[amt68]

are the flanges DIY? or where did you get them? Looks great

 

[jgs107]

i got the acrylic from www.mcmasters.com and the flange kit from www.myreefcreations.com.youll probly have to call to order the flange kit as they said they just dont sell enought ot market them.

 

[Cove Beach]

Is that extruded? or Cast? and what is the wall thickness?

 

[hawaiian_boi]

sick ....cant wait when till your done to see that puppy in action...then i can figure out if i want to build one for myself....nice work

 

[jgs107]

its all cast acrylic.wall thickness on all the cylinders is 1/8".the 1/4 was too expensive and i might as well baught one from reeflo.the only thing i would say is if you could get the main body out of pvc then get 1/4 and do the rest the same thickness.acrylic tube is harder to come by.

 

[titoreefs]

Hey man I can see your at the same stage of the build i am.
Is that flange going to stay that high up in the tube riser?

Nice work!

 

[alpine]

Hey Tito I was wondering the same thing.Looks like the smaller length of tube should be on the bottom of the flange.

 

[jgs107]

the smaller tube will be on the bottom.i just put it together like that.

 

[Duane867]

Aren't you worried about cracking when you drill for bulkheads because you only used 1/8th " ?

 

[jgs107]

thats all the reeflo is made out of.i saw it today.as long as i take my time ill be ok.

 

[titoreefs]

you really dont need to use a bulkhead on the skimmer body.
Its better if you just make the hole and place the pipe tube through the skimmer body and diffuser and seal it with weld on 16. Ive done this many times with no problems.