my diy needle wheel dart pump
- Thread starter spazz
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spazz
New member
well guys I just got back home from my trip. the stop off at bills house was a real eye opening experience! I learned a lot from him about big systems and the equipment he custom built for his tank. I must say that bill is a genius when it comes to building equipment and tanks. bill has so many 1 of a kind pieces of equipment that are ingenues in there design. my new calcium reactor design totally changed after talking to bill and seeing his designs. there has been a few comments in other threads that were negative about bill and his designs. but if any one ever spent the time to research his designs instead of criticizing them they would find out there truly revolutionary. he is a true master of diy. I was very lucky to get the opportunity to see bill's system and bounce ideas off him for my new designs. he has such a vast knowledge of all aspects of a reef tank. I spent 6 hrs there and my head was spinning from all the new ideas that came from him.
his tank will be one to watch in the future. it's been all re done and is in tip top shape. now he is in the restocking process and the tank will take some time to grow out. but in 6 months to a year it will be tank of the month for sure! its that nice of a system. the one think I must say is that bill don't take very good pictures. his system is so much more than what the pictures show that you wouldn't belive it. its truly one of the nicest systems I have ever see.
I know a lot of you think im good at the diy thing. but bill is a true master at it. I learned a lot from bill and in the future im sure I will be learning even more from him. thanks bill for letting me see your system and answering questions for 6 hrs straight. I cant believe you didn't throw me out before 4 am. :lol: the one bad thing that happened was my camera battery was dead so i couldnt take any picutres of his system. but next time watch out. there will be a tone of them! well thats if he lets me in the house again. :lol: im sure he dont want to spend another 6 hrs listening to my questions about his system. :lol: :lol: :lol:
his tank will be one to watch in the future. it's been all re done and is in tip top shape. now he is in the restocking process and the tank will take some time to grow out. but in 6 months to a year it will be tank of the month for sure! its that nice of a system. the one think I must say is that bill don't take very good pictures. his system is so much more than what the pictures show that you wouldn't belive it. its truly one of the nicest systems I have ever see.
I know a lot of you think im good at the diy thing. but bill is a true master at it. I learned a lot from bill and in the future im sure I will be learning even more from him. thanks bill for letting me see your system and answering questions for 6 hrs straight. I cant believe you didn't throw me out before 4 am. :lol: the one bad thing that happened was my camera battery was dead so i couldnt take any picutres of his system. but next time watch out. there will be a tone of them! well thats if he lets me in the house again. :lol: im sure he dont want to spend another 6 hrs listening to my questions about his system. :lol: :lol: :lol:
spazz
New member
here is the thread on bills tank. it is truly amazing to see. the pictures just dont due it any justice.
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=777186
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=777186
spazz
New member
hey bill could you post a the pic of me standing next to your car? the boy want to see it. i cant wait to go for a ride in that bad boy. what a ride that will be. i think i better stop at the drug stoer and get a bib for the drool and some depends for the other problem i think i might have while on my dream ride!
<a href="http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb008_ZSYYYYYYYYUS" target="_blank"><img src="http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/12/12_7_1.gif" alt="Car 1" border="0"></a>
<a href="http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb008_ZSYYYYYYYYUS" target="_blank"><img src="http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/12/12_7_1.gif" alt="Car 1" border="0"></a>
First time I've ghad a chance to get back to this thread in about a month and WOW! Nice needlewheel design Bill. I talked to Scott and he wasn't kidding about the quality of your work.
The Big Ugly Update-- That thing is still rockin and nockin. SUPER silent, runs cool with a great consistency in the bubble size going on about 2 months. Performance has been as good as day one out of the gate. Were talking about making the transistion to a larger more finalized design. Can't wait to see how that works since the orginal Big Ugly does such a great job. I'll try to check back in more often.
Here's a clue as to how well that skimmer works- I bought 500 golf ball sized mexican turbo snails from a supplier. About three days after I received them they started to die(only after crawling to the furthest corners of my tank by the unmovable pieces of rock). Needless to say many of them were unreachable. The BIG UGLY's foam actually pushed the top off the skimmer cup. I had to hold it down with a weight !!!!!!!!!!!!! That skimmer saved the day and a lot more!
The Big Ugly Update-- That thing is still rockin and nockin. SUPER silent, runs cool with a great consistency in the bubble size going on about 2 months. Performance has been as good as day one out of the gate. Were talking about making the transistion to a larger more finalized design. Can't wait to see how that works since the orginal Big Ugly does such a great job. I'll try to check back in more often.
Here's a clue as to how well that skimmer works- I bought 500 golf ball sized mexican turbo snails from a supplier. About three days after I received them they started to die(only after crawling to the furthest corners of my tank by the unmovable pieces of rock). Needless to say many of them were unreachable. The BIG UGLY's foam actually pushed the top off the skimmer cup. I had to hold it down with a weight !!!!!!!!!!!!! That skimmer saved the day and a lot more!
hahnmeister
In Memoriam
I have a buddy (also a reefer here, but he doesnt follow this thread) whose father owns a large injection molding company. He makes 'toys', if you catch my drift, but said he could make custom rubber flanges if we gave him specs. Then I tossed out the idea of a needlewheel. If anyone has one, or perhaps a spec diagram that we could feed into a CAD program, we could rip these things off out of whatever plastic works best for cheap...
spazz
New member
i plan to put my vot in there for bill once he gets some more corals in the system and gets things the way he wants them. i dont want to rush him into getting the tank ready for something like that. he is a very busy guy with his business. when he is ready i will nominate him for that.
hahnmeister
In Memoriam
"ya but the molds are not cheap. and it would have to be made from pvc or acrylic." - Spazz
Mold? Or CAD diagram? Should be mold it, or CNC it? The 'supposed' cost is really of little consequence...its the guys father who owns the company, we arent going to some company as customers. The molds or programming time are free as far as we are concerned...just our own time at the shop. He can CNC a mold if needed, or just rip a bunch off at a time of whatever plastic works best on the CNC. Neoprene maybe?
Mold? Or CAD diagram? Should be mold it, or CNC it? The 'supposed' cost is really of little consequence...its the guys father who owns the company, we arent going to some company as customers. The molds or programming time are free as far as we are concerned...just our own time at the shop. He can CNC a mold if needed, or just rip a bunch off at a time of whatever plastic works best on the CNC. Neoprene maybe?
Bill Wann
In Memoriam
Howdy all
I been busy reworking the rk2s buybble pate with sonme of Scotts ideas . It needs way more holes , It had 120 1/4 holes now it will have over a 1000 , should work better . My camera cut off the picture standing with the Ferrari , Sorry aboyt thet . When you come over next you can drive the Ferrari and I should have my Porsche back from th ebody shop so you can take a shot at that also . I just got 300 more frags and such so hopefuly Ill get them mounted and growing soon . It was great having you over and your welcome anytime .
Energy .
What type of sand do you have in your tank ? I was thinking of getting another stingray and want to make sure I have sand he will like .
Bill
I been busy reworking the rk2s buybble pate with sonme of Scotts ideas . It needs way more holes , It had 120 1/4 holes now it will have over a 1000 , should work better . My camera cut off the picture standing with the Ferrari , Sorry aboyt thet . When you come over next you can drive the Ferrari and I should have my Porsche back from th ebody shop so you can take a shot at that also . I just got 300 more frags and such so hopefuly Ill get them mounted and growing soon . It was great having you over and your welcome anytime .
Energy .
What type of sand do you have in your tank ? I was thinking of getting another stingray and want to make sure I have sand he will like .
Bill
hahnmeister
In Memoriam
Porche, Ferrari...now all you need is a NSX or something Japanese...to round out the top sports car countries of the world which also happen to be made by the three axis powers of WW2.
ChemE
New member
Hahnmeister,
With regard to injection molding, what spazz was trying to say is that while the plastic shot into these molds is cheap, the molds themselves can be prohibitively expensive. These molds must be machined from large blocks of steel in order to withstand the pressures of the hot molten polymer being rapidly injected into them; aluminum can not take the high pressures generated. For parts the size of our needlewheel, one is often looking at about $10,000 to contruct the molds. The good news is that each part is typically less than $0.10 afterwards, but it takes many thousands to offset the price of the mold.
Now, machining with a CNC router or end mill is a whole different story as there is no expensive mold. Since the community is so small, I'm guessing injection molding will never be cheaper than milling from a solid block of PVC.
hahnmeister
In Memoriam
Plastics molds dont always have to be machined out of expensive components. We can make a mold very easily. Its all taken care of already...trust me...its not a big expense at all. I just need someone to send me a CAD design...and we will decide if we should mold or CNC.
spazz
New member
well because of the complex way the seal needs to sit inside the needle wheel it would be better to mold them. i would say a medium to high density pylomer would work the best. seeing pvc is everywhere that would be a good place ot start. but on the other hand sequence is working on there version of the wheel to. it should be released some time this year. i should be getting a trial version to put on big ugly some time next month. its a slow process developing new designs.
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