New Magnet Based Powerhead Holder
- Thread starter Marc Daniels
- Start date
Marc Daniels
Premium Member
The bit about the mod...would have been helpful info 10 posts ago.
BTW, nice MJ mod, did you do that yourself ? or did you buy any of the parts pre-fabricated ?
I ordered a couple of these magnets and have an MJ that we use in our prop tank, I will take a look and see if it will mount the way you want it to. Ours should be arriving tomorrow.
I ordered a couple of these magnets and have an MJ that we use in our prop tank, I will take a look and see if it will mount the way you want it to. Ours should be arriving tomorrow.
FunGuy
New member
Hey Tom,
A local reefer was kind enough to make these for me It was a very clean make and works well.
My magnets are coming tomorrow as well. They should be pretty cool and very secure compared to suction cups. I'll have to play around with these magnets to see if I can figure something out too.
A local reefer was kind enough to make these for me
It was a very clean make and works well. My magnets are coming tomorrow as well. They should be pretty cool and very secure compared to suction cups. I'll have to play around with these magnets to see if I can figure something out too.
badpacket
Premium Member
I like these guys for magnets: http://www.wondermagnet.com/main.shtml
although I did just find a slightly better place but bookmarks are on a different system. BTW, they do have acrylic coated magnets that I glued to some eggcrate for a frag shelf, however only lasted 4-5 months before the sw destroyed the acrylic.
You might want to take one of these
http://www.wondermagnets.com/cgi-bin/edatcat/WMSstore.pl?user_action=detail&catalogno=0030
and just epoxy it to the side of a maxijet/seio or to the stand along mount the ph mounts too. Slap another on the outside glass and it eaint going anywhere. These guys might actually be strong enough to affect the ph motor though, might need smaller.
although I did just find a slightly better place but bookmarks are on a different system. BTW, they do have acrylic coated magnets that I glued to some eggcrate for a frag shelf, however only lasted 4-5 months before the sw destroyed the acrylic.
You might want to take one of these
http://www.wondermagnets.com/cgi-bin/edatcat/WMSstore.pl?user_action=detail&catalogno=0030
and just epoxy it to the side of a maxijet/seio or to the stand along mount the ph mounts too. Slap another on the outside glass and it eaint going anywhere. These guys might actually be strong enough to affect the ph motor though, might need smaller.
dantodd
New member
The magnets come with a "slide on" piece. You can epoxy the "slide on" with a home made spacer to the back of the MJ. This will then slide onto the magnet which will hold the whole thing in place. Mine came with 2 or 3 extra sliders so if your motor burns you'll have the parts to mod the next one....
badpacket
Premium Member
Thats cool, but I like the idea of epoxying the magnet to one of the millions of mount pieces that come with the Seio, or Maxi.
Woah, heres an idea. Epoxy a piece of square steel to the PH, with epoxy covering it. Then, slap the magnet on the outside of the aquarium and you've effectivly doubled or tripled the distance of the actual mounting magnet to the PH magnets.
This is good as magnets field strength drops off exponentially with distance. Double the distance from a magnet, and its field strength is now 1/4 what it was. These 3/4" x 1/8" magnets will hold 10-15# of metal, so if their distance is a little more than the glass thickness and epoxy depth, I think theu'll easily hold a 2-3# PH.
For $3, its a nice, easy DIY theory to test. The good thing is having the distance of the magnet is the glass thickness, epoxy depth, steel thickness, and then PH internal distance from case exterior to actual magnet. For this size magnet it should have much less affect on the PH magnet.
Or spend $20-30 for a preformed, plastic embedded magnet.
Heck with my idea you could probably put a piece of steel on all 3 sides of a PH and have as much flexibility!
Woah, heres an idea. Epoxy a piece of square steel to the PH, with epoxy covering it. Then, slap the magnet on the outside of the aquarium and you've effectivly doubled or tripled the distance of the actual mounting magnet to the PH magnets.
This is good as magnets field strength drops off exponentially with distance. Double the distance from a magnet, and its field strength is now 1/4 what it was. These 3/4" x 1/8" magnets will hold 10-15# of metal, so if their distance is a little more than the glass thickness and epoxy depth, I think theu'll easily hold a 2-3# PH.
For $3, its a nice, easy DIY theory to test. The good thing is having the distance of the magnet is the glass thickness, epoxy depth, steel thickness, and then PH internal distance from case exterior to actual magnet. For this size magnet it should have much less affect on the PH magnet.
Or spend $20-30 for a preformed, plastic embedded magnet.
Heck with my idea you could probably put a piece of steel on all 3 sides of a PH and have as much flexibility!
dantodd
New member
I believe that the one at homedepot merely meant that it wouldn't cure underwater. I could be wrong but that's how I would read it.
Might want to go to west marine and pick up a pint of epoxy resin with hardener. That stuff will definately be safe in a marine environment. I've thought a little about how I'd do this.
I would make a mold a little smaller than the size I want and fill it with epoxy resin. Then take the magnets you want embedded into the epoxy and set them up with their partners so that a piece of cardboard is separating them. Set the magnets on top of the mold so that they are embedded into the epoxy.
Once the epoxy in this mold sets prep another mold and flip the whole thing onto the other mold. Now the magnets are properly lined up and will be held in place by the resin.
Pop them apart and encase each side in a layer of fine fiberglass cloth and resin and set this on a silicone mat with the magnet down to make the surface as flat as possible. This will builld it up just a little and will also seal the magets against the saltwater and give a decent flat surface for mating through the glass.
You can get nice rare earth magnets on eBay now.
I believe this guy does basically the same but just uses a simple epoxy layer over the exposed magnets to seal them. http://www.nimblenano.com/
Might want to go to west marine and pick up a pint of epoxy resin with hardener. That stuff will definately be safe in a marine environment. I've thought a little about how I'd do this.
I would make a mold a little smaller than the size I want and fill it with epoxy resin. Then take the magnets you want embedded into the epoxy and set them up with their partners so that a piece of cardboard is separating them. Set the magnets on top of the mold so that they are embedded into the epoxy.
Once the epoxy in this mold sets prep another mold and flip the whole thing onto the other mold. Now the magnets are properly lined up and will be held in place by the resin.
Pop them apart and encase each side in a layer of fine fiberglass cloth and resin and set this on a silicone mat with the magnet down to make the surface as flat as possible. This will builld it up just a little and will also seal the magets against the saltwater and give a decent flat surface for mating through the glass.
You can get nice rare earth magnets on eBay now.
I believe this guy does basically the same but just uses a simple epoxy layer over the exposed magnets to seal them. http://www.nimblenano.com/
badpacket
Premium Member
I've read that some of the marine epoxys have metal in them, so beware. On the other hand, I've heard that the 2 part syringe type has worked w/out problem for people, but no brand namewas mentioned.
I went to Tap Plastics near El Cerrito(?), and they have a number of the Weld-ons and their house brands.
My plan now is this.
Get some cheap 1/16" plexi.
Depending upon the magnets I get, cut them into small circles with a hole saw or squares just a tad larger than the magnet.
Super glue the magnet between both pieces of plexi, and then run an edge of the #16 Weld-on around the gap to fill. Let cure, and later soak in water to see if it is air tight.
They can test most plastics and tell you what is the best to bond acrylic too it. Or, Taam or Marineland might tell us what the housing is made of.
Lightly sand the powerhead surface where its too be attached, and then solvent bond it. Somewhere Weld-On has a chart on how to figure out which of their solvents is best to glue anything to anything.
BTW, I can always seem to find a dead or obsolete hard drive to scavange magnets from, they're free and powerful.
Wonder how long it'll take before someone breaks their tank by letting them 'click' together?
Have some calls in to some places for casting resins, polyuerethane, etc? Pretty cheap.
I went to Tap Plastics near El Cerrito(?), and they have a number of the Weld-ons and their house brands.
My plan now is this.
Get some cheap 1/16" plexi.
Depending upon the magnets I get, cut them into small circles with a hole saw or squares just a tad larger than the magnet.
Super glue the magnet between both pieces of plexi, and then run an edge of the #16 Weld-on around the gap to fill. Let cure, and later soak in water to see if it is air tight.
They can test most plastics and tell you what is the best to bond acrylic too it. Or, Taam or Marineland might tell us what the housing is made of.
Lightly sand the powerhead surface where its too be attached, and then solvent bond it. Somewhere Weld-On has a chart on how to figure out which of their solvents is best to glue anything to anything.
BTW, I can always seem to find a dead or obsolete hard drive to scavange magnets from, they're free and powerful.
Wonder how long it'll take before someone breaks their tank by letting them 'click' together?
Have some calls in to some places for casting resins, polyuerethane, etc? Pretty cheap.
