Pete's 210 build

[P.Kelly]

June 12, 2008 - Blah...
Darcy went to visit her sister today, and all the best laid plans of mice and men... I didn't really get much done today. I think a bit too much overthinking of things.

I have a sump design that I'm going to go cut tonight.

The sump will go on the white foam here:

I've thought through the equipment pretty well and most everything will be easily accessed, and the stuff that isn't in the front can be got to and removed by pulling something out of the way.


Water

What the heck, lets add some water. Kenny and Kevin came by to help me make sure I hadn't totally missed something in my planning. They had a few concerns, but they were issues I'd already identified and decided I could live with.

So, we had some burgers and put some water in the tank. Nice score on the fish guys!

Ballast holder

I'll snap some pictures when I have a chance, but I built the frame for a ballast and control holder this afternoon. It will sit on top of the canopy and hide the ballasts and give the Aqua Controller 3 a nice place to sit.

 

[KMP]

can't wait to see it all set up. got a great jump start and all the cool stuff. thanks for the burger pete!

 

[P.Kelly]

Thanks for the kind words and taking time out of your day to hang out for a little bit. The burger was the least I could do.

 

[P.Kelly]

I'm calling it a night. So much for getting my sump built this weekend. I think the best I can manage at this point, is assembling the front back and sides tomorrow. I'll shoot for having it done by next weekend, which means that the plumbing can begin shortly after the sump is done.

Anyway, here are some pictures of the other things I worked on today.

Ballast holder

Back side. I used some scrap 3/4 plywood for this one, since it will get some detail work and be painted black on the outside, the rest will never get seen.

And since my father lets me use his shop (pardon the mess, I come by it naturally) I spent half my day over there today. However, I end up getting to provide tech support whenever I go over there, so I set up some email for my mother and help my father extract some data of a hard drive. I continue to remember why I went to college. I hated providing tech support!

The most baddest table saw in the world. You can't cut your fingers off if you try. See here (http://sawstop.com/)

http://www.sawstop.com/media/WMV/Hot_Dog_Demo.wvx

Measure 15 times, and cut once. My drawings, measurements, cut list and layout sheet.

45 minutes later a pile of rough cut acrylic ready to be a sump. I don't think it knows what is instore!

About 10:30pm I finished up routing and sanding the front, back and sides. The height of all four pieces are identical and the lengths of the front and the back are long (will be routed after assembly). I have to cut the ends and the baffles to width tomorrow, and I can get started on assembly.

The router table.

I have some cleanup to do tomorrow.


Have a good night! I'm off to take a shower to get the shavings out of my hair.

 

[P.Kelly]

June 13, 2008 - Not much, but water

So much for the sump. It occurred to me in the middle of the night, that I hand't picked up the 1/4" black acrylic from TAP Plastics that I needed to keep the light IN my refugium, so the entire sump build has been delayed until a little later this week.

I've been making and filling water all day...

I did get the "thing" finished. It will house my ballasts, and hopefully a recessed Aqua Controller, if I can figure out the details to make that happen.

I've got to pull it back down for a coat of primer, some wood filler, sanding and painting. It will get a few coats of black, as there is no way I can match the "cherry" laminate of the stand and canopy.

Back to studying for my final tomorrow night.

 

[Doahh]

I got to Vacuum the acrylic shavings out of my hair because septic systems / Sand Filters really don't like them

 

[Auntbeez]

Pete, the build is coming along great. I can't wait to see the upcoming progress.

 

[jthao]

wanna see the housing for the AC3.......

 

[P.Kelly]

I haven't built the housing yet, but I'm planning on trying to embed it here:

 

[bayareaquarist]

Is that thing going to sit on top of the canopy?? -Im guessing it will since the trim is the same...

 

[P.Kelly]

Just like it is. It is about half and inch shy of the top when it folds open. I made it a few inched narrower than the canopy for looks. I'll proably put some tiny rubber/plastic feet on it to keep it from moving or rubbing on the canopy. The back and top are open, but you can't see.

 

[bayareaquarist]

Pretty cool idea...Different...How much of a headache will it be trying to match the color??

 

[P.Kelly]

Grasshopper, you must read...

"I've got to pull it back down for a coat of primer, some wood filler, sanding and painting. It will get a few coats of black, as there is no way I can match the "cherry" laminate of the stand and canopy."

It's going to be black.

 

[bayareaquarist]

LOL I did read that too...That's pretty lame then...I cant lie...its gona stand out more than it already does...no way to get a color # or code from the manufacturer??

 

[P.Kelly]

No, since it is a laminate, and not a real wood stain, there is nothing I can do. Plus I built it out of mized species, scrap cherry plywood and poplar for the trim.

Such is life.

 

[bayareaquarist]

None the less...still a great alternative to fitting those things in your stand or canopy...

 

[P.Kelly]

No progress today, but I did finish my final. 3 classes down, 8 to go.

 

[jthao]

you can try mahogany.... it matches that stand/canopy pretty well. mahogany with only a couple coats comes out looking like your stand. spray it, and use the one that is gloss, it should come out clean and shinny.

 

[bladeruner143]

Pete, everything is looking good. What are you trying to get your Master's Degree in?

 

[P.Kelly]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12941206#post12941206 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Doahh
I got to Vacuum the acrylic shavings out of my hair because septic systems / Sand Filters really don't like them

Josh, that must have been fun. I use the air compressor in the shop to "hose" off before leaving the shop. Just a reverse of the vacuum I guess.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12945928#post12945928 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Auntbeez
Pete, the build is coming along great. I can't wait to see the upcoming progress.

Thanks Barb, I can't wait either. I've got water covering the rock and two vortechs on the tank, one on each end circulating water. I have not added heaters yet, but should probably get on that. I wanted to see how much heat each new item added to the tank water, but I think I don't have enough patience to monitor each new addition for a day or more. I may plug in another temp probe to the AC3 running the corner tank and get a graph of the tank temp relating to the ambient room temp for a 24 hour period as a baseline...

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12950147#post12950147 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jthao
you can try mahogany.... it matches that stand/canopy pretty well. mahogany with only a couple coats comes out looking like your stand. spray it, and use the one that is gloss, it should come out clean and shinny.

Unless you're better with wood stain than I am (very possible) the probability to matching the laminate color to two different species of wood is next to zero. I've been giving it some thought, and I might go for an east coast milk-paint look instead. The wall colors in my house are vaguely reminiscent of a Starbucks, so I might try a kahki color on the top unit instead. I have to prime it, fill the nail holes and give it a sanding before I paint any color though.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12952578#post12952578 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bladeruner143
Pete, everything is looking good. What are you trying to get your Master's Degree in?

That is a long story. My undergraduate started in Computer Science, and ended up awarded in Business Administration, Management Information Systems. Me and calculus were not good friends.

I was accepted to CSUS in their Masters of Science, Business Administration, Management Information Systems program. Say that ten times fast, but due to state budget cuts, the program was axed. I am now in the MBA program, and luckily the two classes I had already taken were transferred to the MBA, so there was no lost time. I'm hoping to be done in either Fall 2009, or Spring 2010. Sometimes I wonder why I decided to go back after so long. Sometimes I really enjoy it.