The planets have gyrated into a beneficial alignment. The Blue Tailed Skink sunning itself on the back porch step was an mistakable sign. It was time for me clean the shop, put a new blade on the table saw, and make a Waterfall Reservoir.
I'm not kidding when I say it takes a certain planetary alignment to make one of these fiddly plastic boxes...if it's too hot, too humid, too cold I cannot get consistent results. Today started off in the right direction...humidity was down for the first time in weeks...it was a balmy 78F...not a cloud in the sky.
By the time I got all the parts ready to assemble it was getting muggy. But I kept a fan going and managed to make the plastic do what I wanted. Not an hour after I knocked off for the evening we got a typical Mountain Storm. Torrents of rain, lightning, wind, and then it's gone.
Tomorrow will be another perfect day, cool, low humidity...and I'll get this August Reservoir sealed up and ready for leak testing.
Here's a few shots. I am uploading a slew of videos and they take forever at 512 up.
Rather than rely on old templates or the unassembled reservoir I keep as a reference, I started completely from scratch. Using a digital caliper I determined the dimensions using a Lite On DVD. The slots cut into the 1/2" sides are for the tabs found in many optical drive bays. It's three DVD units tall.
This reservoir has 1/2" sides which provide a lot more surface for the glue joint. Using the caliper to keep everything to spec, I cut the 4 other exterior parts and a strip to the interior width for the various waterfall parts that fit inside the box.
The Fill Port on the top must be recessed...to accomplish that I make a small round form from plywood, cut out an oversize piece of plastic, glue it to the form and route it flush to the ply, then I chamfer the edge with a different router bit, then I drill it and tap it to G-1/4, then I sand it and buff it till the edge is clear again. It's a fiddly bit of work.
The top gets a hole smaller than the fiddly disk, but large than a knurled cap. That gets rubbed to 400 and finally the top and the recessed port are fused with Weldon 3 and a Craftic Plasticator cement applicator.
And it's a thing of beauty...a joy forever.
Gluing in the first level of the falls.
Gluing on the lip of the first fall.
Enough parts in place you might be able to see what it will be
Ran the cam out of gigs so no pics of the remaining process of assembling the body. I managed to get everything except the face panel installed. At that point the glue needs to cure 24 hours. Then I block down the open face and fuse the window on the box making it ready to test. I'll get some pics of that tomorrow. 9 Hours of fiddly farting around was plenty for me.
If you have seen my other water fall reservoirs you might notice some differences. I decided to use 1/2" material on the sides...besides providing a huge glue joint for the adjoining panels I could cut slots and drill and tap it for mounting screws. With 1/4" sides I was trying all sorts of things to accommodate the tabs found in many DVD bays. I also decided to try out a new water feature.
The part of the fall that I think is the most captivating is a long drop. I decided to make that the most prominent feature. The first ledge is much longer than my other falls and closer to the window, the G-1/4 inlet port is a bit higher and I drilled three 1/4" holes in the ledge so it will fill the next level. I used a different splash diverter this time, angled to push fluid down and to either side. The idea is to fill the first ledge, not let the inlet port squirt past it.
Fluid will spill over the lip of this ledge, the in rushing volume will be greater than the volume the three 1/4" holes can scupper, providing a long fall into about 1" of fluid at the bottom of the reservoir. Behind and below this long fall a second ledge is filled from the scupper holes above and will provide a shorter, less turgid fall. A two-layer waterfall. One fast and high, one slightly slower and lower. The pick up port is located low on the back panel and has a diverter plate above it to prevent cavitation at low pond levels. The Pick Up Port diverter has bleed holes in it so air bubbles can escape during intial filling and deaerating.
I'm looking forward to seeing if my design performs as I expect. As usual I will do an extended leak test so I'll have plenty of time to look at it, light it, etc.
This reservoir has been commissioned, bought and paid for, and after passing my final WC will be shipped to Singapore to it's lucky owner
http://youtu.be/iQElSuwfzmw
Edited by CyberDruid - 8/13/11 at 10:25am
I'm not kidding when I say it takes a certain planetary alignment to make one of these fiddly plastic boxes...if it's too hot, too humid, too cold I cannot get consistent results. Today started off in the right direction...humidity was down for the first time in weeks...it was a balmy 78F...not a cloud in the sky.
By the time I got all the parts ready to assemble it was getting muggy. But I kept a fan going and managed to make the plastic do what I wanted. Not an hour after I knocked off for the evening we got a typical Mountain Storm. Torrents of rain, lightning, wind, and then it's gone.
Tomorrow will be another perfect day, cool, low humidity...and I'll get this August Reservoir sealed up and ready for leak testing.
Here's a few shots. I am uploading a slew of videos and they take forever at 512 up.
Rather than rely on old templates or the unassembled reservoir I keep as a reference, I started completely from scratch. Using a digital caliper I determined the dimensions using a Lite On DVD. The slots cut into the 1/2" sides are for the tabs found in many optical drive bays. It's three DVD units tall.
This reservoir has 1/2" sides which provide a lot more surface for the glue joint. Using the caliper to keep everything to spec, I cut the 4 other exterior parts and a strip to the interior width for the various waterfall parts that fit inside the box.
The Fill Port on the top must be recessed...to accomplish that I make a small round form from plywood, cut out an oversize piece of plastic, glue it to the form and route it flush to the ply, then I chamfer the edge with a different router bit, then I drill it and tap it to G-1/4, then I sand it and buff it till the edge is clear again. It's a fiddly bit of work.
The top gets a hole smaller than the fiddly disk, but large than a knurled cap. That gets rubbed to 400 and finally the top and the recessed port are fused with Weldon 3 and a Craftic Plasticator cement applicator.
And it's a thing of beauty...a joy forever.
Gluing in the first level of the falls.
Gluing on the lip of the first fall.
Enough parts in place you might be able to see what it will be
Ran the cam out of gigs so no pics of the remaining process of assembling the body. I managed to get everything except the face panel installed. At that point the glue needs to cure 24 hours. Then I block down the open face and fuse the window on the box making it ready to test. I'll get some pics of that tomorrow. 9 Hours of fiddly farting around was plenty for me.
If you have seen my other water fall reservoirs you might notice some differences. I decided to use 1/2" material on the sides...besides providing a huge glue joint for the adjoining panels I could cut slots and drill and tap it for mounting screws. With 1/4" sides I was trying all sorts of things to accommodate the tabs found in many DVD bays. I also decided to try out a new water feature.
The part of the fall that I think is the most captivating is a long drop. I decided to make that the most prominent feature. The first ledge is much longer than my other falls and closer to the window, the G-1/4 inlet port is a bit higher and I drilled three 1/4" holes in the ledge so it will fill the next level. I used a different splash diverter this time, angled to push fluid down and to either side. The idea is to fill the first ledge, not let the inlet port squirt past it.
Fluid will spill over the lip of this ledge, the in rushing volume will be greater than the volume the three 1/4" holes can scupper, providing a long fall into about 1" of fluid at the bottom of the reservoir. Behind and below this long fall a second ledge is filled from the scupper holes above and will provide a shorter, less turgid fall. A two-layer waterfall. One fast and high, one slightly slower and lower. The pick up port is located low on the back panel and has a diverter plate above it to prevent cavitation at low pond levels. The Pick Up Port diverter has bleed holes in it so air bubbles can escape during intial filling and deaerating.
I'm looking forward to seeing if my design performs as I expect. As usual I will do an extended leak test so I'll have plenty of time to look at it, light it, etc.
This reservoir has been commissioned, bought and paid for, and after passing my final WC will be shipped to Singapore to it's lucky owner
http://youtu.be/iQElSuwfzmw
Edited by CyberDruid - 8/13/11 at 10:25am
