DIY Swirler Stein

[dngspot]

I have a canopy that I will be attaching the Swirl Stein to. I will be cutting a piece of 1/4 acrylic that will attach to the side of the Swirl and will be a couple of inches longer. I then will attach the acrylic to the canopy. Nothing special, I will show pics tonight.

[adamblackburn22]

Could you measure the diameter of the outside of the box also please dngspot?

[dngspot]

4 inches square, 2 inches tall.

[dngspot]

I have them up and running. I had a little problem with one of the units. It was nothing that a little adjustment to the tie rod to fix it. The swivel was stalling at the end of the stroke. All is good now. I will leave them running over night and see how things are going.
To mount them I cut a piece of 1/4 acrylic. I also cut a piece of 3/4 plywood, it was used to space the pumps away from the glass for space for a mag cleaner. I drilled 2 holes in the side of the grey box and attached the acrylic with #8 machine screws. I then screwed the 3/4 plywood spacers into the canopy, it had to be counter sunk for the screws that went through the acrylic and box, the head of those screws needed a small pocket. I then screwed the acrylic and box to the spacer. Pretty darn simple.
The random flow is awesome.

[james3370]

i got to thinking....how could one do this w/ a spraybar???? (or spraybars...one on each side of the tank)

hmmmmmm



dngspot: your mission....should you choose to accept it....
**mission impossible theme starts***

[dngspot]

Thinking this out, I do not know of any hose that is flexible enough. The pumps may not have enough torque.
I have an idea with PVC couplers, used with o-rings, as a swivel.

[james3370]

what i originally thought of wanting was a spraybar that went horizontial that would rotate up & down...but couldn't think of a way to make it rotate.

then i had a idea....gonna try & think of some way to attach the pvc spraybar to the guts of a hydor flow deflector. i think that might just work

*thinking

[dngspot]

It just might.

I should have posted what they look like in the tank.

[adamblackburn22]

Just put my current Ph setup forsale. I really want one of these. Does anyone have a link to the motor they used? I don't really want to deal with ebay so if someone has another source I would be greatful!

[miwoodar]

E-bay really is the best option at the moment. Seller IDs and photos of motors are on page one.

["Umm, fish?"]

The motors you linked are 21volts. I can't tell if they are AC or DC. I would bet AC. I would imagine that you could reduce the voltage but I can't give any advice on how to do so.

Yeah, I'd bet that I can't reduce the motor speed with the voltage, but 2.5-3.0 RPM might be slow enough for my needs. We'll see.

Thanks!

[dngspot]

One small problem raised its head. Well I thought it would. It was the noisy motor. It just kept binding. A week ago I contacted the vendor and told them one of the motors were noisy. I even told him that I glued a arm to the motor and was not using for what they are intended for. He said no problem and one was in my mail box with in the week. How is that for service? Not all eBay vendors are out to rip you off.
I installed the new motor and every thing seems smooth and silent. I will know if it is going to bind within the night. The motor on the left side has not missed a beat.

[miwoodar]

Andy - I think they will burn up if you hook them to 110volts.

I rebuilt my second swirler stein last night using the sealed bearing approach. I was kind of in a rush and didn't give it the full spit and polish treatment (please excuse the fact that the box, motor, everything is dirty in the pics - if I had more time I would have cleaned everything up better). This motor is over two years old. It is the same one that went for a swim last year...hence the dirty appearance. Also, I cut about an inch off of the height of the project box so it would be low enough to squeeze into the spot without making contact with my hood. The lid still fit. You can see in the pics that I used my old arm as a reference to build the new one.

For mounting, I put the down tube through one of the holes in my eurobrace and used velcro to hold the box in place. I then slipped the MJ mount that had been glued to the end of the downtube into the MJ slot. The dremeling on the downtube could have been a little cleaner.

[Spartan]

Dngspot and Miwoodar- great job and thx for all the pics. I ordered my motor - still waiting... I had an idea that might save time from fabricating the plastic ring - what about using a metal hose clamp and just tying on the arm firmly w/ wire?

[dngspot]

Could you mesure the ID and OD of that bearing?

[miwoodar]

The ID is 3/4". OD is 1.575". I got them from Racergirlsrock on e-bay. They have some for sale right now via auction number 250305495785. Two for $10 shipped.

The nut is a 3/4" ID.

I used a piece of 1/2" sprinkler pipe (the wall thickness seems a little thicker than regular PVC) for the downtube and shaved down the OD on the table saw so it would slip snugly into the bearing's ID. I then heated the nut slightly with a torch and screwed it onto the pipe to cut the threads. I didn't heat the nut on the last one I made - it's not necessary but makes cutting the threads go a little quicker.

[miwoodar]

BTW - these arms are giving me right around 90* rotation.

[dngspot]

I may be missing something. I understand that the down tube is held in place by the ID of the bearing, what holds the OD of the bearing?
I have ordered the bearings. What I may do is find or make a tube and glue it to the box over the down tube hole. Then fit the bearing in that to keep it centered with the down tube hole. Then the bearing will do the whole support and not have drag from the bushing or the box. Does this make sence?

["Umm, fish?"]

Andy - I think they will burn up if you hook them to 110volts.

Thanks, Mike. Next time I see the electrician I'll ask him how to wire it. Barring that, I'll take the motor in with me to McGuckin's when I go in to get supplies and they'll know. But, thanks for the reminder that I need to ask someone about it.

[miwoodar]

I initially thought it would be necessary to bolt the bearing down or make a frame for it. Rather, the outer ring is resting on top of the larger nylon washer. I did it temporarily as I tested the arm lengths and it worked so well I decided to keep it. The inner nylon ring is essentially pointless (it's thinner than the outer ring) other than to help keep out splashes and/or salt creep. One of my local Ace Hardwares has proven to be a great resource as of late. Their selection is awesome - they had all these washers (minor dremeling) in stock.

Andy - I forgot how resourceful you are. Your build is looking great BTW.

[dngspot]

I gave it my best shot at video; it is grainy and just looks bad. One thing you will get some idea of how they move. Here is the link.
David

http://s275.photobucket.com/albums/j...t=DSCF0001.flv

[rfd515]

Could you put the motor on a dimmer switch if you wanted to slow the rotation down?

[dngspot]

For the last couple of days I have been having trouble with the left Swirl. I keep breaking the ring around the down tube. The problem was the pumps are putting allot of force on the down tube which is causing down tube to press on the sides of the bushings, the parts that are glued to the box. This causes a bind at the weakest point, the top or bottom of the stroke. I did give some thought to this when I was building the units and put food grade grease inside those bushings and the down tube.

The fix, remove the ring and wipe that worthless grease off and use bearing grade lithium grease. They are running smoother and working less. I must have broken 3 of those stinking little rings. I am getting real good at making them too.

I have beefed up the ring also, they do not look as cool but, you can bet that it is not going to break anymore. I have to say, those little microwave turn table motors have a bunch of torque for as little as they are.

[customcolor]

Originally posted by dngspot
I have to say, those little microwave turn table motors have a bunch of torque for as little as they are.

just remember they may be rated to turn a 20lb turky for over an hour or so.

["Umm, fish?"]

McGuckin's guy: "It'll be fine on household current."

Motor: "Chug, chug, puff."

I guess that's why I bought three of them. I'll get with the electrician this time.