Cone skimmer build

[gar732]

Hello all. I'm new here and thought I would share my cone skimmer build. I'm still working on it and I'm still debating on how to finish it up. Here are some pics of it so far.

This is the mold I made for the cone, from what I've seen this seems to work the best. Its not my design, I picked it up from an awesome acrylic guy on another site. It wasn't nearly as difficult as I thought it would be.

I just cut a 6" circle at the top, a 4" circle at the top and cut my dowels to the hight I wanted the cone (which is 12"). I then made the cone from some thicker poster board that I found.

I then made a template to cut the acrylic so that it would fit right in.

And Here is the cone after it came out of the mold. It looks a little weird but that is from the wax paper I used when I put the acrylic on when it was in the oven (don't use wax paper for obvious reasons).
No big deal, I just had to clean it all off. I had the acrylic in the oven for 5 min @300 degrees. I used some scrap pieces to fine tune the length of time it had to cook for.

I've started the coupler for the neck and cut the tubes for the collection cup, I've still got to get some pics. I'm still debating on how to finish it up. I may make a stand for the cone and mount the pump under neath or I may put some 6" tube under the cone and mount the pump internally. To be honest I'm totally winging this so any advice would be greatly appreciated. I post some more pics tomorrow.
Thanks for looking

[MizTanks]

So far so great! Personally I know nothing about building a shimmer so this is a real treat for me to watch and learn. Especially from scratch. I'm going to learn a lot from you. Thanks for sharing!!


Jamie

[Sir Patrick]

Nice start. How big is this thing so far?

[Werdlone]

looks great so far! could you explain how you "baked" the acrylic and put it in the mold. I know you cut the acrylic to match the poster board template..but how did you mold it? did you put the flat acrylic cut piece in the oven then put it in the mold when it was soft?

[gar732]

Originally Posted by MizTanks

So far so great! Personally I know nothing about building a shimmer so this is a real treat for me to watch and learn. Especially from scratch. I'm going to learn a lot from you. Thanks for sharing!!


Jamie

Thanks, I'm learning a lot as I go myself. I'm glad other might learn something too.

Originally Posted by Sir Patrick

Nice start. How big is this thing so far?

Thanks, By the time I'm done it will be between 22"-24". It should fit under my stand with a couple of inches to spare. I'm glad I built my stand as high as I did, next time I build a stand I'll make it even taller. One day I'll have to start a thread about my stand build. I love making stuff, its one of my favorite parts of this hobby.

Originally Posted by Werdlone

looks great so far! could you explain how you "baked" the acrylic and put it in the mold. I know you cut the acrylic to match the poster board template..but how did you mold it? did you put the flat acrylic cut piece in the oven then put it in the mold when it was soft?

Thanks, I baked it on a cookie sheet on some wax paper so it wouldn't stick to the pan. After 5min in the oven its pretty pliable. Any more than 5min the acrylic would start to distort. When it was done baking I quickly grabbed the ends of the wax paper curling the acrylic and dropped it into the mold (you don't have much time to work with the acrylic). I then aligned the acrylic in the mold and and gravity did the rest. I put the poster board template in over the acrylic to help push it against the sides of the mold. I'm pretty happy with the result especially considering it was my first try. It came out with almost no distortion although there is a slight crown at the seem. You can't tell by looking at it but if you run your hand over it you can feel it. Next time I'll make the mold out of something stiffer than poster board, and a male insert to go in after the acrylic to push it against the sides should give you a perfect cone.

[youngtimothy]

very nice! you gave me the Idea to start mine.