DIY Acrylic Overflow - Feb 20th: Simple Light/Algae shield

[Giannis86]

DIY ACRYLIC OVERFLOW

Although these instructions are in my tank thread, i figured that it may be of a better use in the DIY forum. Anyway, here it comes;D

 

The Design

Please take the time to carefully study the way the overflow works and how it is put together. I hope you will find my thoughts and tips into use.

 

Cutting the main piece.

To do this i attached my router on the bottom of a flat piece of wood using screws & bolts.

In order to make a straight cut, i nailed another piece of wood, about 10cm away from the blade, which i used as a guide.

Before cutting

 

After cutting

Note the wheel above the blade. This can be used to trace another surface.

 

A Cut edge

TIP: Make sure you don't pause while cutting the acrylic otherwise the blade will melt the edge (see picture below - the while spot). Luckily this can be fixed easily with light sanding of the edge. Note however that too much sanding can lead to an uneven edge which will be more difficult to glue later on).

 

Heating acrylic

I advise against the use of propane torches or gas stoves to heat up acrylic. I used a propane torch myself for my first 2 overflows with mixed results. I found that the torch would shoot flames for no reason, making air bubbles on the acrylic. Long story short, it is a stressful tool to use for this application.

Short thereafter i decided to buy a heat gun (see picture below) for 35euros. Let me start by telling you that this was probably the best value for money for all my diy projects so far along with the router. Using a heat gun allows for more control, it heats the acrylic evenly (no flames) and if used properly will yield nice bends without bubbles.

 

Bending acrylic

First of all, for the best results you need some clamps to keep your workpiece in place. Clamp the acrylic on your worktable (or wood sheet in my case). Ideally, if you are using a wooden worktable, you should put a piece of aluminum foil to protect it from burning. I must say that this is a must when using a propane torch but merely a precaution if using a heat gun. (nonetheless i didn't use any foil at all)

TIP: If exact measurements are important, you should take the length of acrylic required to make the bend into consideration. Generally i found that 0.5cm was all that was needed. For example, if you want a piece to to be 10cm long, you should heat it at 10.5cm.

Heat the acrylic from both sides (not necessary but will help with yielding a nicer bend, without bubbles) with the heat gun about 10-20cm away while holding the other end of the acrylic with your hand. Keep heating your workpiece until you feel that it has gotten very soft. Note that if you overheat it it will start forming bubbles - for this reason you should never stay on one spot with the heat gun. Just keep moving up and down for a couple of times, then heat the other side and then do the same thing all over again.

 

Making the middlemost bend

I found that the easiest way to make this bend it to heat a slightly larger area of the acrylic and fold it over something that has the same thickness at the one you are looking for. In my case, this was a flat piece of wood.

TIP: Make sure that if you are using a router to cut the acrylic, that the bend is slightly larger than the blade of the router. If it is not, you will not be able to use the router to cut the extra acrylic in the following steps.

 

Drilling holes for the drain pipes

First of all, i only had a hole saw for wood which did not seem to work good on acrylic, so i decided to make my own hole cutter from whatever tools i already had. I have to admit that this method of making holes is rather "ghetto" but it sure works nicely.

I started by making a hole on the wood. I also cut a "line" on the wood so that i could slide my acrylic piece in. Alternatively you might want to drill the holes first and then make the last bend (i forgot to do so lol). I then drilled a few small holes close to each other with my electric drill, resulting in a bigger hole that is just as big as the router blade. The wheel on the router bit, will trace the hole in the wood and cut the acrylic similarly (see 2nd & 3rd) picture below)

TIP: While drilling acrylic, take your time and let the tool do its job. If you apply a lot of pressure you will brake the acrylic.

 

Drilling a hole for priming the weir

Drill a hole and glue a plastic airhose connector on the weir.

Alternatively you can slide a piece of airhose through the opening of the overflow towards the top of the syphon part of the weir. Personally i prefer drilling a hole as the hose in the 2nd method tends to get out of place easily. On the other hand, you wont have to prime the overflow very often anyway.

 

The Glue & Applicator

To glue acrylic i decided to use Chloroform.

I put a bit of chloroform in small glass pot (one from JBL test kits) and added some acrylic shavings to form a thicker mixture.

For applying the glue, i used a cheap plastic syringe (buy several (2 should be enough for this project) as the glue will degrade the syringe after a while). Also buy a needle with a long tip as shown in the picture below.

 

Protective gear

Note that chloroform is nasty stuff and you should take all precautions and care when using it!

Work in a well ventilated area and/or use a respiratory mask with carbon filter, gloves and eye protection (double in my case LOL).

By the way, I might look like a crazy scientist on the photo but i swear i am not one;D

 

Pre-gluing preparations - The pins method of gluing

Place the 2 main parts on a flat piece of acrylic (slightly larger dimensions than the acrylic). Place thin pieces of wire between the flat acrylic and the bended acrylic as shown in the picture below.

TIP: Put some books on top of the acrylic to hold the workpiece in place when you remove the pins.

 

Gluing the acrylic

Fill the syringe with glue.

Apply the glue by gently pushing the syringe. Be fast though so that the glue doesn't dry out completely. You should see the glue flowing into the joint.

TIP: Apply the glue from the outer side of the overflow whenever possible, so that any left over glue can be routed away later on for a better visual result.

Let the glue sit for 30-60 seconds and then start pulling out the pins.

Let the workpiece dry for 4 hours.

Glue the other side using the same method and let it dry for 4 hours.

Glue the baffle in place, 1 side at a time. Let the glue dry for at least 20 minutes before doing each side.

Let the workpiece dry for a day or 2 so that joints reach maximum strength.

 

Check for bubbles in the joints

Large bubbles are likely to cause leaks and should be fixed. To fix them you can run an extra layer of glue where the bubbles are.

TIP: If the glue does not enter the joint, wait for 30-60 seconds, until the glue softens the acrylic. Then use the tip of the needle to poke holes in the joint where the bubbles are located. This should help the glue to flow in the joint easier.

 

Route the excess acrylic

 

Priming the weir

Fill the baffle with water.

Turn on the return pump from sump

Once water starts flowing in the overflow, suck the air out using the air-hose.

Close the air valve or place the end on the air hose in water so that no air can enter in the hose.

Alternatively you can connect the air-hose to a venturi to automatically suck any air that enters the weir.

 

Test for leaks

 

Assembly

 

Simple Light Shield

Cut 2 pieces of black sticker (used for external backgrounds on tanks), slightly larger than required.

Take almost all off the protective paper from piece A, leaving about 2cm on top protected.

Fold the corners and stick them on a table to prevent the sticker from folding (picture below) (the sticky side of the sticker should be facing upwards)

 

Take the protective paper from piece B off and stick it on piece B (sticky sides facing each other) slowly and carefully.

Use scissors or a office paper cutter to cut the sticker in shape

 

Cut a small hole to fit the sticker into the siphon hose.

 

Slide the sticker in place and remove the protective paper.

Adhere the sticker into position (do clean the area of the overflow first)

[Sailfish]

Looks really nice!

You are so good at bending acrylic, that it almost make me feel less worthy

 

But one thing though, have you thought of algea growth in the overflow because you have used clear acrylic in stead og black? I`m sure you have a fancy solution for that also

 

Btw, that "crazy scientist"-picture was just insane! LMAO!

 

KUDOS!

[StevieT]

Nice but why in the world did you use chloroform?

[bruce922]

Nice build bro!

 

 

Bruce

[Giannis86]

Looks really nice!

You are so good at bending acrylic, that it almost make me feel less worthy

 

But one thing though, have you thought of algea growth in the overflow because you have used clear acrylic in stead og black? I`m sure you have a fancy solution for that also

 

Btw, that "crazy scientist"-picture was just insane! LMAO!

 

KUDOS!

thanks a lot!

i have thought about it but havent been able to solve it as i had to leave for vacation. I have a very simple solution in my head. I will post pictures of it on saturday;)

 

 

Nice but why in the world did you use chloroform?

good question. I live in the Netherlands and its very hard/expensive to get Weldon. The best alternative is acryfix 192 which seems to be a good product. However, price-wise it seemed that choroform was the best option. It did require me to buy protective gear but this is required with more or less or acrylic glues anyway

 

Nice build bro!

Bruce

thanks a lot!

[cptbjorn]

Chloroform is useful for lots of legit reasons including acrylic welding, we are just protected from ourselves and can't get it easily here. One of the main constituents of weldon is dichloromethane which is very similar to chloroform (trichloromethane).

 

Build looks great too

[bitts]

wow, nice biuld.

do you plan to use an aqua lifter to mantain the syphion.

[StevieT]

I live in the Netherlands

 

So many fish tanks in the Netherlands! Way to be resourceful.

[Giannis86]

thanks everyone for your kind words! keeps the spirits & the craziness to make more stuff high

 

wow, nice biuld.

do you plan to use an aqua lifter to mantain the syphion.

 

At the moment it seems that the syphon is working very well. No bubbles seem to enter the syphon compartment. I was on vacation for a week and everything looks exactly like it did before. I also turn my return pump off when feeding and the syphon is maintained properly.

 

Nonetheless i am not disregarding any options for maintaing syphon in case of emergencies. On the contrary, i intend to modify the pump of my hob skimmer (not using it now) and connect it to the overflow. That should give me a piece of mind in case things do get wrong

[Zeadon]

this is total gangsterness, i was thinking about how one would be able to achieve this goal (a drilless overflow), drilling a tank for an overflow means more chance of leaks or failures. this is perfect. did u think of it urself?

[Giannis86]

this is total gangsterness, i was thinking about how one would be able to achieve this goal (a drilless overflow), drilling a tank for an overflow means more chance of leaks or failures. this is perfect. did u think of it urself?

 

Hi,

I didnt think of it myself, i used some of the information on melev's site (melevsreef.com). I couldnt however find a diy online with enough details, pictures etc so i decided to make a tutorial myself. Many of the tips above are from personal experience.

 

As about leaking, a properly drilled tank will have less chance of leaking. Things can also go wrong with the overflow, such as loss of siphon (although i improved my design for reducing the chance of air entering the siphon compartment). Also you want to make sure that a snail doesnt get stuck in your overflow/drain pipes (to minimize problems i used dual drain pipes and my overflow should be able to handle a lot more flow than my return pump so this gives me a lot of breathe room). You also have to clean the overflow due to algal formation (i will post pictures of my little mod to solve that though )

The reason for making this overflow was mainly that i didnt want to make holes in my new & rather ridiculously pricey tank and i also love diy projects so you can imagine .

[Zeadon]

Hi,

I didnt think of it myself, i used some of the information on melev's site (melevsreef.com). I couldnt however find a diy online with enough details, pictures etc so i decided to make a tutorial myself. Many of the tips above are from personal experience.

 

As about leaking, a properly drilled tank will have less chance of leaking. Things can also go wrong with the overflow, such as loss of siphon (although i improved my design for reducing the chance of air entering the siphon compartment). Also you want to make sure that a snail doesnt get stuck in your overflow/drain pipes (to minimize problems i used dual drain pipes and my overflow should be able to handle a lot more flow than my return pump so this gives me a lot of breathe room). You also have to clean the overflow due to algal formation (i will post pictures of my little mod to solve that though )

The reason for making this overflow was mainly that i didnt want to make holes in my new & rather ridiculously pricey tank and i also love diy projects so you can imagine .

 

thats true, good point i didnt think of that, if it fails you will end up with puddles lol

[Giannis86]

thats true, good point i didnt think of that, if it fails you will end up with puddles lol

 

indeed

on the other hand, you can also connect a venturi powerhead to maintain a siphon at all times.

 

If you design the overflow properly though it should work just fine. I was away from home for a week recently and i didnt notice any change in the overflow. I also turn off the return pump during feeding and it retains the siphon properly.

Were it comes down to is that you need to take lots of care in building it as it needs to be 100% airtight (especially the siphon compartment)

[Giannis86]

update!

I havent been feeling well the last days so i thought i would keep myself busy with smaller projects.

Check the end of post 1 for the light shield!

[Zeadon]

what is the light shield for?

[Giannis86]

what is the light shield for?

 

it should prevent the growth of algae in the overflow, or at least slow it down to reduce maintenance

[DaJMasta]

Very clean build, you've got some skills to be able to make it look that good and still maintain it's functionality. I think the pump suction to maintain/re prime to wier is the best option as well, I've made myself an all PVC pipe overflow and hooking the vent hole to the air intake for the powerhead attachment to my return pump will get the system primed and keep it there, while maintaining the whole system on one socket. Not a big deal if your skimmer is always running of course, but it's nice to use the return pump as the suction as well to really make it modular.

 

 

Also, this pic is just awesome:

[Zeadon]

it should prevent the growth of algae in the overflow, or at least slow it down to reduce maintenance

 

o ok awsome, i guess another way of gettin past that is makin it from black acrylic, except the sides so u could look in.

[Giannis86]

hi,

sorry for the late reply

 

yes that would indeed be an option. I would take great care when gluing them together though. If i remember correctly (feel free to doublecheck), the colored types are more reactive. Make sure you wear good protection