DIY Rapid LED to Biocube 14: Stumped

[TimTimothy]

Hi All:

 

OK, I'm without any coherent thoughts on how to proceed with this project. So, I'm hoping some of you might have some suggestions.

 

Project: Install the Rapid LED Biocube 14 Nano Kit into my Coralife Biocube 14.

 

Background: RapidLED makes this kit to insert into the Oceanic Biocube. But, they gave me confidence that with a little DIY oomph, I could make it happen. Now I've stripped everything down on my biocube, and I've not clue how I might do this.

 

Here's the Biocube 14 Hood, stripped and ready for action:

 

 

And, here's the hestsink, sitting roughly in position:

 

 

My first idea was to cut off the plastic posts that the previous lights screwed into, screw them into the heatsink, and then glue the posts into position on the hood. I made the cuts (for better or worse, this is already done) and then realized that the cut posts would not be long enough to secure to the hood. I was dubious about how well these would glue in place anyway, as the heatsink is a very heavy object.

 

So, I turn to you. Any ideas? Suggestions? Clues? Help? Commiseration? :-)

[CrazyEyes]

Not sure if my last comment posted or not but, can you make brackets that attach to the heatsink and then to the original light holes?

[AdamWest]

You can try going to a local hardware (better yet plastic distributor) and try and and fashion brackets for the ends the heatsink will slid into. Gluing plastic on plastic holds strong than plastic on smooth surface aluminum.

[TimTimothy]

I've been trying to think through the bracket idea. The lateral strength of the bracket would need to be significant, and constructing the right piece seems would require a skill set and tools beyond what I can imagine.

 

My latest idea: craft two bars of acrylic, approximately 5/16" thick, 1.25" tall and 9" long that will slide into the channels of the heat sink where the screws are. Then, I could screw the heatsink onto the acrylic bars, and glue the acrylic bars to the hood.

 

My questions about this are: 1) can that glue adhere strongly enough to the hood to suspend that heavy heat sink upside down on a hood that will open and close and open and close thousands of time. Will the bonding glue degrade due the heat of the LEDs?

 

...

 

More: I could then craft a small acrylic block that would glue to the clear plastic light cover of the Biocube and just touch the center of the heat sink to provide some additional "hold." It would wedge. Perhaps I do up to three of these in strategic places; they wouldn't be relied on to provide structural hold as much as to reduce the "bounce" stress that the under-pieces would need to endure over time.

[Horerczy]

I found a PDF of rapidled's instructions for that retrofit.

 

http://www.vinnymarini.com/pictures/rapid_docs/BC14_Retrofit.pdf

 

heatsink installation is covered starting at the bottom of page 6.

 

not sure if this will help or not.

[TimTimothy]

I found a PDF of rapidled's instructions for that retrofit.http://www.vinnymarini.com/pictures/rapid_docs/BC14_Retrofit.pdf'>http://www.vinnymarini.com/pictures/rapid_docs/BC14_Retrofit.pdfheatsink installation is covered starting at the bottom of page 6.not sure if this will help or not.

This is the old version of the biocube lid, which the kit is designed for. I have the new version & the kit isn't designed for it.

[TimTimothy]

OK...so I've got the Rapid LED kit installed in my Coralife Biocube 14. I'm a bit hesitant to brag about it, because I'm not certain how solid my install is. But, I'll tell you what I did:

 

Here's the kit that gets sent to you for the Oceanic (older) Biocube from RapidLED:

 

The heatsink is drilled to install into the old biocube cover. It's not built to install into the new biocube. The fans that are sent with this kit are too large to fit in the cover, so more improvising.

 

I stripped out most of what they told me to strip out. But, I left the two stock LED fixtures. I figured if they were there and I could make them work, it just gives me more lighting options.

 

 

So, after a first failed idea of shaving off the screw receptors so that I could reglue them into place to match the heatsink, I had to get creative. I couldn't really think of a way to craft a new bracket that would hold use the receptors and attach the heatsink. So, here's what I did...

 

I went to Tap Plastics and had them cut me 3 small pieces of acrylic. The first was 8.75" x 3/8" and the next two were 1.5" x 3/8". The plan was to glue the acrylic bars into the bottom of the heatsink and then glue the heatsink onto the cover, using the acrylic "feet" to slightly raise the heatsink off of the cover.

 

The heatsink fins are slanted, so I had to file the width of these down. I sanded them so that they fit snugly. Also, since the hood is slightly curved, I sanded the bottom of the long acrylic so that it was curved to match the hood.

 

Then, I drilled little holes into the top and bottom of the acrylic pieces to increase adhesion. First I glued the acrylic into the heatsink and let it sit with weight on it for 3 days. Then I scuffed up and cut up the hood where I was going to glue the heatsink, again to increase adhesion.

 

Then, I attached all the LEDs to the heatsink, and glued it into place. I used UV 6800 Industrial Adhesive but I'm not certain this was the best choice. Time will tell. I again put weight on it and let it sit for three days.

 

As I mentioned above, the fan they send doesn't fit. So I ordered two Noctua 40mm fans from Amazon.

 

Instead of one fan, I wired two side-by-side on the left side of the heatsink to blow air over it. I used velcro (superglued in place) to hold the fans in place.

 

I was able to place one of the original coralife LEDs into it's stand. I'm still thinking about how to place the other.

 

But, for now, the heatsink is in place and it is holding.

 

I actually ordered two kits so that I can install one in my freshwater planted tank too. I'm going to wait a bit to make sure this holds before I do it again. :-)