Scubagen Mods

[Scubabatdan]

Here is another item you guys may want to pick up. It is a corse cone style grinding stone you mount in your drill. This is vey usefull for creating the bevel/taper inside the poly tube. It allows the poly tube to go over the o-rings very smoothly. I bought mine from a local hardware store, but it looks like this:
1 1/4 x 1 1/4 x 1/4 Coarse Cone Grinding Stone

Anyway I taper the inside of both ends of all the tubes for ease of mounting the tube on the mod.
Hope this helps,
Dan

 

[asdaq]

Hey thanks Dan, I picked some of those up not long ago and really had no idea what good they would be for modding, for that application they sound great, shaping the exterior of anything, meh.

 

[PKZap27]

Thank you Dan!

I'll have to give that a try.

I've been using the other end of a large file without a handle on it and just twist the file around inside the end of the tubing and it cuts a nice chamfer on the inside edge of the tubing. I do this to the 5/8" ID tubing that I have for other tanks and I haven't tried this on the 3/4" ID tubing yet. It should still work if the file is large enough.

 

[lorderos33]

I've been using a pipe de-burring tool to chamfer the inside edge had one laying around and it seems to do the trick.

Also...pipe cutters and acrylic tube don't mix, lol. For those, the precision mitre is still the best option that's too bad I guess.... the pipe cutter does such a nice job of leaving a nice clean straight cut.

Glad I got Polycarbonate tube for the scubagen....the pipe cutter will be back in service for building those up

 

[Gummy Bear]

A felt pad on your dremel at a med. speed and a very light touch will polish the ends after cutting and it will add a lot of life to the tube as they do like to crack, but they will last a lot longer if you do this.

 

[Scubabatdan]

A felt pad on your dremel at a med. speed and a very light touch will polish the ends after cutting and it will add a lot of life to the tube as they do like to crack, but they will last a lot longer if you do this.

Acrylic may crack, but the poly tube does not.
Dan

 

[Brazilleon]

Sweet, I bought one of those back in my NicoStick days to finish off the switch hole nicely.
My poly tubes and o-rings arrived yesterday.

Here is another item you guys may want to pick up. It is a corse cone style grinding stone you mount in your drill. This is vey usefull for creating the bevel/taper inside the poly tube. It allows the poly tube to go over the o-rings very smoothly. I bought mine from a local hardware store, but it looks like this:
1 1/4 x 1 1/4 x 1/4 Coarse Cone Grinding Stone

Anyway I taper the inside of both ends of all the tubes for ease of mounting the tube on the mod.
Hope this helps,
Dan

 

[Scubabatdan]

Just got a PM from mjmetz, he just mailed me the springs all individually package per user. I will sit down once they come in and add the nails to them.
Dan

 

[fenderbc]

Just got a PM from mjmetz, he just mailed me the springs all individually package per user. I will sit down once they come in and add the nails to them.
Dan

Yeah! Thanks mjmetz for the springs and taking your time packing them. We appreciate yours and Dan's contribution and time.

 

[Gummy Bear]

Acrylic may crack, but the poly tube does not.
Dan

It will if you drop it as much as I do, <hee hee> ,,,,

 

[Scubabatdan]

It will if you drop it as much as I do, <hee hee> ,,,,

Ummmmm no it wont, polycarbonate (Lexan) will not crack. You can hit it with a hammer and it will dent. That is why the army went to lexan windows over acrylic, because the aircraft vibration will crack acrylic, doesnt do anything to lexan. Acrylic is more scratch resistant than lexan since lexan is softer but if your worried about cracking lexan is the way to go.

Lexan Hammer test:

Dan

 

[Scubabatdan]

Just had to post:

Acylic Hammer test:


Polycarbonate hammer test:


Nuff said on which to use.
Dan

 

[harmonic]

now thats good stuff lol

 

[asdaq]

Too funny. Yeah, it would ruin my weekend with that guy and his hammer on my roof

 

[NotoriousJoe]

I like this one

 

[lorderos33]

A felt pad on your dremel at a med. speed and a very light touch will polish the ends after cutting and it will add a lot of life to the tube as they do like to crack, but they will last a lot longer if you do this.

the tube cracked during cutting, lol. That's why I use the precision mitre saw for it...gets very close to perfec, then I use a light sanding pad on the dremel to square it up as close as I can.

To keep the tube durable I flame polish the acrylic it leaves the whole tank crystal clear and eliminates any area for stress cracks to appear as a result of the cutting/sanding process because everything is glass smooth.

I have no problems after they tanks are made, just that using the pipe cutter generates too much stress in the wrong direction (I can see it is cracking in the same direction as the extrusion....i may just be too impatient and tightening the cutter wheel too much between passes as well. I'll take pics of a few finished ones later so you can see the effects of flame polish vs sanding if you want

 

[mj64]

Okay guys so now I want to build a lexan house. Thanks!

 

[lorderos33]

It will if you drop it as much as I do, <hee hee> ,,,,

i have tanks made of both....the acrylic can crack if it's stressed, but the poly just laughs at every torture drop I put it through (of course the vari is not attached, lol, I'm not that crazy )

 

[lorderos33]

Okay guys so now I want to build a lexan house. Thanks!

Agreed...especially here in hurricane country!

 

[Dalton63841]

Okay guys so now I want to build a lexan house. Thanks!

People in lexan houses are free to throw stones.

They are encouraged to use curtains though...