I wanted to start a thread to show the DIY overflow my dad and I (not really, he can take all the credit, but I’ll take some if it looks good) constructed up.
Decided to make a ‘coast-to-coast’ space ghost (ok, I threw in the space ghost part) over-flow for the 75g. We ended up bending the acrylic instead of gluing it because well it seemed like a good idea at the time. I think it looks better than a boxy, hard angled glued piece, but that’s just me. Bending ending up being quite a learning experience and we ended up doing a lot of extra work truing up the edges.
Anyway on to the pics.
How it sits now waiting for the silicone to dry.
We started off with a sheet basically like this, didn’t get any pics, but this was an extra piece we were testing with.
We did the bending with a heat gun. This was a very trail and error process. This is after many fixes.
The bending caused some warpage and therefore unstraight edges, we ended up fixing it to a straight board as a guide and routered it straight
Trying to fix some of the middle warpage, this didn’t work out, but did take out ripples that were in the middle of the bend.
We used this to true up the ends and to make notches.
This helped get the excess we couldn’t get with the chop saw.
Finished, trued, notched, not too shabby for our first DIY overflow.
Oops we messed up a few notches…
Some generous silicone pressed in while it is held in place by a clamp.
Overall not too bad and I think it turned out/will turn out pretty well. I’m happy for a first time DIY overflow shot. I meant to put more of an angle on the bottom piece so no bubbles get trapped underneath, but we’ll see how she turns out.
Nice!
[quote=“icy1155, post:3, topic:1231”]
Nice![/quote]
Thanks Icy! And thanks for being the only one to say something that I spent a LOT of hard work on!
i wanted to comment, but was so blown away by how complicated it was. remember you made the comment on my qt thread about sunday being slow. lol
maybe with the snow, everybody will stay home and read all the posts
Actually that was my comment (Sunday’s slow).
I would compliment but I don’t have your dads number. lOl
It looks great. Is that my old 75 gallon? I was going to do a coast to coast but never got around to it. What was the cost of the smoke acrylic?
[quote=“a1amap, post:6, topic:1231”]
Actually that was my comment (Sunday’s slow).[/quote]
Yes it was Al’s comment
I would compliment but I don't have your dads number. lOl:P
It looks great. Is that my old 75 gallon?Yes sir it is.
I was going to do a coast to coast but never got around to it. What was the cost of the smoke acrylic?It came out to about $30 after shipping.
Very nice. I am contemplating the coast to coast with PVC pipe on my 65. Did your tank have anything in it when you were working on it?
Looks pretty sharp, Ian. And well documented. It must have been a lot of fun bending that length of acrylic with just a heat gun! Now for Shawn’s sake, I think you need to video it operation on youtube. :GEEK:
[quote=“Jocephus, post:8, topic:1231”]
Very nice. I am contemplating the coast to coast with PVC pipe on my 65. Did your tank have anything in it when you were working on it?[/quote]
Nope, Just started setting the tank up, so no creatures, just some water in the tank (as seen in the pics).
[quote=“johnr3, post:9, topic:1231”]
Looks pretty sharp, Ian. And well documented. It must have been a lot of fun bending that length of acrylic with just a heat gun! Now for Shawn’s sake, I think you need to video it operation on youtube. :GEEK:[/quote]
Thanks, it does take a bit of time and hard to make sure you are evenly heating the whole thing. it would be MUCH easier with a heat strip.
Heh heh, I’ll put up a video shortly 
Joe, PVC is a pretty good idea. If you have access to a table saw you can cut a 1/4 of a PVC pipe and then you have more or less a perfect DIY overflow.
[quote=“icy1155, post:11, topic:1231”]
Joe, PVC is a pretty good idea. If you have access to a table saw you can cut a 1/4 of a PVC pipe and then you have more or less a perfect DIY overflow.[/quote]
Careful cutting pvc this way as I had a friend remove 3’4 of his thumb when the pvc shattered. Luckily they were able to sow it back. if you also google it it happens a lot. Usually when you try to cut a weird angle or jam the blade. I have never been hurt this way but have had pieces shatter and were near misses to the face. (safety goggles)
[quote=“a1amap, post:12, topic:1231”]
[quote=“icy1155, post:11, topic:1231”]
Joe, PVC is a pretty good idea. If you have access to a table saw you can cut a 1/4 of a PVC pipe and then you have more or less a perfect DIY overflow.[/quote]
Careful cutting pvc this way as I had a friend remove 3’4 of his thumb when the pvc shattered. Luckily they were able to sow it back. if you also google it it happens a lot. Usually when you try to cut a weird angle or jam the blade. I have never been hurt this way but have had pieces shatter and were near misses to the face. (safety goggles)[/quote]
yes al is correct, this is best done with a grinder or dremmall tool. if you do you use a table saw use a fine toothed blade designed for cutting plastic materials. hold pipe tightly to table and agianst fence with saw running before pipe comes in contact with pipe. go slow and steady with cut. wear really good safty glasses and good thick gloves. use only solid core shedule 40 pvc…DO NOT USE FOAM CORE PIPE AT ALL
Yikes! Okay, what is foam core pipe? This may be more than I want to handle.
http://s675.photobucket.com/albums/vv115/IanNEden/?action=view¤t=MOV02424.flv
Overflow in action.
Superb ian. great job! all flow from all over.
Thats really sweet Ian. Wonder if that could be used for growing frags back there? If theres a decent amount of light that gets back there I guess. Or is the flow to great?
NIce Job Sir.
[quote=“Gotasplinter, post:17, topic:1231”]
Thats really sweet Ian. Wonder if that could be used for growing frags back there? If theres a decent amount of light that gets back there I guess. Or is the flow to great?[/quote]
Because of the way we designed the hood, yes a light will be right over the overflow there, it will probably be an actinic. I suppose I could grow frags back there, I haven’t thought of what todo with the space.
[quote=“rawdawg05, post:18, topic:1231”]
NIce Job Sir.[/quote]
Thank ya 
[quote=“moliken, post:16, topic:1231”]
Superb ian. great job! all flow from all over.[/quote]
Thanks! Although there is still a bit more flow on the right side and even more so right now because the powerhead forces more water in that side.