RudyB
Active Member
Well, I was asked to write this up by a friend who came over and saw me using it and said why I had not made one for him. So here it is.
Parts list:
Computer Fan (any size that you can get)
Power Supply
Magnet (I got mine from and old hard drive) (rare earth magnets will work as well)
Box (Just big enough to house the fan)
Magnetic Stirrer Bars (I got mine on Ebay)
10ml Glass Containers (Also Ebay)
Here is mine. From the picture, you can see I used a power supply that I had around the house without knowing what it belong to. But it was what I needed so I did not have to use a Rheostat to control the speed. Those are the vials that I use to run the water test. I bought them on Ebay, they were called 10ml glass vials with screw tops. The stirrers are the PTFE coated oval 6X10mm size. They are small enough to fit in the vials.
OK, now to the building. The box that you are going to use is not that important. Any box would do. You can buy one at Home Depot or make it. A bottom, four sides and the most important part a very thin top. I used a piece of acrylic that I had left over from something else. But you can buy them as well from Home Depot and cut it to the size that you need. If you have an old hard drive around then open it up and pull the magnets from it. They are the best and very strong. They look like the one that I have on the fan an arch. Don’t glue it yet, that comes later. The next thing is the power supply. I had that one laying around and it turned out to be perfect. Anything stronger and I would have to use a rheostat to control the speed. No big deal if you have to use one, just an extra cost. Cut the wire at the end where it goes to the point connector. Now split the wires and expose about half an inch of each wire. Do the same with the connector end of the computer fan. Notice that the fan has three wires coming out of it and the power supply has just two. Don’t worry, I will explain. The power supply is a converter. It takes your regular power and brings it down to low voltage. So, it may still give you a little buzz but will not hurt you. If you use power from your house outlet without a converter you will burn out the fan to second you plug it in. With that said you will noticed that the fan has three wires with no color, don’t worry. Normally you will have red, black, yellow. Not a big deal in this case. Since we are using low voltage you will not burn out to fan testing it. I know some people will argue with me but nothing will happen. Here you will find out what wires you will need to connect for power. You already cut and split the wires to the fan and the power supply. Make sure that the wires from the fan are not touching each other but you can easily connect them to the power supply. Now to test what cables work. Pick any two cables from the fan. Now connect the power to the wall. Touch any two of the fan wires to the two from the power supply. If it starts to spin then you got it. If it doesn’t then move just one of the wires to the other one for the fan. Remember it is low voltage and should not burn out the fan. Once you found the two wires that will make it spin mark them somehow. You will make that connection permanent later.
So now the fan can spin and you will need to glue the magnets to the fan. I like to use the spongy double-sided tape. I use for the magnet and as well to tape the fan to the box. It acts as a vibration dampener. Adding four little rubber feet to the box will take care of the rest of the vibration. Tape the fan to the box and then tape the magnet to the fan. Turn the fan on again and see if there are no vibrations. If you get vibration that means that the fan is not balanced. Move the magnet until you don’t get vibrations. That is also why I like the tape, you can move it easily. Now you balanced the magnet and fan, almost done. Take the power supply out of the wall and permanently attach it to the fan. Now if you already have a solder gun use it, if not then just tie the two ends by hand and then tape (electrical tape is best at this point but any will be good, even scotch tape will work.). Just make sure that you tape the two wires separately and two exposed wires don’t touch each other or you will short them out.
Now add the clear top to the box. You can use the double-sided tape again on the four corners to hold the top in place. It will also give you the separation that you will need so the wire comes out of the box. Now it is time to test. Grab a 10ml vial add water half way. Drop in the stirrer, place it on the center clear top center of fan and turn it on. If the magnets are two strong and it begins to pull the vial down and warp the top then you just need to separate the top from the magnet. You can add more layers of tape to increase the separation. You are now done.
As for price. If you had all the parts laying around in the house like I did then it will cost you nothing. If you have to get the parts between Ebay and Home Depot you are looking around $25 tops. With this stirrer, you can use any test kit and have both hands for adding drops in without shaking after each drop. Makes doing the water test fast and easy. Happy Reefing.
Parts list:
Computer Fan (any size that you can get)
Power Supply
Magnet (I got mine from and old hard drive) (rare earth magnets will work as well)
Box (Just big enough to house the fan)
Magnetic Stirrer Bars (I got mine on Ebay)
10ml Glass Containers (Also Ebay)
Here is mine. From the picture, you can see I used a power supply that I had around the house without knowing what it belong to. But it was what I needed so I did not have to use a Rheostat to control the speed. Those are the vials that I use to run the water test. I bought them on Ebay, they were called 10ml glass vials with screw tops. The stirrers are the PTFE coated oval 6X10mm size. They are small enough to fit in the vials.
OK, now to the building. The box that you are going to use is not that important. Any box would do. You can buy one at Home Depot or make it. A bottom, four sides and the most important part a very thin top. I used a piece of acrylic that I had left over from something else. But you can buy them as well from Home Depot and cut it to the size that you need. If you have an old hard drive around then open it up and pull the magnets from it. They are the best and very strong. They look like the one that I have on the fan an arch. Don’t glue it yet, that comes later. The next thing is the power supply. I had that one laying around and it turned out to be perfect. Anything stronger and I would have to use a rheostat to control the speed. No big deal if you have to use one, just an extra cost. Cut the wire at the end where it goes to the point connector. Now split the wires and expose about half an inch of each wire. Do the same with the connector end of the computer fan. Notice that the fan has three wires coming out of it and the power supply has just two. Don’t worry, I will explain. The power supply is a converter. It takes your regular power and brings it down to low voltage. So, it may still give you a little buzz but will not hurt you. If you use power from your house outlet without a converter you will burn out the fan to second you plug it in. With that said you will noticed that the fan has three wires with no color, don’t worry. Normally you will have red, black, yellow. Not a big deal in this case. Since we are using low voltage you will not burn out to fan testing it. I know some people will argue with me but nothing will happen. Here you will find out what wires you will need to connect for power. You already cut and split the wires to the fan and the power supply. Make sure that the wires from the fan are not touching each other but you can easily connect them to the power supply. Now to test what cables work. Pick any two cables from the fan. Now connect the power to the wall. Touch any two of the fan wires to the two from the power supply. If it starts to spin then you got it. If it doesn’t then move just one of the wires to the other one for the fan. Remember it is low voltage and should not burn out the fan. Once you found the two wires that will make it spin mark them somehow. You will make that connection permanent later.
So now the fan can spin and you will need to glue the magnets to the fan. I like to use the spongy double-sided tape. I use for the magnet and as well to tape the fan to the box. It acts as a vibration dampener. Adding four little rubber feet to the box will take care of the rest of the vibration. Tape the fan to the box and then tape the magnet to the fan. Turn the fan on again and see if there are no vibrations. If you get vibration that means that the fan is not balanced. Move the magnet until you don’t get vibrations. That is also why I like the tape, you can move it easily. Now you balanced the magnet and fan, almost done. Take the power supply out of the wall and permanently attach it to the fan. Now if you already have a solder gun use it, if not then just tie the two ends by hand and then tape (electrical tape is best at this point but any will be good, even scotch tape will work.). Just make sure that you tape the two wires separately and two exposed wires don’t touch each other or you will short them out.
Now add the clear top to the box. You can use the double-sided tape again on the four corners to hold the top in place. It will also give you the separation that you will need so the wire comes out of the box. Now it is time to test. Grab a 10ml vial add water half way. Drop in the stirrer, place it on the center clear top center of fan and turn it on. If the magnets are two strong and it begins to pull the vial down and warp the top then you just need to separate the top from the magnet. You can add more layers of tape to increase the separation. You are now done.
As for price. If you had all the parts laying around in the house like I did then it will cost you nothing. If you have to get the parts between Ebay and Home Depot you are looking around $25 tops. With this stirrer, you can use any test kit and have both hands for adding drops in without shaking after each drop. Makes doing the water test fast and easy. Happy Reefing.
