Ok so I've been coveting a roller mat filter and when I look at them (as I do with pretty much anything) I think to myself, that's just some acrylic with a motor doohicky and simple float switch, I'm not paying that much for one of those. They're actually quite expensive here in Australia - $600 for the SK-3000.
So I thought I'd document the process I follow and hopefully others will find it interesting or even useful. I haven't done any drawings I'm just going with the flow.
The Body
I have some 5mm acrylic that is painted and manky but am using that for a prototype and for working out how best to shape this stuff. I started by making a wooden template and routing the acrylic using a trim bit. That worked pretty well but you have to be careful with how you feed it into the bit. I had it kick back a couple of times and have since decided it's not work trying to do intricate things like slots this way. I'm now thinking I'll just drill holes for the axles instead of slots. Will be more of a pain when swapping the rolls but that's ok.
Drive Roller
I've spent a bit of time on the motor drive cylinder thingy. I've used a basic 12v geared motor that runs at 36rpm. I've only tested using a 9v wall wort so far but works well. This has an acrylic disc that I made a keyed hole in using a Dremel and needle files and I glued a slightly larger disk to that made out of a thong (Flip flop in America I believe). I fashioned some rings that sit around the motor and keep it centred within a piece of PVC pipe. The motor will be fixed to the carcass of the filter and the outer cylinder will rotate just like the real one. I've purchased an sk3000 filter roll so am working to that. For the feed roller I'm just planning on using the same PVC pipe but blocked out to fill the cardboard tube of the filter roll with more thong rubber (Flip flop rubber and yes I mean the footwear, I now have an old pair with big holes in the heel!). Photos attached, I have a video but not able to upload at the moment. Hope this helps, keen to hear how you're going with your project if you're still going on it.
Photos: Inside view of the drive roller showing the rubber insert that drives the outer tube, A shot of the motor in a teflon ring around which the outer tube rotates and a shot of the household items that have made the ultimate sacrifice for this project.
Here is a video of the drive roller moving.
Feed Roller
The feed roller is just more of the 50mm PVC and inserts made from the teflon cutting board. I've made padding rings out of the thongs that go around the pvc and fill out the inner diameter of the roller mat tube so that's pretty straight forward. Only concern I have is that there may not be enough friction on that and that might be a thing. Not sure if needs to be held taught by the feed roller not spooling forward of its own accord. We'll see.
Well that's where I'm up to. Will keep adding to this thread as I make progress. I'm working on ways to make teflon dowels which I can then turn into screws/bolts. I probably should just order some nylon ones online. My dowel jigs have so far failed.
So I thought I'd document the process I follow and hopefully others will find it interesting or even useful. I haven't done any drawings I'm just going with the flow.
The Body
I have some 5mm acrylic that is painted and manky but am using that for a prototype and for working out how best to shape this stuff. I started by making a wooden template and routing the acrylic using a trim bit. That worked pretty well but you have to be careful with how you feed it into the bit. I had it kick back a couple of times and have since decided it's not work trying to do intricate things like slots this way. I'm now thinking I'll just drill holes for the axles instead of slots. Will be more of a pain when swapping the rolls but that's ok.
Drive Roller
I've spent a bit of time on the motor drive cylinder thingy. I've used a basic 12v geared motor that runs at 36rpm. I've only tested using a 9v wall wort so far but works well. This has an acrylic disc that I made a keyed hole in using a Dremel and needle files and I glued a slightly larger disk to that made out of a thong (Flip flop in America I believe). I fashioned some rings that sit around the motor and keep it centred within a piece of PVC pipe. The motor will be fixed to the carcass of the filter and the outer cylinder will rotate just like the real one. I've purchased an sk3000 filter roll so am working to that. For the feed roller I'm just planning on using the same PVC pipe but blocked out to fill the cardboard tube of the filter roll with more thong rubber (Flip flop rubber and yes I mean the footwear, I now have an old pair with big holes in the heel!). Photos attached, I have a video but not able to upload at the moment. Hope this helps, keen to hear how you're going with your project if you're still going on it.
Photos: Inside view of the drive roller showing the rubber insert that drives the outer tube, A shot of the motor in a teflon ring around which the outer tube rotates and a shot of the household items that have made the ultimate sacrifice for this project.
Here is a video of the drive roller moving.
Feed Roller
The feed roller is just more of the 50mm PVC and inserts made from the teflon cutting board. I've made padding rings out of the thongs that go around the pvc and fill out the inner diameter of the roller mat tube so that's pretty straight forward. Only concern I have is that there may not be enough friction on that and that might be a thing. Not sure if needs to be held taught by the feed roller not spooling forward of its own accord. We'll see.
Well that's where I'm up to. Will keep adding to this thread as I make progress. I'm working on ways to make teflon dowels which I can then turn into screws/bolts. I probably should just order some nylon ones online. My dowel jigs have so far failed.
