Helix Skimmer Swabbie/Neck Cleaner

[theatrus]

Finally replaced the very aging and somewhat tempermental Qidi Tech 1 I was using for one-off things with a Bambu X1C. I realize my comparison point is a pretty old printer (Flash Forge clone), but this thing is able to knock out parts like nothing else with basically no fuss.

Outside of another project I was working on, I'm experimenting with a skimmer neck cleaner. Instead of a neck cleaner which just brushes off the gunk, what if it made an attempt at raising it slowly into the cup?

Here is a prototype for the wiper assembly. It uses two silicone wiper blade inserts ($10 on Amazon, come in fun colors!) as the actual wiper mechanism.

Early fit check of a half-height prototype. I didn't cut and insert the full length wiper blades yet, just some small scraps to check clearance.

Wiper blade fit check:

The prototypes are all in PLA so far (not for actual use). I also want to play with the angle of the helix (revolutions over height). The model is fully parameterized for different skimmer dimensions.

 

[Tuan’s Reef]

Nice! I haven't thought about using my printer to make a swabbie for my Nyos 120. This design looks great!

 

[theatrus]

Going to test two twists: quarter and half rotation. These are now "full height" (150mm) for my RO Elite 150-SpaceSaver, still in PLA. There is a bit too much friction however, so you can't slide in the wiper blade more than half way. Going to add a .1mm here and there to give it some give.

I fought Inventor a bit and the parameters almost all work (height, width, wiper offset, twists). Sometimes it wigs out with a degenerate geometry error but rebuilds don't error :shrug:

The top accepts a D shaped 1/4" shaft and a #4 high-low set screw. Motor will be a stepper on a gear reduction (printed), and basically always very slowly running.

I dug in the bin of filament and might end up doing this in PC.

 

[theatrus]

Well, good news, PC works great, and I can use adhesive solvent (WeldOn #16) to bond it to acrylic.

I made a new skimmer lid from a sheet of 6mm white acrylic on the laser cutter. I didn't have any acrylic tube around, so I 3d-printed the interior lip and foam deflector:

The outer ears are for making a fastening mechanism to hold onto the skimmer cup lest the assembly free spin.

The "doodoo swirler" (as its now known) with wiper blades installed:

And with a small test in my dirty skimmer cup (before I trimmed the wipers)

 

[MoKan Reefer]

Anymore information on this? Where you acquired the rubber squeegee material? Has the stl been released or are you going to? Or are you looking to print and sell them? I'd like to have this type of swabbie for a few Reef Octopus skimmers. Even though I'd have to play with the 3d model with trial and error, it'd be cool to have a reference starting point.

 

[theatrus]

I've been working on the gear train and a few of the control pieces, also happy to share some of the models. Its all built in Inventor so some cross-portability with Fusion is possible.

Wiper blades are - I haven't done any extended searches and these were the first ones I bought.

 

[theatrus]

Just for some updates (been parallel tracking a few things), I made this PCB by recycling sections of a different stepper motor driver setup. It runs a NEMA17 stepper, and is massive overkill in terms of functions and power for it, and the board is giant, but thats what you get when you quickly drag some existing blocks around and have parts on hand

Pasted but not reflowed. Connectors are molex PicoLock. The white frame is a 3d printed PCB stencil plate making stencil stuff easy.

Reflowed and some wires attached. Stepper with prototype gear in the background.

 

[MoKan Reefer]

You're going a lot more in depth than my plan lol. I'd just planned to connect it to a low speed high torque ac motor on a repeating timer along with a simple peristaltic pump to pull in tank water at the same time to clean the neck. Super simple & easy lol

 

[theatrus]

The peristaltic pump is a premium idea - I might have to steal that one for rinsing. The top of the lid will remain a problem in my current design.

 

[MoKan Reefer]

That would be my concern as most neck cleaning apparatus are just a simple motor turning the mechanism or manual hand turned for space, simplicity & anesthetics. The first thing I thought of was that this would be a heck of a step up from the avast marine kit and files currently available on Thingiverse and such for neck swabbies.

I'd been waiting to find something exactly like this because none of what's been available has been either almost laughable or overly expensive for they are.

Quite honestly, what you have here is truly impressive.

 

[theatrus]

Finally getting back to this. Some breaks in between, my apologies

Stepper motor driver and gearing block holder:

Going to need an enclosure, a mount for the PCB, and a collar for the large gear so I can set the height of the skimmer swirler.

Also need to print some cup clamps to attach the acyrlic lid to the cup and not simply spin around.

 

[timvc]

Sas ze

Finally replaced the very aging and somewhat tempermental Qidi Tech 1 I was using for one-off things with a Bambu X1C. I realize my comparison point is a pretty old printer (Flash Forge clone), but this thing is able to knock out parts like nothing else with basically no fuss.

Outside of another project I was working on, I'm experimenting with a skimmer neck cleaner. Instead of a neck cleaner which just brushes off the gunk, what if it made an attempt at raising it slowly into the cup?

Here is a prototype for the wiper assembly. It uses two silicone wiper blade inserts ($10 on Amazon, come in fun colors!) as the actual wiper mechanism.

Early fit check of a half-height prototype. I didn't cut and insert the full length wiper blades yet, just some small scraps to check clearance.

Wiper blade fit check:

The prototypes are all in PLA so far (not for actual use). I also want to play with the angle of the helix (revolutions over height). The model is fully parameterized for different skimmer dimensions.

nice. Can you tell me where I can find the stl file if it’s possibles. Looks great and want to try to print it. Nice