DIY acrylic lilly pipes

[Curare]

I've always hated the look of the in/out pipes in my 10 gal, even green eheim pipe still looks wrong, and lets face it, a large proportion of our hobby has to do with aesthetics.



I'm a big beleiver in the three C's.

Conceal conceal and conceal.

So I set about making my own ADA style lilly pipes.

These are made from 1/2" clear acrylic tube, and heat bent into shape.
For these sizes I tried sand packing but the problem is that the sand likes to imbed itself in the the acrylic.

but ultimately I didn't loose any area through the bends.

here they are.



The upline is just plugged with a peice of clear scrap and drilled to suit, but don't push too hard with that drill!



The flared outlet was just a nice peice of artistry, I don't think it helps much



they were designed to fit snugly together and they bend around each other, and also drop off the back of my desk so you don't see all the pipe connections. Thats also why they're a mile long.



Tune in later to see what happens when they go into the tank!

[Wasserpest]

AWESOME.

Where does one get inexpensive 1/2 - 3/4in clear acrylic tubes???

(instead of sand, try metal springs!)

[bharada]

Originally Posted by Wasserpest

AWESOME.

Where does one get inexpensive 1/2 - 3/4in clear acrylic tubes???

(instead of sand, try metal springs!)

TAP Plastics.

http://www.tapplastics.com/shop/product.php?pid=141&

[Curare]

I did consider the coil spring method of bending the pipes but I chose not to, for one simple reason, if I mess it up I can pretty much kiss my pipe and and my coil bender goodbye as they will be forever bound in a metal/plastic union.

I went for the sand, cos it was easy and I knew that if I messed it up I can still pour the sand out again!

[bharada]

I tried using a curtain rod spring but the coils are too spread out and the spring wasn't flexible enough. It ended up threading the inside of the tube.

If you use a coarse sand you'll have little sticking to the inside of the acrylic. I was able to get the bend successfully, but you're right about the drilling. The first hole cracked the piece in two.

[Curare]

hehehe, well the boss has gone out for a few hours, so it's time to add some more stuff to the tank!

Now you saw what the tank looked like before, so I ripped the top off it and got to fitting things.

Here's where the pipes wil be going down, you can already see what I'm trying to do.



And here it is in action during a water change, BEHOLD IT WORKS!



And here is the final install, neat enough and looks whole lot better



And the kids checking out the handiwork...

[tazcrash69]

Looks good. Not sure I'm up to trying that myself yet, but they do look good.

[Wasserpest]

Looks great Curare. Actually, looks like my next project. After CO2 manifold. And new canopy. And auto water change. And...

Bill ... thanks for the link!

[Curare]

No worries,

In fact I was so suicidally unhappy with those bends I set out to find a better way.

....and I did, more on that later...

[Wasserpest]

Suspense... eating me alive.

[Curare]

hehehe, how do you keep an idiot in suspense?


I'll tell you later.


ROFL

Don't worry WP, I'll show you what I used on my 3gal nano, and that's real hard work! It's Ø9mm tubes!

[Mori]

That's just cruel...I think you should tell him NOW!

Seriously, is it difficult to bend these things? What do you heat them with? Newbie wants details!!!!

[Wasserpest]

Get in line Mori!!

(Acrylic pipes are on order...)

[Mori]

They seem inexpensive...so do the polycarbonate tubes at that vendor. Is acrylic better? Seens the polycarb might be easier to work with...

[Curare]

Sorry about the long wait peeps, I've been trying desparately to get my pics uploaded and only found some time today, so I can start with the re-learnin!!

If you can find polycarbonate at a good price it might be worth trying, I think you'll need more heat but in the end, once it's bent it's bent!!


you do use heat to bend them, and if you do it right, all will come out relatively well, around 300-340˚ works nice and quickly.

Here's my secret weapon.



It's a peice of silicon tube, it's flexible, doesn't stick to plastic, and keeps its roundness when bent.

I attached it to a peice of wire (press fit) and put it up the tube



I'd then set it in the position I want it to be in (you can see the black mark for where the bent centre should be) and then I heat up an area 2-3 times the diamter, so, say for 3/8" tubing I was doing about an inch, but for 3/4, youd be looking for at least 2 1/2" minimum.



Heat it by rolling the tube and making sure you have even heat, (wear a heatproof glove on one hand at least!) when it all goes soft, and starts to bend under it's own weight, put it in the position you want it, and wait till it cools.

you should have a nice bend if you got it right.


then, slooowly pull out the silicon tube, and you should have a nice clean bend.

Silicon tube is used in model aircraft as fuel tube and exhaust couplers, I fly planes so I have a stupid supply of this, and the thing is, you can do it again, and again, and again!!!


So there you go,

Oh and to see the final piping run, this is what I did.



here's the intake tube.