Tobacco pipe = glass bubble counter

[jaidexl]

Here's a BC I just made out of a glass tobacco bubbler from the gas station/paraphernalia emporium down the road, they sell various ones from around 4 to 10 bucks. A tad pricey compared to other DIY b/c's but looks better IMO.

This is what it looked like, glass vile, rubber stopper with two holes,




Removed the existing tubing and hardware from the stopper.

Cut CO2/In tubbing at an angle, dabbed with dish soap, and threaded it through a hole in the stopper about 6". Moved the tubing back and forth in the stopper under tap water until the seal tightened as the soap rinsed away, pulled back and trimmed tubing to target length, around 2.5" for this particular vile.


Obviously, the same process can be used for the CO2/Out tubing while trimming close to the bottom of the stopper, but I chose to plug in a standard tubing connector so the CO2/Out tubing can be easily pulled for quick disconnect. It's actually a connector from a Red Sea limewood diffuser that was laying around, the flanges on the end make a nice seal in the stopper.




Filled with water to submerse incoming CO2 line and corked with stopper. Make sure the rim of the vile and the stopper are completely dry or the stopper will not set a seal properly.

Connected Outgoing CO2 line, finished. Cranked the gas, soap tested, all systems go.



Over pressurized the system for approximately one minute, uncountable bps and super microbubble storm, no sign of the stopper loosening. I'll let you know if it pops.

Total build time, a few minutes.


Now I'm off to find/make a clip or clamp I can mount it with. It works well dangling but that annoys me when I'm trying to count. It sets down by itself but will get knocked over eventually, doesn't weight much at all.

[fishscale]

...HAHAHAHAHAH!

Awesome.

[swylie]

That's slick, but I thought "tobacco" paraphernalia was generally overpriced?

[jaidexl]

It is, but not so much at the "quicky mart". It's also a great place to get digital gram scales, I've seen them as low as $12, while a head shop or any other store will be asking $40-60 and up.

[Madfish]

Thats a good one I will have to look closer next time I stop in the "Quick Stop".

[A Hill]

I see a new genre of planted tanks coming soon

My friends always question the authenticity of this "duck weed" what next...

Very nice cheap effective idea though.

-Andrew

[dr.tran]

what the!?!?!?!

quicky mart? where!! I wish i knew one for those gram scales. crap, so hard to find one without shipping it.

[tazcrash69]

Funny here I was picturing a corn cob pipe, or big ol' ivory Sherlock Holmes one.

[Khandurian]

Originally Posted by tazcrash69

Funny here I was picturing a corn cob pipe, or big ol' ivory Sherlock Holmes one.

I thought the same thing when I first saw the title.

Great idea you got there. Will have to stop into my local convenience store and see if they have anything there. Always a good idea to have more than one bubble counter laying around.

[jaidexl]

Yeah, I liked this idea because I knew it would only take a few minutes to rig up and I probably wouldn't have to glue or seal anything up, as long as the stopper holds, still good so far at 2bps for 6hrs today. The stopper holes are a lot smaller than the tubing, so that's good.

You could probably incorporate the existing metal down tube, but I didn't want to compromise the seal by butting metal and polyurethane together inside the stopper. I guess I like seeing how fast the gas moves up and down the end of the tubing while I'm playing with the needle valve.

[swylie]

Originally Posted by jaidexl

Yeah, I liked this idea because I knew it would only take a few minutes to rig up and I probably wouldn't have to glue or seal anything up, as long as the stopper holds, still good so far at 2bps for 6hrs today. The stopper holes are a lot smaller than the tubing, so that's good.

Rubber stoppers are traditional because they work. I can't imagine you having any problems with this.

[jaidexl]

The only issue I had was stopping it wet, and I think there was still some soap residue coming from my hand or somewhere, the stopper would slowly squeeze back out. Once I had everything dry, it was like stuffing a car tire into a mail box.

[jaidexl]

I updated the build post with some extra info I just remembered, might be important to someone who tries this....

"I chose to plug in a standard tubing connector so the CO2/Out tubing can be easily pulled for quick disconnect. It's actually a connector from a Red Sea limewood diffuser that was laying around, the flanges on the end make a nice seal in the stopper."

[UnusualSuspect]

I thought of something very similar a few months ago when setting up my DIY rig. The only source of parts I could think of was a place that sells lab equipment - we had all kinds of stuff like this in my college chemistry labs.

That was like thirty years ago, I guess I've been away from "the scene" for awhile. A paraphernalia shop never even occurred to me.

Feeling my age,
Mike

[Johnnnn_h]

Tooooo funny


That will work nicely with the 3' watterpipe/reactor!