Instead of spending all my time getting trolled by @Jporter on this forum, I've been wasting my free time making a diamond blade wet saw.
Years ago I was talking with Tom about making a wet saw... he got me so excited that I went on amazon and grabbed a diamond blade. Unfortunately that's as far as it went. Up until I got AEFW from @Jporter I QT'd my acros for 8+ weeks and needed a saw to cut them off the tile and back into the tank.
I know that the club has one but it seems to be a pain to go pick it up and then schedule to meet just to hand it off. Bill @Epic Aquaculture has one but he doesn't allow anyone to look at it let alone borrow it.
I was recently talking with Tom again and he motivated me to finally make one. I got to work modeling it in CAD and bought all the parts, fasteners printing filament etc.. I was finally ready to give it a go. I called up Antonio @Vivid Creative Aquatics to pick his brain about printing techniques, then I was off to the races. You can read about my progress here.
Without further adieu... Check it out:
Will it cut? Here's a video of the prototype slicing through dead coral like butter:
So, was it worth it? Yes it was very satisfying to have the final product work and work well. What about cost? Well theoretically it was a lot cheaper than purchasing one, but there's a lot of time involved getting to this point. The hardest part was turning both the shafts for the pulleys, the measurements had to be so precise so that I could press on the bearings. Machining is definitely a skill set that I need more practice at.
I promised Tom that if I were to ever design one, I will make him one, all he has to do is buy all the parts. I also extended that offer to Eddie @Xanthurum because he spent 2 days helping me put all my acros back in my tank.
Now I just need some corals to cut!!!
Years ago I was talking with Tom about making a wet saw... he got me so excited that I went on amazon and grabbed a diamond blade. Unfortunately that's as far as it went. Up until I got AEFW from @Jporter I QT'd my acros for 8+ weeks and needed a saw to cut them off the tile and back into the tank.
I know that the club has one but it seems to be a pain to go pick it up and then schedule to meet just to hand it off. Bill @Epic Aquaculture has one but he doesn't allow anyone to look at it let alone borrow it.
I was recently talking with Tom again and he motivated me to finally make one. I got to work modeling it in CAD and bought all the parts, fasteners printing filament etc.. I was finally ready to give it a go. I called up Antonio @Vivid Creative Aquatics to pick his brain about printing techniques, then I was off to the races. You can read about my progress here.
Without further adieu... Check it out:
Will it cut? Here's a video of the prototype slicing through dead coral like butter:
So, was it worth it? Yes it was very satisfying to have the final product work and work well. What about cost? Well theoretically it was a lot cheaper than purchasing one, but there's a lot of time involved getting to this point. The hardest part was turning both the shafts for the pulleys, the measurements had to be so precise so that I could press on the bearings. Machining is definitely a skill set that I need more practice at.
I promised Tom that if I were to ever design one, I will make him one, all he has to do is buy all the parts. I also extended that offer to Eddie @Xanthurum because he spent 2 days helping me put all my acros back in my tank.
Now I just need some corals to cut!!!
