DIY Beckett Skimmer

Is there any chance you would post your detailed plans for this skimmer?  I have searched high and low for plans on the web without finding anything worth building.

As a matter of fact I do have plans drawn out in Autocad.  Do you have autocad?  I'm not sure if there's a reader or not?  I don't think I can save from within autocad to other formats?  Anyone here know?  Anyway, I'm more then willing to share if you can open and use them.  It might seem like overkill, but the drawings really helped me to locate flanges and tubes so they wouldn't hit each other... much better then trial and error.

Here's the latest pics...

I had 11 more inches of 6" tubing laying around so I built an extension to the skimmer.  Now the main column is 24" long!

And I built a box to hide it in:

I've seen Dell computers used for many different things - but a skimmer stand is a new one!

The autocad files are at work, I'll check tomorrow.

It's actually birch ply from Home Depot or Lowes... can't remember.  They both carry it.

I've seen Dell computers used for many different things - but a skimmer stand is a new one!

That ain't the half of it... I'll start a new thread in the DIY section showing what it really is...
Here's the tread:  http://www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1629& PN=1

Edited by jfinch

Chris, that would be awesome!  I've tried to buy from National when I was building my house (wanted some hardwood flooring), they kinda put me off 'cause I didn't have a commercial account.  I usually go through quite a bit of wood myself... I make a lot of sawdust

Timlaw, here's a link to the autocad drawings.

Side View
Top View with flange layout
6 and 2 1/2 inch flange
3 inch flange


I couldn't find a way within autocad to export them to a different file format, but if you don't have Autocad, there's a free viewer here: http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id= 2952277&linkID=2475161

The files are to scale, but I didn't take the time to dimension. I printed them out 1:1 scale (the side view I did 1/2 scale) and just used my ruler to get locations. Hope this helps.

Edited by jfinch

I was able to conver the files that Jon is sharing will all of us in a format I hope most of us can use.  PDF!  I've also included the DWF files incase you want the original autoCad format.  I've ZIPped them all together.

http://libtest.weber.edu/fish/beckettSkimmer.zip

PS:  This is my work test server, if anyone has a place to host this file, please feel free to copy the file and post the location, thanks!

Thanks Spuma!

How did you convert the .dwg files to .dwf?

Another update.  A couple day's ago I came home from work and noticed the skimmer sounded strange.  Apparently while I was at work it went into skimmer overdrive producing a lot of wet foam.  What I was happy about is my skimate collection cup worked!  It shut the skimmer completely down.  Here's a couple pictures:

This is what it looked like when I removed the wood cover.  As you can see the cup is full.  And the water column in the skimmer has been forced down to the bottom.

Here's the full cup.  A ping pong ball saved my carpet!

 

You're very right!  I came very close to being "skimmerless".