Need Help With Hang-on Bracket, Looking for Ideas

[Anonymous]

I have made several brackets out of acrylic. The bracket I am making will hold two float switches. The float switches are mounted in a 1.5" O.D. acrylic tube. The tubes can slide up or down to the through some clip-on fitting that I found. The brackets I have made work, but I'm really trying to find an easier way to make them. I want the bracket to be a universal type, meaning it could hang on an acrylic sump with no bracing, or a standard aquarium with a rim.

I want to make these and offer them for sell to other hobbiest. I will sell them for a reasonable price. These float switches will be wired in series and offer the hobbiest protection against the kind of disasters that happens all to often when one trusts a single float switch.

Any ideas or comments will be appreciated.

 

[Anonymous]

Here is a picture of another bracket I made. It is a little sturdier than the first one. But like I said, these brackets work, but the are too much work to make. Surely there is a better way?

 

[Anonymous]

Louey,

i believe someone makes a plastic or fiberglass unistrut/ kindorf strut that could be drilled and tapped along the sides.

hth

 

[xrunner123]

Where are the pictures?
Oh never mind. They just popped up.

 

[hfmann]

Hiya Louey,

Nice looking units. I use those same float switches on all my setups. Nice and inexpensive.

I don't have access to a picture right now, so I'll try and describe the brackets I made.

I ripped a piece of 1/4" acrylic to about 17" long by 1 1/2" wide. I routed a slot down the middle 5/16" wide by about 13" long. The slot starts about 3 1/2" from the top and goes to about 1/2" from the bottom. Then I used a heat gun and bent the top of the strip 180 degrees (above the slot) so it would fit over the top edge of my sump. I drilled and tapped a 1/4-20 hole into this so I could tighten the strip to the top edge of the sump. Next I took another 1 1/2" wide acrylic strip about 3" long and drilled two holes, one in the top half to accomodate a nylon bolt which fits into the slot on the first piece. The second hole is in the bottom part of this and sized to snugly hold the top of the float switch. Then I bent this acrylic piece 90 degrees to form an L. Now attach it with a short nylon bolt to slot in the long acrylic piece. This way I can easily adjust the level of the float switch and use it for many different purposes. A made a couple of these without the fastening screw and the unit just hangs on the top edge of my ro/di collection tub.

I'll try and shoot a picture for you tonight. However, your existing setup is much more beautiful than mine.

Take care,
Hal
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Loratab Rehab Forum

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the kind words, Hal. I would love to see a pic of your setup. Mine may be more beautiful, I do intend to try and sell them, but they may be too expensive for what most reefers would be willing to pay. So cheaper alternative must be explored. I should have the electronic on the first prototype completed this week. I am going to have a receptacle that is controlled by the float switches. I am going to step the voltage down to 24 volts to the float switches. That just seems like the right thing to do.

Podman,

I have not been able to locate any plastic kindorf fittings. I threaded plastic C-clamp would be perfect, but my searches have come up empty.

Louey

 

[hfmann]

Well darn it, Louey. I was hoping you were going to say "no need to snap some pix as your literary description was so good I can't imagine how I could see it any better" :lol:

Here's pix of the "hang on" model I'm using to refill my ro/di reservoir. It's merely hooked in series with a 24 volt underground lawn sprinkler valve that's plumbed to a garden hose bib on the home water supply feeding the ro/di unit.

The model not shown that I'm using in my sump, has the threaded 1/4-20 screw that "clamps" the bracket onto the top of my sump. That switch is hooked up to an X-10 unit that sends a signal to another X10 unit hooked up to my Reefiller pump. The pump sends a very slow stream (drip) of the ro/di water into my Kalkwasser reactor which then pushes out to the sump.

See ya in class!

Hal
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Mercedes Benz CLK GTR

 

[hfmann]

Hey guys,

What's a "kindorf fitting"?
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Mercedes CLK Class

 

[Anonymous]

Very nice Hal. I am dense though. How does a 1/4 X 20 screw clamp the sump to the float switch. The one not pictured?

Kindorf is a brand of unistrut, which is a common material in the construction industry for building mounting racks, support brackets, etc.

Thanks for the pics!

Louey

 

[hfmann]

How does a 1/4 X 20 screw clamp the sump to the float switch.

Almost exactly as you've got it. The only difference is that my bracket is bent into a 180 degree angle so it fits tighter over the top. The threaded 1/4" hole just allows me to snug the bracket up. Your fabricated top has more room to allow for acrylic edge bracing, etc. You have nylon screws from both sides while I'm only using a screw on one side.

Does that make sense?
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america economy

 

[Anonymous]

i did see vendors doing a google search using "fiberglass unistrut".

here are a couple that i found that way.... http://www.unistrutbc.com/products.html

http://www.republicco.com/unistrut.html