I may have gone a bit overboard. But I figure I'm only doing this once so I may as well make something unique, serviceable, reversible, tunable, & "rebuildable".
I have a decent amount of sheet Acrylic & Polycarbonate in different thicknesses. Some of which has been in my materials room for awhile. I decided to put it to good use before the backing becomes difficult to remove. This will be the build log of my acrylic Top Hat with a twist.
The body of the Top Hat will be identical & open on both ends with machine thread inserts to secure the 2 piece top removable to replace the Polycarbonate liner (which is the rebuildable part), or access the bellmouth, & bottom section that will bolt in & secure & support the baffle by sandwiching it between the bottom & body. It will be (for lack of a better term) "tunable" by having a bottom ring that is removable that makes the baffle removable. (I could have baffles with different width drop slots). I doubt that I'd actually use that function. But it is there.
For the sides, I will be thermoforming a piece of acrylic that will be bonded to the top & bottom sections. Of the 2 layers on the top section, the one for the bellmouth will mount on the inside of the Top Hat & provide a channel to support the polycarbonate. The larger as mentioned above will be to access the polycarbonate.
Why & how I decided to make it reversible. I decided on this in the off chance that at some point I purchased a blower that rotated opposite of my current unit. the top & bottom is identical & will be secured with fasteners to easily flip the layers & reverse the rotation. This is easy & I don't believe it will create much more work.
I started off with clear .750" acrylic for part of the top & bottom & machined a .250" rabbet on the inside. This will be flush trimmed later. They are not finished yet. I still need to machine the slot for the inlet as well as remove the center of one of the pieces.
The second layers are .250" black acrylic & they serve 2 purposes. They provide more surface area to bond the thermoformed acrylic, and also will help hide the machine fasteners & inserts from being visible from the inside.
Once everything is completed & operational I'll shape the edges of the acrylic, wetsand & buff.
This is as far as I got today. There is quite a long ways to go. It should be nice having a totally clear Top Hat to keep tabs on how full the Bin is.
Work is pretty busy right now so I'm not sure when I'll be able to finish this. But I'll update as the project progresses.
Enjoy!
I have a decent amount of sheet Acrylic & Polycarbonate in different thicknesses. Some of which has been in my materials room for awhile. I decided to put it to good use before the backing becomes difficult to remove. This will be the build log of my acrylic Top Hat with a twist.
The body of the Top Hat will be identical & open on both ends with machine thread inserts to secure the 2 piece top removable to replace the Polycarbonate liner (which is the rebuildable part), or access the bellmouth, & bottom section that will bolt in & secure & support the baffle by sandwiching it between the bottom & body. It will be (for lack of a better term) "tunable" by having a bottom ring that is removable that makes the baffle removable. (I could have baffles with different width drop slots). I doubt that I'd actually use that function. But it is there.
For the sides, I will be thermoforming a piece of acrylic that will be bonded to the top & bottom sections. Of the 2 layers on the top section, the one for the bellmouth will mount on the inside of the Top Hat & provide a channel to support the polycarbonate. The larger as mentioned above will be to access the polycarbonate.
Why & how I decided to make it reversible. I decided on this in the off chance that at some point I purchased a blower that rotated opposite of my current unit. the top & bottom is identical & will be secured with fasteners to easily flip the layers & reverse the rotation. This is easy & I don't believe it will create much more work.
I started off with clear .750" acrylic for part of the top & bottom & machined a .250" rabbet on the inside. This will be flush trimmed later. They are not finished yet. I still need to machine the slot for the inlet as well as remove the center of one of the pieces.
The second layers are .250" black acrylic & they serve 2 purposes. They provide more surface area to bond the thermoformed acrylic, and also will help hide the machine fasteners & inserts from being visible from the inside.
Once everything is completed & operational I'll shape the edges of the acrylic, wetsand & buff.
This is as far as I got today. There is quite a long ways to go. It should be nice having a totally clear Top Hat to keep tabs on how full the Bin is.
Work is pretty busy right now so I'm not sure when I'll be able to finish this. But I'll update as the project progresses.
Enjoy!