Project: Bong in a Box

After the retirement of my old bong, I have been unable to enjoy the many benefits of bong coolers, and since I have a bit of cash floating around, I've decided to spend it on the contruction of a newer, smaller, theoretically better evaporative cooler.

The plan so far is merely an outline, but I plan to see it to completion, no matter how long that takes, how much work it requires, etc. Simply, I plan to recreate the entire cooler within an acrylic box about the size of a large full tower case (dimensions will be 16x48x48 centimeters).

I plan to use two clusters of four 80mm case fans, eight fans in total, providing approximately 120cfm of pull inward, and approximately 120cfm of push outward. The cfm figures will change if i choose a different fan model. Sound levels should be ok, approximately 38 decibels (28x8=37+pump noise) but i plan to install a potentiometer for each of the clusters, and possibly a rheostat for the pump.

The showerhead was one of the largest problems with my last bong; I opted for the 5$ plastic one as opposed to one of the luxury "rain" ones. I will not make that mistake again (the cheap showerhead had maybe 5 or 6 trickling streams as opposed to the 50-100 that the more expensive showerheads boasted).

As for now, I'm limiting my budget to $100 including the pump, which should probably only be 30 or so dollars (via aqua/rio pumps are dirt cheap).

Right now, my main problems are as follows
-How to bind and seal the acrylic
-Where to put the wiring for the fans/pump
-Relay switch for the pump?
-Best fan? currently planning to use this one
-How to cut 8 fan holes with reasonable precision. Dremel?

Thanks in advance for any help, suggestions, etc.

Shopping List
10 80mm fans - $12.90 plus shipping
Showerhead - $10-20
Submersible pump - $30
Acrylic - no idea
2 potentiometers, with knobs (should 10k ohms do the trick?) - $10

..

you think this would have the standard 1/2" fittings that most showerheads have?

probably but if not do you have a torch ready?

I have a torch, but im not sure quite what i would braze it onto; the tube is plastic, and the screw in tube adapter is, as i said, 1/2'' wide

Your old showerhead probably had a trickle because of the "water saver"...a restriction somewhere internally that forced all your water through a tiny (sometimes sub 1/4"!!!) orifice.
Good luck finding one without that "feature".
Some can be removed, and some can be drilled larger though.

Choosing between clean and green, I'd choose clean any day.

That probably is a 1/2", but good luck getting a little pump to put on a good show with that many nozzles on such a large cavity...you're gonna just have more trickles.
You can plug some of the holes if it's disappointing.

im actually planning to do two ViaAqua 2300's in parallel, so i think flow should at least be ok. Also, I'm only going to have one block (apogee) in the loop, so there'll be little impedence from the loop itself.

Does anyone know if Home Depot carries acrylic? I've called twice but they never pick up.

I get my acrylic from the people who make "neon signs" This way you can get "cheap" off cuts and heaps of funky colours.

coming from an salt water man, if you want to move water for cheap, you need to look at mag pumps. a mag 5 or mag 9 will move what your wanting.

home depot sells acrylic, its extruded; no good for fish tanks, for this app you should be just fine.

to properly weld it your going to need a product called weldon. there are a few variations for dry times and consistancy. I believe weld-on 4 and 16 are what you'll want.

be aware; working with acrylic is alot harder than it sounds. you NEED to get a perfect edge. this is best done with a edge finisher; but you can use a router with a fence. at VERY least you need a router and some way to get a clean edge, scoring and snapping isnt close to good enough, neither is a circular saw, table saw, or jigsaw. the edge wont be smooth enough to get a good seal. I cant stress how important perfect precision is if you want the joint to hold water. the weldon 16 will leave you some wiggle room though, that is a thicker formulation and can be applied as a gap filler; its just not as pretty.

also, youll need crazy precision on your panels, Im speaking from experience from trying to build an acrylic box. if your off by a mm anywhere, when you get to putting it together youll find your 4 sides dont circle around to each other, you end up off by a mm on one of the joints, then your bottom doesnt fit on right.

the professionals use water jets or the like with massive 8x4' computer controlled tables to cut the peices, and jigs designed to get them the accuracy required. for you, you'll just need patience and a lot of trial and error.

when you get these clamps life becomes 100% easier...



Working with acrylic is NOT that difficult, and I would think its similar to wood work except the tools go blunt a lot faster. Oh and you have to stop work a lot more oftem to allwo tools to cool otherwise they start to melt you acrylic instead of cut it.

It's true if you want it water tight then perfect cuts do help a lot when it comes time to glue. However if its not quite 100% perfect there are solutions to the problem. You start usin a vaccume cleaner to suck the glue into the "cracks" or "leaky bits".

Thanks for all the advice!

I have two other questions before i buy the acrylic

What should i expect the prices to be about?
and
Is it worth it to buy name brand (Lucite, Plexiglas, etc.) or should i just get whatever's cheapest?

The others are more expensive but generally more scratch resistant and tougher. At the same time its harder to cut ie makes your tools go blunt faster.

for your needs it wont matter. cheaper plastics are ussually not UV resistant(this means UV-A and UV-B aka UV that would kill you long before youd worry about your bong; not your "UV" cathode light)

at home depot they only sell the cheapest stuff in the thicker variety which is what you'll need. I wanna say its like 30$ for a full sheet, but i could be way off.