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New 3D printed 1" bulkhead overflow


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Hey folks,

Check out the overflow I printed on my new Afinia printer. Have to say the Afinia is a much better product than the Cubify. I'll have a report comparing both later.

This overflow is pressure fits to the 1" bulkhead I have on my tank. It is easily removed, and the INSIDE snail guard can then be replaced on the bulkhead for cleaning the tank. This way the water level drops significantly and makes it easy to clean the glass and siphon clean the substrate without having to worry about fish or snails getting sucked down through the overflow.

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Here you can see the inside snail guard used by itself in cleaning mode.

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And here it is in my ADA-60P full tank shot

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Let me know if you can print more / sell any of these. I have a tank I want to plumb for an overflow but due to the dimensions (very tall and narrow) has very limited tank space for a normal overflow.

If you are using 1 inch bulkheads then sure I can print you up one. I need to know the distance from the center of your bulkhead to where you want the top of the water to flow into the over flow. Once I get that information, I'll work you up a quote.

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Let me know if you can print more / sell any of these. I have a tank I want to plumb for an overflow but due to the dimensions (very tall and narrow) has very limited tank space for a normal overflow.

If you are using 1 inch bulkheads then sure I can print you up one. I need to know the distance from the center of your bulkhead to where you want the top of the water to flow into the over flow. Once I get that information, I'll work you up a quote.

I hadn't drilled this tank yet because I wasn't sure if I could come up with a low enough profile overflow for it. An AC70 or AC110 was my next option for it but would really prefer a sump. What you have in the picture, guessing about 3 1/2", looks about perfect. I use standard ABS 1" slip on the flange side bulkheads on all I've done so far.

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You just need to give me the vertical distance from the center of your 1" bulkhead to where you want the waterline to be. Keep in mind, the waterline is OVER THE TOP of the overflow 1/4-1/2" based upon how much the volume of your return pump is.

I can adjust the design to fit whatever dimensions you come up with, as long as the overall height of the design is shorter than 5".

FWIW, the skimming action is so much better with this design than my other snail guard design. One thing I really like about it is it stands off a bit from the back wall, thus giving even more linear skimming area contact (behind the overflow) than traditional overflow which are mounted to the back wall.

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Really impressed with what you're doing chip. I'm very interested in the long term stability of these parts in the marine environment.

I'm pretty sure ABS is 100% safe. Most bulkheads and powerheads are made of ABS. Shane has been using ABS to create overflows for years and FWIW I've had ABS 3D printed parts in my tank for months without any apparent issue. Plus, it's been used in drinking water as well:

http://www.epco-plastics.com/htmlemail/eme004.htm

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