I liked the Helix pond skimmer idea so I decided to build one.
I used 2 -15 gallon barrels, floating weir,some Stainless steel fasteners and a good hot glue gun.
I used the drum upside down hoping I will find a fitting that will fork in the threaded bung. I cut off the bottom leaving a lip on it. This part then became my floating weir support. A large adjustable hole saw was used to cut the hole in the center. The rim of the weir support was heated with a heat gun to soften it slightly and then slid inside the barrel with the lip downward. Once it was in position I used a large amount of hot glue from a good quality gun to fasten layed in the v formed by the round edce of the weir support. This was done while the weir support was still hot -warm. If you are slow to position the support the edges can be warmed before gluing. With the plastic warmed the hot glue flowed out and seamed to bond better, care full that glue stays hot for a long time when used in large volume and sticks well to the fingers.
I found the collection basket had 4 notches in the bottom side of the lip so I added 4 tabs to keep it in place, thought they must be there for a purpose.I was not sure if the weir and basket would tend to rotate when the water creates a vortex flow. I cut an opening flush with the weir support and left a top edge intact to help hold the round shape on top as well as add support for a skimmer cover.
Now the hard part. The curve of the barrel would make it difficult to attach the liner to with large curved opening so an other barrel was used to create the means to attach a liner. A bottom section of the second barrel was cut and ten cut lengthwise leaving a little more than 1/2 the barrel circumference. the bottom was then cut out leaving a lip to fasten the liner to. I would prefer the lip to face outward but could not find an inside out barrel
The barrel was then held over the extension to get a rough cutout of the joining curve. The joining edge was then cut with 1 inch slots to facilatate bending the fastening tabs. The tabs are closer in the center and fairly wide at the top because of the degree of bends. At first the joint did not fit well, the center tab slots where cut deeper and reheated to add more curve. Some of the tabs got a little hot and changed color. Once the tabs where a close fit they where fastened with stainless steel bolts based into silicone to seal them. I faced the bolts inward below the weir support and did not bother to cut them flush as they did not interfere at all.
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To seal the Skimmer to the liner two - one inch round edge sections where cut from the second barrel top to form the gusset to fasten the liner to the Skimmer .
This was cut in 2 pieces because the caps on the barrel top only allowed two short curved sections.
Here is a pic of the hot glue joints. I found in a couple of places I could not get the glue gun close to the joint so I dropped the glue into the joint and then heated with the heat gun to get the glue to flow in to where it needed to be.
Still need to clean the dirt off the skimmer. I have not tried the skimmer yet as it will be incorporated into my pond rebuild this summer that will use the sides of a grain silo for the outside shape and support for the liner.
I used 2 -15 gallon barrels, floating weir,some Stainless steel fasteners and a good hot glue gun.
I used the drum upside down hoping I will find a fitting that will fork in the threaded bung. I cut off the bottom leaving a lip on it. This part then became my floating weir support. A large adjustable hole saw was used to cut the hole in the center. The rim of the weir support was heated with a heat gun to soften it slightly and then slid inside the barrel with the lip downward. Once it was in position I used a large amount of hot glue from a good quality gun to fasten layed in the v formed by the round edce of the weir support. This was done while the weir support was still hot -warm. If you are slow to position the support the edges can be warmed before gluing. With the plastic warmed the hot glue flowed out and seamed to bond better, care full that glue stays hot for a long time when used in large volume and sticks well to the fingers.
I found the collection basket had 4 notches in the bottom side of the lip so I added 4 tabs to keep it in place, thought they must be there for a purpose.I was not sure if the weir and basket would tend to rotate when the water creates a vortex flow. I cut an opening flush with the weir support and left a top edge intact to help hold the round shape on top as well as add support for a skimmer cover.
Now the hard part. The curve of the barrel would make it difficult to attach the liner to with large curved opening so an other barrel was used to create the means to attach a liner. A bottom section of the second barrel was cut and ten cut lengthwise leaving a little more than 1/2 the barrel circumference. the bottom was then cut out leaving a lip to fasten the liner to. I would prefer the lip to face outward but could not find an inside out barrel
The barrel was then held over the extension to get a rough cutout of the joining curve. The joining edge was then cut with 1 inch slots to facilatate bending the fastening tabs. The tabs are closer in the center and fairly wide at the top because of the degree of bends. At first the joint did not fit well, the center tab slots where cut deeper and reheated to add more curve. Some of the tabs got a little hot and changed color. Once the tabs where a close fit they where fastened with stainless steel bolts based into silicone to seal them. I faced the bolts inward below the weir support and did not bother to cut them flush as they did not interfere at all..
To seal the Skimmer to the liner two - one inch round edge sections where cut from the second barrel top to form the gusset to fasten the liner to the Skimmer .
This was cut in 2 pieces because the caps on the barrel top only allowed two short curved sections.
Here is a pic of the hot glue joints. I found in a couple of places I could not get the glue gun close to the joint so I dropped the glue into the joint and then heated with the heat gun to get the glue to flow in to where it needed to be.
Still need to clean the dirt off the skimmer. I have not tried the skimmer yet as it will be incorporated into my pond rebuild this summer that will use the sides of a grain silo for the outside shape and support for the liner.
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