Just let me ask this, if you don’t mind.
If a person has a Ebb&Gro, Ebb&Flow, Flood&Drain system already that person would only need to add airstones to each bucket to make it a RDWC, correct? AND adjust the feeding schedule appropriately, like leave the nutrients in the buckets for longer periods of time, maybe even days before recirculating, right?
I have to duck out for a bit. Getting my second COVID vaccination in about 1 hour.
,
WHAB
Yup. An airstone for each bucket because the water is not gong to drain from the buckets. I believe some RDWC systems like the ones with the waterfall might be able to run without airstones in the grow buckets but I wouldn’t.
TTYL
I spent hours yesterday (last night) working on the Cloning Machine II.
What a right PITA that was. Not the processing of the fastener holes, the drill press.
First, it’s over here, in the dark (I brought a work light with me)…
There is NO power on this end of the garage. The usable outlet is on that back wall.
I had to pick it up (a floor standing drill press) (a Pillar Drill) over an arcing, sparking, smoking extension cord going out to an RV (not the one in my pictures, I put in a 50amp service in for that, a proper connection).
Then I had to drag this floor standing drill press across the garage nearer to the outlet on the far (back) wall.
All by myself, mind you. I got it done but, I felt it later on. Those things are heavy! 
Then, after getting it to power, I started trying to set it up, I didn’t know the rack-and-pinion table height adjuster is essentially broken.
I clamped it in place thinking that would at least make it usable for how I planned to use it. I was going to lower the table and sit the Cloning Machine II on it and move it around as I needed.
Nope.
Once I had it clamped in place I started cranking on the height adjusting handle (without the handle, of course! ). The crank was turning but the table wasn’t moving. The rack was moving independent of the table. I was moving the rack up and down with the table not moving a bit! I saw what I was doing and reversed things back to the starting point and made sure the rack was in its captured position. Great!
Now I can lower the table down. Nope. I moved the table sideways just a bit and the table fell down. I caught it. I wrestled it back in place where I could clamp it in place and see what now was the problem. The rack came out of the bottom capture ring 
. I lifted it back in place again and decided I wasn’t going to be able to lower the table to a more comfortable, usable position. I got it all set up and ready to start slinging metal…I just happened to open the top cover where the belts are, knowing I’d have to set the spindle speed. I saw 2 large Dirt Dauber hovels. I knocked the off from where I was standing. I thought I better get a look at what was going on up there…there was all kinds of grass like someone had been using it as a nest but there weren’t any eggs in it.
Then I went to change the belts to their new locations indicated by the setup chart, this belt here, that belt there. I don’t know what went wrong but I unlocked the travel locks and moved the handle that should have allowed it to move back and forth. Nope. Not happening!
I got up there and lubricated all the moving parts and when I went to move the belts of course their old and cracked and barely held in place at all. I had to wrestle them too!
So, I’m still going to make this work. I set up to drill through one of the holes in my 1-2-3 block (I couldn’t find a spot on the table I could drop the drill bit into and not drill the table) not fully realizing what it’s going to take to hold that tank in place on top of that 1-2-3 blocks AND line up the drill bit AND bring the spindle down by myself
Still, gonna get this done. I had to set up to drill the holes on the left hand side of the tank, then the right hand side of the tank. It’s at this point I decided I was probably better off drilling this thing by hand! :roflmao:
I did get all of the holes pilot drilled, step one in hole preparation. I wanted the aluminum angle up there clamped in place and pilot them both at the same time - it’s the way it’s done, so nothing moves from that point on. There was no way that was going to happen.
Except for wrestling that tank around by myself AND lining up the drill AND bringing the spindle down, piloting went well.
The bit got hot BUT, once it is and you dip it into the Boelube, it turns to liquid and finds a home on the bit…
I don’t know if any of you knew this or not but, a sign that a hole is being drilled 90° to the piece being drilled (perpendicular) is the spiral cutting, the spiral tail.
Oh, I almost forgot. That spiral tail is still attached because the drill stopped cutting with the spindle still moving. I spent a good deal of time looking for a chuck key - nope!
I’m going to process the holes and the angles the rest of the way by hand. I don’t believe I’ll ever use that drill press again.
As soon as I got back to the 1924 Schoolhouse I spent about 2 hours trying to find replacement belts and a handle.
Nope - of course!
Next is today! It went marginally better!
,
WHAB
After I got my Second Moderna Vaccination I went shopping for things I knew I’d need.
I went to at least three different locations and nearly went back to one of them and decided it wasn’t worth it!
I got H020 - 5 large bottles of 3% - for the current grow.
I got Flora Kleen® for the current and/or future grows.
I got Reflectix - for this current grow and for the future DWC or RDWC or Ebb&Gro grows - it’s coming!
I got 6 5 gallon buckets with lids - future DWC (possibly RDWC or Ebb&Gro).
I got dark blue buckets and they ‘may’ be opaque enough but I could see the flashlight on my phone through it pressed right against the bucket, so I bought Reflectix for them as well, it couldn’t hurt. Only one of the 3 places I went to had black buckets but they were $9+ I can get them for nearly 1/2 that at ULine.
I got 2 large cylindrical airstones - I’ll get more. I got these for the reservoir in service now as oxygen deprivation being mentioned as one of the potential issues with my unhappy plants. Thank you!
I specifically asked the guy for 20 feet of opaque air line and didn’t notice until I opened the bag on this end that he measure out and cut off 20 feet of clear He filled the bag and calculated the cost below the counter I was standing at. I couldn’t see what he was doing. I didn’t think at the time that I needed to 
I’m not really sure how clear air line can introduce algae into a grow. Maybe someone can clue me in? I know I read it somewhere but I don’t understand it.
I got a cheap set of step-drills for working in the plastic, this grow and any future grow involving plastic.
I got a few 3/4 inch barbed T-fittings. IF I go RDWC or EBB&GRO I’ll be using 3/4 inch tubing and fittings.
I got a yard stick and chicken wire in hopes of a brighter future! 
! 
I tried to buy some 3/4 inch barbed bulkhead fittings and tubing but I couldn’t find any suitable to the task.
Now, first thing is to take the Cloning Machine II manifold outside while the Sun is still up and see how she does.
Then I’ll get back to processing the holes for the Cloning Machine II.
Then I have to figure out why the space up in the loft is so much colder now. I think I am really going to have to decrease the cooling up there. There reverse as is typical - weird! All I did was vacuum out the intake screen (large grid screen) and a filter on the back side, a filter that is used for all of its functions whether heating or cooling.
Make it a great night!
,
WHAB
Before getting to the Cloning Machine II manifold tested I first set the 2 airstones in the reservoir, ran the lines and located the pump.
I stirred the Res vigorously and took my readings.
pH 5.6
E.C. .8 (400 on 500 scale).
Res Temp 63F. 
A tea might be appropriate! 
Yes, tea…
Cloning Machine II works amazing!
,
WHAB
Those sawhorses sure have come in handy, for other than construction, woodworking type work!
Pictures are a little steamed. It was a little chilly out there, I was running warm water.
I think that should do it!
Now I have to keep it all in the tank! 
I put everything back away and realized I had to pump the water out of it!
It’s drip drying outside…
Now the seal…
,
WHAB
I would have given up when I saw the condition of the drill press.
You just want me to live next door to you I have the stuff and you have the talent and drive
Yeah, jumping on that drill press, then packing it around like a wounded Warfighter on a Battlefield whose life I’m trying to save, is not one of my wisest moves! 
I was concerned about work-hardening the Stainless Steel. IF I had I don’t have the tools to get through it then.
Do you have a knee mill? A Kurt vise? A Intermatic Dial Indicator?
You answer yes to ANY of those, I’m moving in!
I used them and I am sure they got scraped. We use to be able to buy for scrap prices but the stopped. Had to fill the brother-in-laws pocket.
If the last years had gone differently I would have. When my B-I-L sold his shop, we were deep in to the farming.
I always wanted to set up my own woodworking shop. Just got the table saw, planner and drill. Tons of hand tools I am hoping to sell off. I have two barns full of stuff. For fixing tractors and equipment. I have an 16’X16’ area with my husband’s work boxes as he was a die setter, before that Die Maker apprentice he quite that after a short time as it tied him down. and a cutter grinder. I have a couple job boxes to. I need to go thru them some day and see what is till useable.
Sorry for your troubles, the rough spots. Sincerely.
Yeah, I have a thing for tools. Always have.
All the very best to you, @G-paS
,
WHAB
I did finish processing all the fastener holes out to final size, but 2. I don’t have enough Stainless Steel hardware. Not sure how that happened.
Back to the store!
But, I’m spent.
See you all in the AM, ‘maybe’
Good morning!
Make it a great day!
,
WHAB
The cloner looks great WHAB! 
I’m wore out but, here goes…
After piloting the holes on the junk drill press I clamped the aluminum angles on scribe lines I made inside the Cloning Machine II tank.
I put the pilot holes through the angle this way…
and clecoed them as I did. Clecoes are inside diameter hole clamps. They are exactly the diameter for the hole you are making, even as you process those holes to larger diameters. The Copper clecoes are 1/8th inch (.125) in size. As you squeeze the cleco pliers it pushes two tapered points out allowing you to insert it in the hole you are clamping up and when you release the cleco pliers they become the exact diameter of the hole you just drilled. There is a ledge on the tips of the clecoes that when released holds the layers of material together, in this instance, Stainless Steel and Aluminum, clamping it from inside the hole.
You can see that here…
As you process the holes out, a step process as you go from one diameter to the next and clamping it tightly together as you go along.
Then taking that process around each side as you move along…
I did the long sides first, then matched the short sides to them making sure the joints were fair…
Then, I started processing them out to their final diameter using 3/16ths inch (.187) clecoes. For whatever reason I don’t currently have enough Brass clecoes as I should have. I had enough .125 dia clecoes but not enough .187 clecoes. At some point I had equal numbers. I suspect they are hiding somewhere!
This isn’t an F-35 so some relaxation of the process is allowed! I instead started using the fasteners themselves as clamps as I made the lap again.
Then this demonstrates what I meant regarding a 45° miter cuts in the corners and butt jointing them.
above not my image
One is a straight path out of the tank, the other is blocking that path in 2 directions. I ‘may’ cove cut (profile cut) the butt joint to get one side to partially lay on top of the other. But, my original plan was to apply a light layer of sealant (clear silicone) and I believe that would do a great job.
And, just last night as I was observing the assembly this far I thought I ‘may’ scuff up the top side of the aluminum angle to give the adhesive backed Bulb-Seal a better surface to adhere to.
I could just clean that surface really well and apply the bulb-seal and IF it fails then rework it to stick better later on. Then IF that doesn’t work, and I’ve done this before, I can drill holes through the top of the bulb-seal (the portion that will be pressed against the underside of the top) and use fasteners through the aluminum to hold the seal in place, pop rivets even.
Now, I’m going to take it all apart, deburr everything (4 sides of every hole)…then apply the dissimilar metal corrosion protective film (packing tape in this instance, I don’t have Mylar ) between the angle and the tank and then apply the bulb-seal with whichever process I decide upon at that point. I may get 1/2 way though the process and the bulb-seal start lifting off even though I have properly prepared the surface. I’m also contemplating, and likely will, install the fasteners in a bead (a “Rosebud”) of sealant.
I got a very late start today. I’m worn out (and to be honest, a little sore)!
But, I just finished my first dose of Rocket Fuel and we’ll see how far I get!
,
WHAB
One last question, if you don’t mind, @LilJonB …
When you put a rooted plant in the bucket does your nutrient level change throughout the stages of growth?’
Do you start out will a nutrient level that puts the roots in the nutrient then reduce the nutrient level as the roots grow longer to a put where the level will stay for the rest of the grow?
Regards!
,
WHAB
Ask as many questions as you would like my friend. The more the better. When you say nutrient level I’m guessing you mean the water level. When your plant is growing roots and haven’t left the net pot yet I keep the net pot 2" in the water. Once they leave the pot I always fill up to 2" from the bottom of the net pot. Thats the way I’ve done it and allot of other people do it as well. Now if I’m going to be away for a while especially during flower and my plants are sucking up a half gallon a day I will fill it back up to the net pot being 2" in the water. I don’t know why exactly we are supposed to keep the net pot out of the water later on.
Now if there is ever a power outage for whatever reason and your air pumps are not running don’t panic. Just remove some water from your buckets till there half full. Just as long as half of your roots are out of the water your plants will be able to breathe. For good measure you can take a cup and scoop some water out and pour it from the stalk and let it run down your roots and back into the bucket. Also you can lift the roots completely out of the bucket and put them back in. Some people grow with no airstones at all. It’s call the Kratky method.
Here is a link if you want to read something. This style don’t really work for us that well. People have done it tho. It’s similar to passive hydro.
Thank you,@LilJonB!
Yes, water level…even if there aren’t any store bough nutrients in it the plant still sees it and uses it as nutrient
I’m pretty sure, but that was a long time ago, Krusty was still posting when I joined OG. He was getting great results that can’t be denied. But, as you allude to, whatever works for you.
Thanks again!
,
WHAB
Got the dissimilar metal protection place and the angles attached completely, except for the 2 machine screws I still need. Those not in the assembly won’t effect its function.
I got the bulb-seal in place.
I was going to take it all back outside and give her a test but my back is hurting pretty good. I’ll take it out tomorrow.
But, a situation I didn’t expect presented itself.
The bulb-seal showing the approximately 1/4 inch (.250) I had calculated it should be protruding above the edge of the sides for a great seal.
The lid is heavy. Quite heavy.
It’s not compressing the bulb-seal like I sure thought it would. Not compressing it enough, imo. It is compressing the bulb-seal, as much as it can…but I’m not sure it will be enough. It may be. Gonna have to take out and see how she does. I ‘might’ have to weight the lid down!
I had a concern that the lid would be too heavy and compress the seal too much and the underside of the lid hitting on the uneven edges of the tank sides.
But, enough shop talk - it’s Spaghetti Sunday! Rejoice, Paisano’s!
Make it a great day, tomorrow and all the week!
,
WHAB
That looks SOOOO GOOD! The Clone Machine as well. When you said Pasta Sunday I was thinking some regular Pasta. Making me wanna cook some. It’s been I while since I made something good. Maybe some Blue Crab Linguini. You ever have Old Bay Seasoning. I know some places outside of Maryland that don’t sell it.
It was delicious!
My Mom was full Italian. Spaghetti Sunday was regular fare. I’ve just carried it on without her.
Our traditional Christmas dinner was 7 layer Lasagna
Blue Crab Linguini sounds AMAZING.
I really like Linguini and Clam Sauce. My Mom used to send me a Linguini and Clam Sauce care package every year no matter where on the planet I was that year, which for a time could have been anywhere.
No, I’ve never heard of Old Bay Seasoning. Is it spicy, hot? My body doesn’t do spicy anymore.
And, thank you,@LilJonB!
Time for a (although, not Vocano. I don’t have a Volcano, I have the Arizer Extreme Q )
,
WHAB
