Cheap concept materials?

[iLostMyXbox21]

So I wanna make something, but I don’t really have a ton of money to spend on concept build materials. I don’t wanna explain what it is until I start building it, but what can I use for a prototype? 

 

I need a pump, tubes, and very strong lights

 

(note: I need to be able to cut the material in half and carve out wire holes to wire up the lights, then glue it together)

[W-L]

2 minutes ago, iLostMyXbox21 said:

So I wanna make something, but I don’t really have a ton of money to spend on concept build materials. I don’t wanna explain what it is until I start building it, but what can I use for a prototype? 

 

I need a pump, tubes, and very strong lights

 

(note: I need to be able to cut the material in half and carve out wire holes to wire up the lights, then glue it together)

It depends what are your planning on making first, do you have a rough idea of the design or application> 

 

Generally a commonly used material for prototyping would be styrene sheets since they can be cut, glued and sanded very easily for a base idea. 

 

 

-Moved to Modding Section- 

[Origami Cactus]

Cardboard and plastic are the most common ones.

Plastic is cool, because there is pretty much infinite variants of it, so translucent, flexible, non flexible, any color etc.

You can pick it up from a big hardware store in sheets if USA is anything like my local stores.

For lights led would be the easiest to wire up, but very strong leds need cooling. For pump aquarium pumps will do. For tubes you can just buy tubes.

[CharminUltraStrong]

22 minutes ago, iLostMyXbox21 said:

-snip-

If this is a mock up then use the cheapest MDF, particle board, balsa wood etc. You can get whole water cooling kits with cheap ass aquarium pumps for 20 USD or so on Ebay. Then just get some cheap soft tubing, cheap barbed fittings, and a cheap light strip.

[iLostMyXbox21]

38 minutes ago, W-L said:

It depends what are your planning on making first, do you have a rough idea of the design or application> 

Yeah, I’m making something that has a multi level time release pump system (I don’t wanna say too much about it on the public feed because I want it to be a surprise for my mom and I don’t want her to see it on here)

 

38 minutes ago, W-L said:

Generally a commonly used material for prototyping would be styrene sheets since they can be cut, glued and sanded very easily for a base idea. 

I will look into it, thanks

 

38 minutes ago, W-L said:

Moved to Modding Section

Thanks, since it’s not really something for PC I didn’t know where it would go

37 minutes ago, Origami Cactus said:

Cardboard and plastic are the most common ones.

Plastic is cool, because there is pretty much infinite variants of it, so translucent, flexible, non flexible, any color etc.

You can pick it up from a big hardware store in sheets if USA is anything like my local stores.

For lights led would be the easiest to wire up, but very strong leds need cooling. For pump aquarium pumps will do. For tubes you can just buy tubes.

Thanks I will look into those

18 minutes ago, CharminUltraStrong said:

If this is a mock up then use the cheapest MDF, particle board, balsa wood etc. You can get whole water cooling kits with cheap ass aquarium pumps for 20 USD or so on Ebay. Then just get some cheap soft tubing, cheap barbed fittings, and a cheap light strip.

It’s not for a PC, it’s for something I’m making. And I don’t mean an LED strip, I need something more like a grow light (no, I’m not making a weed farm lmao)

 

i told my friend I needed bright lights, something like grow lights, and he automatically said I was starting a weed farm. But no, it’s something for my mom’s garden

 

 

[CharminUltraStrong]

2 minutes ago, iLostMyXbox21 said:

-snip-

This might be a dumb idea but, what about black lights?

[W-L]

1 minute ago, iLostMyXbox21 said:

Yeah, I’m making something that has a multi level time release pump system (I don’t wanna say too much about it on the public feed because I want it to be a surprise for my mom and I don’t want her to see it on here)

I will look into it, thanks

Thanks, since it’s not really something for PC I didn’t know where it would go

Thanks I will look into those

It’s not for a PC, it’s for something I’m making. And I don’t mean an LED strip, I need something more like a grow light (no, I’m not making a weed farm lmao)

i told my friend I needed bright lights, something like grow lights, and he automatically said I was starting a weed farm. But no, it’s something for my mom’s garden

If you are planning on ding anything with fluids that require water tight containers I would recommend to go straight into acrylic. 

[iLostMyXbox21]

2 minutes ago, W-L said:

If you are planning on ding anything with fluids that require water tight containers I would recommend to go straight into acrylic. 

 

Would I be able to use a plastic tube for the water? I will draw up some sketches of what I want it to be like

4 minutes ago, CharminUltraStrong said:

This might be a dumb idea but, what about black lights?

Not sure, but I’m not into gardening, I’m just making this for my mom because she likes gardening

 

im the only techy person in my house, everybody else likes gardening 

[W-L]

6 minutes ago, iLostMyXbox21 said:

Would I be able to use a plastic tube for the water? I will draw up some sketches of what I want it to be like

Not sure, but I’m not into gardening, I’m just making this for my mom because she likes gardening

 

im the only techy person in my house, everybody else likes gardening 

They make acrylic in all shapes and sizes if you can find a local plastic supplier I'd bet you can find exactly the size of tubing you are looking for. Just note you will require solvent glue for acrylic, meaning for it to be watertight the edges needs to be relatively flat and square when jointing sections together. 

[iLostMyXbox21]

43 minutes ago, W-L said:

They make acrylic in all shapes and sizes if you can find a local plastic supplier I'd bet you can find exactly the size of tubing you are looking for. Just note you will require solvent glue for acrylic, meaning for it to be watertight the edges needs to be relatively flat and square when jointing sections together. 

Here is the basic sketch of what I have (took less than 10 minutes so please don’t judge my art lol)

Spoiler

The black arrow at the top is gonna be where the light goes, I will have an intake and exhaust fan at the top (above the light, and on the front and back for ventilation / keeping mold out) so the yellow blob is gonna be a fan, 2 at top, and a third one in the front. The purple blob at the bottom is where I wanna put the tank, then there will be a knob on the front to control water pressure (it’s not gonna be a loop, it’s gonna go to the shelf and leak out, I messed up there) and a switch to power the lights and the fans

 

there is gonna be a shelf for the plants in the center, and I might use plexiglass or acrylic for side panels 

 

so nothing too fancy, but once I use my laptop to make the 3d model, it will be much easier to show what I want to do

[W-L]

1 hour ago, iLostMyXbox21 said:

-SNIP-

Yeah I would start off with making a model and if you are making a tank have it separate from the case itself as that will make it much more serviceable. Depending on how complex it is you may be able to send the drawings to a local plastic supplier and just have them cut everything to size, most are fairly reasonable with their costs. 

[iLostMyXbox21]

2 minutes ago, W-L said:

Yeah I would start off with making a model and if you are making a tank have it separate from the case itself as that will make it much more serviceable. Depending on how complex it is you may be able to send the drawings to a local plastic supplier and just have them cut everything to size, most are fairly reasonable with their costs. 

Yeah, I wanna use blender to make a 3d model and I wanna make the tank removable, i was thinking of possibly having it on the outside and having the tube screw on, would that work?

 

im trying to build this on my own, i don’t wanna hire people to do the hard parts. But I decided to put this project on halt so I can study circuitry a bit, because I just remembered, I can make the tank, I can make the case, but I can’t wire anything up lol

[W-L]

1 minute ago, iLostMyXbox21 said:

Yeah, I wanna use blender to make a 3d model and I wanna make the tank removable, i was thinking of possibly having it on the outside and having the tube screw on, would that work?

 

im trying to build this on my own, i don’t wanna hire people to do the hard parts. But I decided to put this project on halt so I can study circuitry a bit, because I just remembered, I can make the tank, I can make the case, but I can’t wire anything up lol

You will require fittings to attach the tubing and stuff together, you may want to look into simple water cooling fittings and tubing as that's all standardize and easy to work with. All it would require is the tank to have threaded ports to connect the fittings. 

 

Wiring or general soldering isn't too hard depending what you're planning, there are lots of good videos on the basics of soldering such as these:

 

[iLostMyXbox21]

6 minutes ago, W-L said:

You will require fittings to attach the tubing and stuff together, you may want to look into simple water cooling fittings and tubing as that's all standardize and easy to work with. All it would require is the tank to have threaded ports to connect the fittings. 

 

Wiring or general soldering isn't too hard depending what you're planning, there are lots of good videos on the basics of soldering such as these:

 

Can i have the link? Videos don’t show up for me

[W-L]

1 minute ago, iLostMyXbox21 said:

Can i have the link? Videos don’t show up for me

Here's the full playlist, the videos are old but principles are the same. 

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL926EC0F1F93C1837

 

[iLostMyXbox21]

4 minutes ago, W-L said:

Here's the full playlist, the videos are old but principles are the same. 

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL926EC0F1F93C1837

 

Thanks, I’ll check it out as soon as I can