great DOME disc to mount micros

[EMBRYOGUY]

hey just wanted to let everyone know, a member from our local club, LVRS made these custom plugs for me.

the problem i had with other disc /plugs in the market was that they were not big enough for me.

i especially like these domes :) i plan to put zoos/micros/lords on them> i know alot of us put puddy around the frags to make them form a dome effect. these dome s are a great way to do it.

for sps people, he can make the plugs, etc of ANY size.

TomRep is his name on rc.
or go to our club forum at toofishy.com and you ll see more pics of this plugs hes been making for us.

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e393/embryoguy/plugs004.jpg

[RandyO]

I seem to have a need for the opposite. I need a frag disk with a flat bottom and then an indent in the top middle. When I put a micro or Acan frag on a regular flat disk, it sits up high and does not look natural. If I cut too much of the base skeleton away, I sometimes destroy the frag. A spot to set the Acan into the disk would be useful.

Those domes will work good for zoos, but when you put an Acan on the very top of that, I think it would look odd.



http://photos.frags.org/big/39/8673_20070516122432.jpg

See how they sit up on the disks. If the disks had a concave indent in the middle, when those frags start to grow they would be against the disk instead of growing down the sides and onto the glue.

This guy is sitting flat on the disk and I had to shave off most of the skeleton on the bottom.
http://photos.frags.org/big/39/8673_20070515030123.jpg

I tried it with another frag, and ended up destroying most of it.

[EMBRYOGUY]

randy,

send my freind a pm, he can custom make anything it seems.
ill send im a pm also to this thread to let him know your thoughts.

[TomRep]

Randy- Let me mess around with some ideas. I may have something that will work for you. How deep would you want the "dish" to be? Like if you took a straight edge across the outside edges, how far would the base be from the straight edge?
tom

[PLNelson]

Are the domed ones hollowed out or solid? Also, could you make some that are about 3/4" to and inch?

Thanks

[Justin74]

There is a very easy and inexpesive way to make either concave, convexed or flat plugs yourselves.

Need:

fine or oolitic sand
liquid superglue
a plastic painters pallet

The plastic painter pallet can be bought at any craftstore or wallmart.
It's approx. a 5-6" circle with about 10-12 paint wells that are a perfect dome shape like the plug pictured above.

Simply fill and indent with finger an impression on top of the leveled sand for a concave plug, or use more liquid glue for it to penetrate to the bottom of the paint well filled with sand to make your convexed shape, or flip upside down to use the flat side.

Once you have the painters pallet, you have your template and can make plugs on the fly anytime you need. And unlike the aragocrete, no curing time is necessary, as most of the substance is inert.

Heres some samples of the ones I made:
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a387/Justin1974/plugs.jpg

and in use:

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a387/Justin1974/zoofrags1.jpg

So far Ive not had one coral that has refused to adhere naturally, and/or encrust once mounted. Some of lps and sps have completely encrusted over and have since covered up the plug from view. HTH.
Btw, if you have dry sand available, you can make over 10 plugs for under $5 for price of glue and template.





-Justin

[EMBRYOGUY]

hey everyone, i was informed by rc that its against rc rules to post this thread, so if anyone is interested in tomreps plugs, pm him or email, bec this thread needs to be closed in respect to rc rules.
smiller.......