Acrylic fabrication questions? I can help!

[Italian Stallion]

ive got a rip fence on it

also how hard is it to run acrylic throught a planning jointer? do youy have to use featherboard or anything to keep it stable or does regular hand preassure work ok

[Tazzmacd]

Depending on the thickness that you are dealing with and how tall, you might want to put a feather board on there just to help keep the bottom tight against the fence if you are using a tall piece. It is surprisingly easy for a tall piece to move out just a fraction of an inch on the bottom form the fence to throw off the whole joint.

[indguy]

I am fabing a 120 gal. tank from 1/2 cell cast. Is WO# 4 good enough or should I go with the WO# 40, and does anyone have some good tips for using the WO# 40? I also read eairler about James mix for a solvent cement, is it worth the extra $ and effort to make this mix for just a one time fab.?

[Scottm]

#4 is fine for what you are doing. No need to go with #40 - it's awefully messy uless you work with it a lot as well. It's probably more trouble than it's worth to try and mix your own solvents for just one job. If you feel like you need to slow down the 4 a little you can add a few % (like 3-5) of #5. It shouldn't be "necessary" to do it - #4 should be sufficient by itself for something this size.

[juststartingout]

Can you use a circular saw with a 80 tooth blade to rough cut a 4 x 8 sheet of 1/2 acrylic, and then use a router table to finish it? I have a table saw, but thats a pretty heavy sheet to be handling.

[Scottm]

Yup - you sure can. I often do that when I need a small piece off a full sheet, although I am using a blade ground for plastics. It will chip a little bit but since you are finish prepping the edge on a router you should still be OK with sharp ATB blade. Works pretty well if you don't have a helper to handle the full sheet across the table saw. Just be sure that you square your cuts with an edge guide of some sort. Be careful not to let it bind on you and watch the offcut when you get near the edge - it will tend to break away and leave a big chip as you clear the end of the sheet so you have to keep it supported and level with the rest of the sheet (no stress at the cut).

[H20ENG]

To add to scottms advice;
Lay down a sacrificial piece of plywood before laying down the sheet. This way you can do it right on the ground or tabletop if needed. Set your blade depth to go into the plywood a bit so the sheet stays supported at all times.

[juststartingout]

Thanks for the advice! Ive been very busy on other projects but, I will try to start the fabrication within a month, I will post some pix.

[get-r-done]

Acrylics

The information you have supplied has been infinitely helpful.
I have been buiding a sump the past few days and have a question. I am putting the top on this afternoon and will be attaching the bottom after. My question is this. I have alot of bottom edge to attach ( perimeter of tank +2 edges of bubble trap + bottom edges of refue, all together about 150 linear inches ) .
Do I bond all surfaces at once using #4?? by the time I get the Weldon #4 to the last joint do I start pulling the pins where I started or give it time to soak? Will the first sites applied be ready to pull pins as soon as I finished applying all the #4?

In additon , my first joint has alot of bubbles in it , is it better to cut a 1/2" strip of Acrylic and bond it into the joint or use a thin fillet of #16?


Jim

[Talis]

I have a question for you....

Recently I purchaced a 24gal acrylic display tank for my fuge. I'm adding a 10gal glass tank next to it for the skimmer and return pump. No sweat right??? The problem is the fuge is 14" at the bottom and 19.5" at the top. The return/skimmer tank will be nestled under the edge of the angled side...

Can I cut teeth right on the curved corner at the top??? It's one piece of 1/4" acrylic, do you think it would hold up or do I need to make my overflow a little down from the top?

[Phoneguy982]

Originally posted by get-r-done
Acrylics

The information you have supplied has been infinitely helpful.
I have been buiding a sump the past few days and have a question. I am putting the top on this afternoon and will be attaching the bottom after. My question is this. I have alot of bottom edge to attach ( perimeter of tank +2 edges of bubble trap + bottom edges of refue, all together about 150 linear inches ) .
Do I bond all surfaces at once using #4?? by the time I get the Weldon #4 to the last joint do I start pulling the pins where I started or give it time to soak? Will the first sites applied be ready to pull pins as soon as I finished applying all the #4?

In additon , my first joint has alot of bubbles in it , is it better to cut a 1/2" strip of Acrylic and bond it into the joint or use a thin fillet of #16?


Jim

Pull the pins as soon as you are done. If you look at the joint after you remove the pins it should look semi clear/transparent. The only time you should wait for weld-on to start to set is if you have a large gap and then I recommend mixing some acrylic shavings with your weld on #4 to basically make weld on #16...a gel type of texture. I didn't use use pins, I just set the acrylic on top of the piece I was welding it to and used the syringe along the seam. You can see the difference from where the weld on seeps in vs the dry part. It's like the weld on suck into the joint...kinda like sweating copper joints.

[Phoneguy982]

Originally posted by Talis
I have a question for you....

Recently I purchaced a 24gal acrylic display tank for my fuge. I'm adding a 10gal glass tank next to it for the skimmer and return pump. No sweat right??? The problem is the fuge is 14" at the bottom and 19.5" at the top. The return/skimmer tank will be nestled under the edge of the angled side...

Can I cut teeth right on the curved corner at the top??? It's one piece of 1/4" acrylic, do you think it would hold up or do I need to make my overflow a little down from the top?

Are you trying to get the water to overflow from the main tank into the sump without plumbing?
Either way...I would always give yourself some room in the tank in case a drain gets blocked temporarily or something so I would come down a little just to be safe. The acrylic should hold up fine but would recommend using a dremel with a cutting bit rather than a circular saw blade. (Not sure which you were intending to use)

[oldpoon]

I am planning to have an acrylic tank made by someone. It is 24"L X 19"H X 24"W. The front two corners are curved. It will be divided into the front display and rear sump by a black acrylic panel. It is located at about 16" from the front.The rear part is then divided into 3 compartments by baffle areas where the water level is 11.5" high. See the top picture of the following picture for the dividers.

I have the following questions:

1. Is 3/8" thick acrylic ok?

2. Should the black acrylic divider be 3/8" thick as well?

3. Do I need bracing? Can the bracings made just for the display section 4? If yes, must it be euro bracing? Can I place two bracings as shown on the bottom picture of the following picture? What would be the thickness and width of the bracings and are they made of acrylic?

3. If I don't want bracing at all, what should be the thickness of the tank?

4. What is the approx. weight of the tank?

5. What is the approx. price to have this tank custom made by acrylic fabricator?

Thanks in advance.

[staticfishmonger]

i just filled a used tank i got for a freshwater run through before the salt to check for leaks and what not and as it turns out i have a very small leak (more of a seep) in what appears to be the seam where the bottom and the side piece meet. my question is what are my options for repair. can i just apply some weld-on to the inside seam? any help or advice would be much appreciated.

thanks

[oldpoon]

Oops! Here are the pictures:

[sid700]

Hello. I would like to built the following sump/fuge. Can I built it without a top? If not, any suggestions? If I used 3/8" cast acrylic, would I still need a top?

I am thinking the baffles and dividers will act as supports.

Material - 1/4" cast acrylic
Total dimensions of tank - 23.5"x18"x16" (LxWxH).
All dimensions on the drawing are in inches.

[Tridacnagigas]

I am Building a large skimmer. What I would like to do is build (form) a cone for the top of the reactor chamber. What temperature does acrylic 1/4" become plyable? I am going to use wieghts and steel pipe of different diameters to force the heated acrylic to shape. Has anyone had any exsperiance with this?

[Ehydo]

Originally posted by staticfishmonger
i just filled a used tank i got for a freshwater run through before the salt to check for leaks and what not and as it turns out i have a very small leak (more of a seep) in what appears to be the seam where the bottom and the side piece meet. my question is what are my options for repair. can i just apply some weld-on to the inside seam? any help or advice would be much appreciated.

thanks

A small bead of weldon 16 will do the trick. just add an applicator tip to the weldon tube.

[Randall_James]

Ok hours spent reading this thread and for sure a lot of good information. But did not see anything about tools selection.

I did see that you can setup a professional shop for about 5G's but that is not exactly what I had in mind.

Could you list in order of purchase priority the tools and approximate quality (cost) one should aim for.

And you can spend say $1,000

Acrylicman, did you ever get any of your tutorials completed?

[Randall_James]

Ok hours spent reading this thread and for sure a lot of good information. But did not see anything about tools selection.

I did see that you can setup a professional shop for about 5G's but that is not exactly what I had in mind.

Could you list in order of purchase priority the tools and approximate quality (cost) one should aim for.

And you can spend say $1,000

Acrylicman, did you ever get any of your tutorials completed?

[SUMMERS]

1.)Router (I have a PC 894 pack, but looking into a CNC) $300
2.)Router bits appx: $200 depending on what you get and from where.
3.)Table Saw ( I have a HD Ryobi, looking to purchase a Unisaw) $150
4.) MDF for jigs $30 sheet
5.) Wilsonart for top (4x8) $40
6.) MDF for Job of Router table $30
7.) $250 Misc stuff.

[Acrylics]

IMO, the biggest priority ought to be the router and it's associated table. You can easily build a good quality table for under $200 and the router that goes into it ought be of high quality. I like Porter Cable 3 1/4hp best for the $$ at around $300. So now we have roughly $500 for the router and table, the table can also double as an excellent gluing table as well.
Bits, as Summers points out - maybe $200. Should get you a good quality straight cutter, flush cutter, and roundover and/or and chamfer bit.

Which leaves $300 for a contractors table saw, used if ya can for a coupla hundred $$ plus a good blade - maybe $60-100.

As Summers' sig points out - "With a Router and a Table saw you can make anything for your tank." I agree

You will want clamps, drill, bits, gluing jigs (cheap), etc., as well but I'm assuming you might already have some of these.

As for squaring up large sheets, either get them squared for you at the distributor you are buying from or do it with the router.

When I started my shop, my focus was primarily on the routers & router tables, a good quality table saw, and a drill press. Everything else was a few $$ here and there. Years later I added a large panel saw but I still spend most of my shop time using the two original *priority* tools, router & table saw.

HTH,

James

[Randall_James]

Ok exactly what I needed!
Could you point me to a good place for the router bits with some part numbers? At 50 to 70 each, I want to make sure I get the stuff I need.

[TheCoralReef731]

Hi, I am in need of help concerning a fuge that I want to use on my 20 gallon. I would like to have it right behind my tank, with a pump pulling up water, and gravity letting water out into the tank. Here is my design:






But I have a lot of questions. First of all, what should I do to join the acrylic together. Since this is just a refugium, I dont care about the looks of it. I currently have no experience with acrylic, but figured that while I am in the reef hobby, I should learn a little. Thanks.

[juststartingout]

I think I finally have some spare time, so I want to start to build my new sump. Here is a link to the thread I had started, I'm just looking for a little insight. Thanks!

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...hreadid=627576