Home Depot Acrylic, Plexiglas, Lexan question

[ken123]

I'm planning on building my own sump\fuge and I'm looking around at what to build it with. Has anyone used the Acrylic stuff at HD? They only have one that is 1/4 inch which is labeled as Hobby Acrylic Plexiglas. The 2 other kinds are to thin at 1/8 inch. There are plenty of places to buy online and one I found that will cut to size for a price. Don't mind cutting it myself. Just want to know if anyone has used this and is it good or bad?

[DrBDC]

The cheaper material will work but it tends to crack and get scratched easier. Being a sump it may not need to be crystal clear like a display. The thinner material is almost impossible to get it to keep shape and may flex breaking seals. The thicker 1/4" could work though. I would look in the yellow pages for a plastic supplier in the area and see if they have any cell cast acrylic. Many times they have scrap bins you can search through and may find big enough pieces to assemble your project for low $$. Or lower $$ anyway. One of our local shops even cuts it for me without charging. They may even glue it up for you too if you take a drawing with you.

[barbra]

The .220 Acrylite at HD works great.

[ken123]

I was looking at Interstate Plastics Acrylic which is the same stuff Melev recommends. Or this Acrylic. Others must have used this at HD like barbra says. Checking the yellow pages now to see what is near me.

For anyone that built their own sump, what did you use?

[ken123]

One local Glass store that sells plastics quoted 160.00 for a 4'x4' sheet of Acrylic. Too much for me. Even he agreed it would be better just buying a small tank and put in dividers, but that's not what I want. I may just go for the HD stuff since it's 72.99 for a 3'x6' sheet.

Again, anybody use the Home Depot Plexiglas to build a sump???

[bertoni]

I think you should look in the DIY forum. There's a lot of information on acrylics there.