Anyone local good with working with acrylic??

[wt*jayjay]

Finally decided on a size for my frag tank. I was going to use a 24g nano cube that i just got, but now i want to set it up as an actual tank. So i got some 1/4" acrylic and got it cut up tonight. Still need to do some minor trimming and sand the edges but then im ready to get it together!

The guy at lowes swore up and down that they carried weld-on and after looking for it for 20 min i pulled it up on my iphone.. them nore homedepot carries it. Looks like ill be ordering some or if someone local wants to hook me up that be awesome!

I finally decided on making the tank 24''/18''/8-8.5'' (depends on how much i end up triming off one of the crappy sides that were cut)

Also ive never used the stuff and i really dont want to screw up 40bux worth of acrylic so if someone that has built tanks before is willing to help out a fellow DIYer let me know!! You bring the weld-on and ill bring the beer : ).

 

[cr500_af]

Do a search in the DIY forums; there is a place on the NE side of town that carries it. It has been said the Curbell plastics in Dallas has it. I went there personally and they do NOT carry it. I think a few of our sponsors have some, but PM them because it's kind of hard to find.
You want #16 for this project.

 

[lilrobb]

Optimum has it, saw it today

 

[wt*jayjay]

Wow didn't even think to check at one of our stores... Fail.. Lol. But thanks alot guys! Guna pick some up tomorrow. I think I may take some scrap I have laying around and if it turns out ok I'll try my hand at it!

And I need 16 you say? I've read other builds that say 3 and 4 is thinner and good for this and 16 is much thicker and made for filling big gaps. But I'm willing to take all advice!

 

[lilrobb]

How did you cut the acrylic?
Laser? CNC? Table router?
Then go for #3, if by table saw do yourself a favor and use #16 unless your first name is Dave!

Robb

 

[wt*jayjay]

Well I got it scored at lowes, but he didn't do it perfect one of the top corners got chipped pretty bad so that's why I'm going to make the over all height of the tank a little shoter than 9". And those cuts I will make with my table saw. I've cut acrylic with my table saw pretty clean before so i'm not worried about that. But yeah I'll use 16 if I do it myself makes since that if it's thicker it would be easier to work with. But how would you apply 16?

 

[wt*jayjay]

Actually now that I think of it I may just use my router. Need to make a new table mount for it though :/

 

[schwaggs]

I use an 80 tooth blade in the table saw and glue it up with the thin stuff. Works fine. You need to make sure you have a flat, level surface to lay this out. If you have a router, overlap the joints by 1/16th to an 1/8th of an inch and cut the excess off with a flush cutting bit like the ones used to trim formica. That will remove the the saw cut edges. You can also use a 1/4" round over bit to make the corners "really nice" (said in my best cousin Eddie voice).

 

[cr500_af]

16 is in a tube, about the consistency of super glue gel. Just apply an even bead from the tube. The others are very thin, and produce a very pretty seam if you do good work. In the case of a frag tank, I'd prefer a slightly less invisible seam that has a healthy amount of cement on it to be sure it is strong.

 

[smoothie]

If you can come by acrylic shavings to mix in you can make it thicker and also the bond stronger when it settles

 

[wt*jayjay]

I picked some #16 up from optimum today. My dad also just got back in town today and we brainstormed to come up with a good idea. We have a ton of angle iron laying around so I'm going to weld up some of the 1/8" stuff and make full frame for the tank. All the weld will be tacked on the outside so won't have to worry about it affcting how the tank slides in. I figgure haveing the frame built perfectly beforehand will alow some perfect 90* angles to put the take together in aswell as brace the hole thing over all