extruded acrylic sheet

[snowmansnow]

so, I want to try my hand at making an acrylic tank. where do i get a reasonable price on extruded acrylic sheets? I read that extruded is better for tanks than is cast.. correct?

any one?

thanks
b

 

[rasbora]

I thought cell cast gave more clarity. I've been looking to get an odd shaped acrylic tank made for a desk. Let us know if you find a good (cheap) source for the acrylic.

 

[hackman72]

just going to tag along with this thread.

 

[snowmansnow]

hmmm.. perhaps i had it the wrong way. cast is WAAAAY easier to find too. It wasn't the clarity that was an issue, if i remember correctly, it was the ease of bonding and so forth... really can't remember WHERE i read this.. it was like a year ago.

b

 

[snowmansnow]

is lexan and the sort acceptable for tanks? just asking since you can pick it up at most hardware stores.

 

[dannybradley]

Extruded is awful to work with mainly because it melts when you cut/drill it. This gives you weaker glue joints and rough holes.

 

[snowmansnow]

ok so i'll reverse my thinking haha.. cast it is. thats the beauty of message boards eh

b

 

[snowmansnow]

Rasbora;397691 wrote: I thought cell cast gave more clarity. I've been looking to get an odd shaped acrylic tank made for a desk. Let us know if you find a good (cheap) source for the acrylic.

for small projects you can pick up acrylic on ebay for pretty cheap

b

 

[snowmansnow]

all this has me thinking maybe ill make myself a cool office tank throw a remora on the back .. go sumpless .. DIY myself a fixture and have a section of the reef here at work haha.

b

 

[dannybradley]

Where, as a musician, do you work?

 

[snowmansnow]

First Baptist Centre.. in Alabama.. close to Rome, Ga

 

[snowmansnow]

honestly, its just something to do I'm a pretty strong DIYer.. and acrylic is just something I've never ventured into.

B

 

[rasbora]

SnowManSnow;397700 wrote: for small projects you can pick up acrylic on ebay for pretty cheap

b

I'm too biased against ebay. Too often you run into jacked up shipping fees. I did find someone selling scraps of acrylic on craigslist several months ago, will see if I still have his email. He had extruded, not cell cast though.

Currently I have a 8h*7w*34l tank, just works out to about 8g. Have it sitting at the end of my desk. It's lightly planted and has microrasboras. I'd like to get a similar one done but a bit longer.

 

[snowmansnow]

maybe this will give me a reason to buy a good table saw haha

 

[jonathan]

I purchased my acrylic from estreet plastics. There may be some cheaper sources out there. You will need Weldon 3 or 4 (possibly 16 for filling), syringe for Weldon, table saw with low kerf plastic blade 80+ teeth, clamps of various sizes, a couple of angle squares and a solid design game plan. Draw EVERYTHING out before cutting and cut slow with not much of the blade exposed. For long cuts I would recommend a helper so the cut doesn't sway towards the end. Start with a small DIY to get a feel for how the Weldon (capillary action) fills. Some use straight pins for this but i found that a very slight directional sanding of an edge gives enough of a channel for the Weldon to flow. I personally use 3 but it may set too quickly for your preference. The cuts must be PERFECT for a solid/attractive joint.

Jonathan

 

[snowmansnow]

Jonathan;397762 wrote: I purchased my acrylic from estreet plastics. There may be some cheaper sources out there. You will need Weldon 3 or 4 (possibly 16 for filling), syringe for Weldon, table saw with low kerf plastic blade 80+ teeth, clamps of various sizes, a couple of angle squares and a solid design game plan. Draw EVERYTHING out before cutting and cut slow with not much of the blade exposed. For long cuts I would recommend a helper so the cut doesn't sway towards the end. Start with a small DIY to get a feel for how the Weldon (capillary action) fills. Some use straight pins for this but i found that a very slight directional sanding of an edge gives enough of a channel for the Weldon to flow. I personally use 3 but it may set too quickly for your preference. The cuts must be PERFECT for a solid/attractive joint.

Jonathan

cool all i need is weldon and acrylic

thing is.. like a previous poster said.. the cost / return ratio is horrible. I can buy 3 tanks made FOR me for what I could BUILD one for.

B

 

[grouper therapy]

Maybe we should start a ddiy forum (don't do it yourself)

 

[mojo]

SnowManSnow;397878 wrote: thing is.. like a previous poster said.. the cost / return ratio is horrible. I can buy 3 tanks made FOR me for what I could BUILD one for.

There's a reason for that. Those silly extra costs actually go toward the labor and expertise of working with acrylic. I've built a number of things out of acrylic. Some came out OK, and some didn't. but I'd never even attempt a display tank, and I'm a pretty hardcore DIY-er.

I imagine you're wanting to try anyway, so here are some tips:

- A table saw won't really give you what you're looking for- you need a router. A CNC would be best, but given that most people don't have one in their basement, a router will be the next best thing. A table saw will just butcher the edges

- Using weldon is an art form in itself. It works by "melting" and bonding the two pieces of acrylic together, and does this very, very fast. This also means that when applying the weldon, any spots or drips from the applicator will burn into the surrounding acrylic.

- Those nice edges you see on stuff bought from professionals have been flamed-kissed by a torch. I'd recommend not even bothering unless you're willing to destroy your current work.

- Acrylic scratches very easy. Keep the paper on until the project is completely done.

- There are several local places to get acrylic, and I don't think it's quite as cheap as you think. For anything except the smallest tanks (20g or less), you'll need 3/8", 1/2" or 3/4". I priced out a sheet of 3/4" the other week at Calsak, and it was several hundred dollars - I can't remember exactly, but in the neighborhood of $5-800. Home Depot and Lowes won't carry what you need unless you're building a quart-size tank.

- Check out this page, where Melev goes into detail about the tools he uses for working with acrylic: http://www.melevsreef.com/tools.html">http://www.melevsreef.com/tools.html</a>

Have fun and take pictures!

 

[jonathan]

I get fairly clean edges with my table saw when using a good blade. This is one that i use. http://www.freudtools.com/p-41-plexiglassplasticsbr-nbsp.aspx">http://www.freudtools.com/p-41-plexiglassplasticsbr-nbsp.aspx</a> I do use a router to clean up the corners after everything has been assembled.

J

 

[dannybradley]

An important note on flame polishing- and this is giving away one of our secrets so you don't flood your floor.

Do not flame polish a glue joint. We only hand polish glue joints. Flaming works great on surfaces as long as they're not largely flawed. If you flame a joint, however, it significantly weakens the joint and will cause it to eventually fail.