Acrylic fabrication questions? I can help!

I was waiting for you to chime in on the China Acrylite GP. I was hoping for better news. Could also be the supply/demand going on right now. Manufacturers cutting corners to keep the costs down mean material that is fine for most purposes, but for our purposes, it means a lot. So for Acrylite GP, would it be advisable to go thicker than normal to compensate?

What about Acrylite FF? Still ok for sumps and such, or would using Plex-MC be the preferred choice for extruded?
 
James I just read a post you made back in 08" about the acrylite gp product. You said the 1/4" material was being made in china but the thicker stuff was still made in the u.s. Do you know if this is still the case?
 
Thanks for your feedback Floyd, James.

Finding Polycast, Acrylite GP, Plexiglas-G or Acrylite FF at a reasonable price online is no easy task, as I have discovered. Especially considering I would also have to buy 80 tooth carbide blade and a router just to make ONE sump. Plus, do to my lock of experience with acrylics I don't want to risk having 20 gallons of salt water all over my hardwood floors.

Decided to go a different route. Went out and got a 20 gal glass AGA tank ( same exact dimensions, 24x12x16 ) and I'm going to use the (cheap) acrylic for the dividers exactly as I originally designed it.

Is Weld-On #16 the recommended cement for this task?


Regards,
KC
 
Floyd R Turbo said:
I was waiting for you to chime in on the China Acrylite GP. I was hoping for better news. Could also be the supply/demand going on right now. Manufacturers cutting corners to keep the costs down mean material that is fine for most purposes, but for our purposes, it means a lot. So for Acrylite GP, would it be advisable to go thicker than normal to compensate?
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This, I cannot say. For me personally, I will have to do more joint strength testing on it if I choose to use the material at all in the future. I only used this material for museum display cases any more anyway where actual joint strength is not so much a factor. Evonik, the mfr of the Acrylite brand tells me it's the same material but my experiences are telling me different. Having done pretty much nothing but acrylic for the last coupla decades.. I'm going to trust my own experience in this regard, but to be fair - more testing is in order.

What about Acrylite FF? Still ok for sumps and such, or would using Plex-MC be the preferred choice for extruded?
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Acrylite FF is still the finest extruded acrylic made IMO. What makes it the best is the surface quality. Most extruded materials are dimpled to a certain extent - some more than others, but FF doesn't seem to have these issues and is my personal material of choice when it comes to extruded acrylics.


2Quills said:
James I just read a post you made back in 08" about the acrylite gp product. You said the 1/4" material was being made in china but the thicker stuff was still made in the u.s. Do you know if this is still the case?
Click to expand...
It's not the case anymore :( All Acrylite GP under 1" is now manufactured in China and heavy gauge materials (1" and above) are now made in Germany. Since I don't use any GP material for tanks, I really don't know if the material is good or not. I just really don't know. But, being made in Germany is a good sign, unless of course you are me and the material will not qualify under NAFTA for duty-free shipping to Canada where I do a good bit of work, so it's now out as material I will use :(

Snootch, IMO you made a wise choice. Buying a pre-built glass tank and modifying to to fit your needs is the way to go on such sumps.. again IMO :)

James
 
Acrylics said:
Acrylite FF is still the finest extruded acrylic made IMO. What makes it the best is the surface quality. Most extruded materials are dimpled to a certain extent - some more than others, but FF doesn't seem to have these issues and is my personal material of choice when it comes to extruded acrylics.


It's not the case anymore :( All Acrylite GP under 1" is now manufactured in China and heavy gauge materials (1" and above) are now made in Germany. Since I don't use any GP material for tanks, I really don't know if the material is good or not. I just really don't know. But, being made in Germany is a good sign, unless of course you are me and the material will not qualify under NAFTA for duty-free shipping to Canada where I do a good bit of work, so it's now out as material I will use :(



James
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Ok, so Acrylite GP under 1" is definately out for building an aquarium.

So do you guys think Acrylite FF would be a better choice of material for a sump then or should I look into a different product entirely.

Again my sump dimensions are 50"x18"x16", 3" flange with center brace. Plus baffles.

Does anyone have a good source or link for Plexi G?
 
Look up Sabic Polymershapes, they have a list of locations on their website. Ther are a couple others, but for me, that was by far the lowest price I found.
 
Floyd R Turbo said:
Look up Sabic Polymershapes, they have a list of locations on their website. Ther are a couple others, but for me, that was by far the lowest price I found.
Click to expand...

Thanks Floyd.

Still wondering about the acrylite ff. It's not much difference price wise than the gp. Just wondering what would be best for my build application. It's hard to imagine that with all of the people I see building sumps that spartech and plexi would have to be my only option if the acrylite is out.
 
My local Regal Plastics has 1/4" Plex-G for 138 and Acrylite FF for 113. For comparison, Sabic has Acrylite GP for for 124 and Plex MC for 103. So in general, expect 20% more for cast over extruded. I found another place that had Acrylite GP 7/32 (.220) for 126 and FF .220 for 95, >25% difference.

But remember, material is not where you want to skimp. Although Polycast 1/4" is not common, in fact 279 at Sabic and 3/8 was 201 (because they stock it for a tank builder)
 
Floyd R Turbo said:
My local Regal Plastics has 1/4" Plex-G for 138 and Acrylite FF for 113. For comparison, Sabic has Acrylite GP for for 124 and Plex MC for 103. So in general, expect 20% more for cast over extruded. I found another place that had Acrylite GP 7/32 (.220) for 126 and FF .220 for 95, >25% difference.

But remember, material is not where you want to skimp. Although Polycast 1/4" is not common, in fact 279 at Sabic and 3/8 was 201 (because they stock it for a tank builder)
Click to expand...

Interesting. 201 sounds like a heck of a deal for polycast. I assume you're talking about a full 48x96 sheet. I was wanting to use 3/8 anyways regaurdless of the brand. It looks like sabic has a location in houston. I'm going to look into them. Thanks Floyd.
 
Hi James,
Just need your expert opinion on rimless acrylic, I want to get a rimless acrylic build of 72" long x 24" wide x 18" tall. Is 1 inch thick all around good enough or go thicker?

Please advise
Thank you.
 
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2Quills said:
Ok, so Acrylite GP under 1" is definately out for building an aquarium.

So do you guys think Acrylite FF would be a better choice of material for a sump then or should I look into a different product entirely.

Again my sump dimensions are 50"x18"x16", 3" flange with center brace. Plus baffles.

Does anyone have a good source or link for Plexi G?
Click to expand...
Personally, I *only* use Polycast, but Plex G is fine as well.

Also ask about actual sheet sizes not just nominal sizes. Plex G is a 50 x 99" sheet which may offer better yield. Polycast sheets are 51 x 100" which *will* offer better yield - this is one of the reasons I use this material, imperial thickness being another.

James
 
spilonotus said:
Hi James,
Just need your expert opinion on rimless acrylic, I want to get a rimless acrylic build of 72" long x 24" wide x 18" tall. Is 1 inch thick all around good enough or go thicker?

Please advise
Thank you.
Click to expand...
IMO 1" won't do it on a 72" span. It will hold, but will bow.

James
 
The Plex G I got was 48 x 96. I don't know think there is any overage on that product anymore. I'll have to measure it and check, but I had Sabic cut it exactly in half and they're square (fit in vehicle the same at any rotation).
 
Well I found a good price online for the polycast. I'm not sure what they'll charge for oversized shipping. I put in a call to the guy over at my local plastics fabrication shop to see what he could get for. He's been working with acrylics for 30+ years and has somehow never heard of the polycast material. He told me I must be talking about polycarbonate :lmao:. So he put in a call to a couple of his dealers (so he says) and said they've never heard of it either :rolleyes: I guess I'm just crazy and must be talking about polycarbonate even though I'm staring at the product online.

Then he proceeds to tell me how he's built aquariums in the past and how I should do it by bending it and not having any seems on the bottom, only the sides. Trying to explain to him that this is a sump tank and not an actual fish tank was fun. So I said how about plexi g, can you at least get me a quote on that? Thanks

Geesh. I may just order the polycast online from modern plastics and just pay the oversized shipping charge since they don't do cut to size pieces. Unless this local guy can somehow get me a descent price on plexi g. We'll see.

Thanks for the info guys.
 
http://www.sabicpolymershapes.com/polyshapes/PShapes/branchlocator/branchus.jsp

There's one in Houston and Dallas. A 2 hour drive could save you hundreds in shipping. Your local guy is not anyone to trust based on what you've stated. I mean really, if he hasn't even heard of Spartech Polycast then you're barking up the wrong tree. Literally every place I talked to (about 10) knew what it was.

It sounds like he was saying that he makes tanks by bending the bottom to front to back seam, and then puts the sides on the outside? I suppose that would work, if it was done right. I wouldn't say that you "should" do it that way though! For one thing, you would have to trim off the excess that pushed out as a result of the bend, sounds like it's more complicated than necessary for DIY!!
 
Floyd R Turbo said:
http://www.sabicpolymershapes.com/polyshapes/PShapes/branchlocator/branchus.jsp

There's one in Houston and Dallas. A 2 hour drive could save you hundreds in shipping. Your local guy is not anyone to trust based on what you've stated. I mean really, if he hasn't even heard of Spartech Polycast then you're barking up the wrong tree. Literally every place I talked to (about 10) knew what it was.

It sounds like he was saying that he makes tanks by bending the bottom to front to back seam, and then puts the sides on the outside? I suppose that would work, if it was done right. I wouldn't say that you "should" do it that way though! For one thing, you would have to trim off the excess that pushed out as a result of the bend, sounds like it's more complicated than necessary for DIY!!
Click to expand...

Thanks, I've got a call into another local guy who deals with Sabic. So I'm gonna call him back on monday and see what he can quote me. He thinks he should be able to get the plexi g for a real good price. Houston unfortunately is a 4 hour drive each way for me and Dallas is even further. Hopefully this other guy will work out, I've never dealt with him before (fingers crosses).

Yeah, I think the guy was talking about basically taking a full sheet and cutting out the corners. And then heating and bending all four sides and joining them that way. I do understand his logic behind it but I'm with you on that it makes things more complicated than they should have to be. Actually I was getting the impression he was trying to talk me into having him build me a tank. But I want to do it myself.

I know both of these guys said they can get cell cast acrylic. Which I did purchase some a few weeks ago and build myself a reservoir tank for practice before moving onto my sump. I'm just not sure where it's made and how good the quality is. There were no markings on the paper masking. I think it may have came out of mexico though. But the tank turned out good, joints are clean. Hopefully it will hold but we'll see. Just don't want to take chances on the sump.

017.jpg
 
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