Acrylic fabrication questions? I can help!

[Floyd R Turbo]

Here might be a similar one I did.

Took this 125 that had fractures through the bottom panel due to a poor stand



Cut in half



Made this template for the router





So I could slide this along the edge of the tank as a guide. Only trouble was that if I needed to adjust the 'depth' of the cut, I needed to remove and re-tape the "fence".

Also slid the tank on end across the router table



So I had to go back and forth to get it right and get the routing to line up. In the end, I did a lot of scraping with a razor blade to get everything flat and lined up on the corners, it was a PITA. Doing this for a 24" tall tank would be a real pain. The router did not slide easily along acrylic that does not have paper on it. It tended to bind, which meant making another pass.

So if you can do it without having to take this step...I suggest doing so.

 

[TalloneJosh]

Here are some pics I will try and get some better pics later when I have someone with me to move the tank.

The crack goes all the way to the edge, but does not rise up the side. The crack was caused by the previous owner who decided it was light enough for one person to carry, and ended up cracking the bottom.

 

[Reef or Die]

i am considering doing some modifications to my existing sump because i want to incorporate a refugium
step one would be to cut out 2 baffles with a thin blade saw.
step 2 would be to weldon a new acrylic baffle into the sump. Is this possible to weld a new baffle in. any suggestions on how to do it properly?

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

For adding a baffle to an existing sump, it's a little trick to get it to fit in perfect because you have warping from use and this leaves un-square surfaces to deal with. it's easier to weld in gussets and then weld the baffle to the gussets. Basically you only need a few narrow strips of 1/4" or 3/8" acrylic, maybe 1/2" to 3/4" wide, then you put one strip on the bottom, then one on each side, and cut your new baffle so that it is as close to touching all 3 sides as possible.

Make sure you position the gussets so they are on the low-water level side of where you want the baffle. Then stand the tank on end, run some solvent on the now vertical face of the gussets, and set your baffle in place.

You can use WO16 for this which might be easier. If you wanted to use the pins method, you still can, but it might get messy and drippy. For that you would put the baffle in place and put pins between the gussets and baffle, and then run the solvent along the top of the joint (where the baffle touches the bottom/side walls) and let it wick down to the gusset/baffle joint, and then pull the pins after 15-20 seconds. Your solvent will run everywhere though...

If it were me, I would use WO3 or 4 for the gussets, then 16 for the baffle.

Let me know if this makes sense or if you need a pic

Good luck cutting out the existing baffle....that'll be the hardest part IMO

 

[tatuaje08]

I built a sump out of some scrap astari niagra (i think its cast, but cheap stuff) and the edges won't flame polish. The edges were routed. Any ideas?

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

astari is junk for aquarium use, at least from what I've heard.

 

[tatuaje08]

Yeah that's why I only used it for a small sump. But I'm still stumped as to why it won't flame polish.

 

[humaguy]

what is the best way to clean the outside of an acrylic tank...don't want to scratch it...

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

a soft cotton cloth, like an old t-shirt (which you can buy in prewashed and cut-to-size packs at Lowe's) and Brillianze acrylic cleaner (or just water in a spray bottle)

 

[humaguy]

a soft cotton cloth, like an old t-shirt (which you can buy in prewashed and cut-to-size packs at Lowe's) and Brillianze acrylic cleaner (or just water in a spray bottle)

Thanks!

 

[ddavies564]

I am looking to build a 40x20x15 sump,I was wondering if 1/4 acrylite ff would work? I can get it easy from a dealer close by, they seem to use a ton of it. I originally planned to use 1/4 and a 1.5 euro. I figured with the addition of the baffles, filter sock holder to run the width of the tank and the euro I'd be good. But lately I have been thinking maybe if I get 3/8 acrylite ff i could make the same sump with out the euro. I didn't work it out exactly but I figured material cost wise they would be roughly the same because of not needing the material for the euro. Looking for suggestions thank you.

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

Depends on placement of baffles as far as bowing is concerned - but it will bow, 1) because FF is extruded and less "stiff" and 2) because it's rimless. Even with 3/8" walls, it will bow. Even a 1" or 1.5" perimeter euro will help that quite a bit, and would allow you to go with 1/4".

Bottom line is that you could do rimless 1/4" but I wouldn't, personally. Not worth the cost savings for the importance of the piece of equipment.

 

[ddavies564]

Depends on placement of baffles as far as bowing is concerned - but it will bow, 1) because FF is extruded and less "stiff" and 2) because it's rimless. Even with 3/8" walls, it will bow. Even a 1" or 1.5" perimeter euro will help that quite a bit, and would allow you to go with 1/4".

Bottom line is that you could do rimless 1/4" but I wouldn't, personally. Not worth the cost savings for the importance of the piece of equipment.

Thank you very much. Would going to acrylite gp be worth it for a sump?

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

Meh. Could go either way. FF is a good extruded and you could use that for a sump. It may just bow a bit more, hence the benefit of even a narrow eurobrace.

I could give you a better answer if you had a drawing of the proposed sump

 

[ddavies564]

I made a little diagram to help, I didn't really account for material thickness so the drawing is rough. I appreciate all the help

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

I made a little diagram to help, I didn't really account for material thickness so the drawing is rough. I appreciate all the help

Tapatalk bug again...I can see it on my phone, but not on here, unless I quote it.

You're going to probably have a bit of bow along the sides of the 20" section in the middle, if you don't put on a euro.

I would say that in this case, you would not really need a crossbrace in the middle, as the span is <24" - that's the main reason I wanted to see a sketch. Looks good as you have drawn it.

 

[TropTrea]

I am looking to build a 40x20x15 sump,I was wondering if 1/4 acrylite ff would work? I can get it easy from a dealer close by, they seem to use a ton of it. I originally planned to use 1/4 and a 1.5 euro. I figured with the addition of the baffles, filter sock holder to run the width of the tank and the euro I'd be good. But lately I have been thinking maybe if I get 3/8 acrylite ff i could make the same sump with out the euro. I didn't work it out exactly but I figured material cost wise they would be roughly the same because of not needing the material for the euro. Looking for suggestions thank you.

Material cost will vary greatly. I know locally if I were to get X amount of material in 1/4" that costed $300.00 it would be more than $450 in 3/8 material of Acrylic. So if I were you I'd price out the material both ways 3/8" without bracing and 1/4" with bracing.

On a side not you can go with a a simple ceter brace rather than completly brace the tank. A small piece 6" by 20" will greatly decrease the level of bowing on the 40" ling sides. The 20" long sides while they will bow it will be very minimal as your water level will be only 9" or less. If anything a small brace on the side oposite the filter socks will take care of that. Note the filter sock holder will be enough to brace its end.

Your design is simular in many ways to what I did some Betta display tanks. I used 1/4" and the tanks were 72" long and 8" deep with a divider every 6". The divider provided more than enough bracing of the long 72" piece that there was no bowing visable.

Remember there are probably a 100 differnt ways thius can be done and 40 of them are probably acceptable in the end, 30 will probably give you some long term issues, and 30 simply won't work. I personaly would have gone with only two baffels instead of three. And made my pump chamber more than 4 gallons.

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

Dang Trop, where are you buying your stuff? I can get a sheet of 1/4" Plex-G for less than $150, and the General Purpose 3/8" stuff is less than $200/sheet, and this sump can be completely made out of less than a full sheet.

Good point on the crossbrace though. You can also make that a little stronger by doing a strip brace, just one along the front and back, and then attach a 3" cross brace over the 20" wide section. Might be able to get away without it even, the strip brace will add a good amount of strength. Remember that you need to build it to withstand the power-outage draw-down in a worst case scenario, not just for operating conditions.

 

[ddavies564]

I can get the full sheet of ff with paper mask for 140, gp 1/4 for 160. 3/8 material ff paper masked was 200 and 3/8 go was 235. So the way I look at it max material on the project will only be 220. Probably won't even use the full sheet. Can pick up local so no shipping. And I have everything else.

About the center brace I would love to do this for piece of mind but the sump is gunna be on a 300 gallon multiple tank system so I need the max room for the skimmer. I want to run the reef octo dcs 300 which has a foot print of 18x13 so it's gunna be a squeeze.

Some other questions I have have to deal with table saw blades. I have built smaller nano tanks, reactors, and other random stuff with acrylic but nothing this big. I have always used a high tooth count plywood blade for rough cuts the finished it up on a router. I'm looking to get a little bit more of a proper blade what would you suggest? Going all out and buying the 85 dollar Freud acrylic blade or could I get away with the 60 dollar diablo blade(D1084L) that's at Home Depot. I would love to be able to get a blade setup that finishes the acrylic to and almost weldable edge, is this possible?

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

The short answer is no on the blade cut weldable edge. As for rough cutting, I use Diablo and those work great. Other non-acrylic blades to the job but leave a rougher edge that you have to route a few extra times in order to get through the pitting caused by the rougher cut.. IMO use a Diablo. I have a nice $45 Bosch extra-wide-tooth "finishing" blade but it still doesn't cut through acrylic as easily as the diablo triple-chip does.