Acrylic fabrication questions? I can help!

The concern for using pmax is that the material may fail? Or is it that there maybe inflections,visible defects, or all of the above? I have read through most of this thread the only reason I ask is the only local acrylic I can find is pmax. I would prefer to use G but at 25% more + shipping it would be cheaper for me to drive somewhere and buy a completed tank
 
Pmacs would be 3rd on the list behind G & poly cast IMO. Meaning better than any import or no-name cell cast. Let's put it this way, I'd build my own tank out of it.
 
So not beat a dead horse here but every acrylic manufacturer I have talked to seems to a different opinion or name for their acrylic a sheets. I talked to a guy from sabic today for a quote on 1/2 clear cast plexiglas g. He quoted me for plexiglas gp (stuff made in Mexico). He seems to think that this is the way to go. He stated that a big tank manufacturer uses this type. Any issues with this stuff? Also I'm trying to plan to brace the top should I use strips or just buy a peice that will fit and do the cut outs myself? Making a 72x24x24
 
Hi, I'm trying to make a shallow tray to catch any water that may leak from a reactor.

I used plexiglass is that the same as acrylic? I've got all the sides cut, and edges are polished, I'm ready to glue them, but just not sure what glue to use?

Also, any tips to get the sides accurately vertical?

Thanks
 
Plexiglass is a brand of acrylic, yes

When you say polished, what do you mean? You don't really want the bonding surfaces polished in the literal sense, you want the prepared as in rough-cut then routed flat/straight or scraped with a razor blade. you should be able to stand one piece on another, or at least close to it. The solvent will bond them together quickly and you won't have to worry about it moving after a few minutes - using something that won't bond to the acrylic to hold it in place will work, like a small block of wood on either side or a brick even.

If you're making a small 5-sided box (open top) then there is more than one way to do it, but the "textbook" way is to build the 4 sides first, lay the "front" panel down, bond the 2 sides to it, then after it dries, flip it and bond to the "back", then bond those down to the bottom. The smaller the build, then more difficult it can get though because of small imperfections being magnified. When bonding the box together, you will want to line up what will become the bottom joint so that you don't have to scrape or sand much, if at all.
 
I sanded the edges down so there smooth? Is that a problem?

Can you tell me which acrylic cement I should buy? I went to Home Depot and they had no idea, and they didn't seem to carry anything that would work.

That's a good idea, I'll do the sides first, and then the sides to the base, hadn't thought of that. Thanks!
 
Sanding is fine, when you said polish I thought flame polish or something like that which you would not want to do necessarily.

Ideally you want weld-on #3 or #4 and a squeeze bottle applicator, but #16 which is a gel-like stuff would work for this, I'm assuming it's pretty small.

In a real pinch there are a few other things you can use but I would try to find one of these first. Online at craftics.net or a local plastics shop, possibly at a hobby/craft store
 
Looking into making my own overflow box. Once I am set on the size and I cut the material (1/4" acrylic) do I have to have the edges finished with a router prior to glueing (WO3)? I am planning on running a bead of GE I silicone to make it watertight.
 
For an internal overflow box that is 5-sided (open top, like a BRS or glass-holes one) you don't have so much to worry about. You can rough cut and scrape by hand, bond with WO3, but the addition of silicone will not help much because during power-off the box drains and water pressure from the outside of the box (tank) would push through any gap in the joint and push the silicone off (silicone doesn't bond well to acrylic). Instead, I would run WO16 in the inside joints to seal it off, you can run this several times if necessary. Getting flat bonding edges eliminates the need for this. You could also bond in thin strips on the inside (gussets) to take care of any leaks after you leak-test it.

If it's a 3 or 2-sided overflow, like one bonded into the corner of a tank, you definitely want the acrylic-to-acrylic joint to be a strong bond, and then you can silicone in the overflow and that will be held in place by water pressure. But 1/4" is too thin IMO, 3/8" for any full height overflow minimum.
 
It's a 5 sided type. Looking for WO16 as we speak. By gussets do u mean like 1/4"x1/4 strip I put along 5 he seams?
 
No. Use Brillianz or just water on a soft cloth, like a plain t-shirt. Follow up with a dry t-shirt. Don't need anything else really
 
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