Scuba_Steve
Premium Member
The shape of a tube causes it to be extremely strong by nature. I am sure 1/8 will be strong enough.
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Acrylic fabrication questions? I can help!
- Thread starter JohnL
- Start date
Westcoastindia
New member
Hey James,
How do you jig up acrylic 1inch plus thick for wicking?
Got dewalt 625 a 31/4 HP router imported from the US. My bad didn't account for bits at that time. Here locally 12 mm bits are available. The collet that I received is 1/2 inch. Will have to wait around a month for bits. Meantime I could prepare for a bigger table to mount the router and jigs to hold up the tank for glueing.
Thanks is a small word for the plethora of knowledge you have shared. Appreciate it.
How do you jig up acrylic 1inch plus thick for wicking?
Got dewalt 625 a 31/4 HP router imported from the US. My bad didn't account for bits at that time. Here locally 12 mm bits are available. The collet that I received is 1/2 inch. Will have to wait around a month for bits. Meantime I could prepare for a bigger table to mount the router and jigs to hold up the tank for glueing.
Thanks is a small word for the plethora of knowledge you have shared. Appreciate it.
Agreed. The only real issue is getting the strong joint as 1/8" wall just doesn't give much in the way of surface area for gluing. There are a number of ways to do it though
James
I use the exact same jigs and techniques for 1" as I do 1/4" material. The only things that change are to make the solvent a little slower - use a touch more acid. The wires or "pins" are different as well, for 1/4" I use .008" wire but for 1" I use .014" wires. Everything else is exactly the same.
You may wish to get accustomed to using a larger applicator needle though. The little blue 23ga applicator needles are the suck for thicker material as it takes forever to apply the solvent, so I just use the larger (pink) 18ga applicators for everything. Just practice with it and get better control of the solvent bottle.
HTH,
James
Agreed. The only real issue is getting the strong joint as 1/8" wall just doesn't give much in the way of surface area for gluing. There are a number of ways to do it though
Thanks for your opinion Scuba!
James, I was intending to use my Jasper 200 to route a 1/8" (plus a little so the tube will fit) X 1/8" groove in the base to accept the tube. Would this be acceptable? I'll be using Weld-On 4. Should I pre-fill the groove with the WO4 first, and then set the tube in - or just set the tube in the groove and the inject the solvent around the tube? I'm asking because the tube may be too high to allow reaching the inner edge with the solvent needle.
Thanks for your help!
Westcoastindia
New member
Using the MDF jig that you'd suggest, how far thick the material can hold on that? Like uptill what thickness could use those jigs?
I know routing the groove is commonly done, it really should only be done if you're going to fill the groove with WO40/42 and then the groove should be at least 1/4" wide then half-filled with 40, then the tube placed. IMO the reason it's usually done is so folks can't see an ugly joint since even most shops seem to have a hard time cutting tube and getting getting planar ends. And this is why 40/42 is often recommended for gluing tube ends in grooves
Generally speaking, the tops of cutters leave pitted grooves and therefore not the best surface to solvent bond to. For strength of the joint itself, one is best served gluing directly to the surface of the material if using solvent. All it takes is 3 or 4 strands of some thin wire - maybe .008" or so evenly spaced around the perimeter to allow solvent to get into the whole joint so no need to get inside the tube. Once solvent is applied, give it a few seconds and gently remove the wires, then place just a few pounds of weight on top of the assembly to "mash" it a little.
If you have access to a small amount of 40/42, it's really the "easy" way to go since you don't have to worry so much about edge preparation on the tube.
And yes, I know many folks will use 16, I just despise the stuff
but it can work in these situations almost as well if 40/42 is not availableHTH,
James
Dunno, how large are your largest spring clamps?
The reasoning for the jigs is threefold; to hold the material in place, to help flatten the bottom, and if you put the convex side against the jig - will straighten out the vertical piece along the gluing edge.
I've used them on up to 2" so should be good for most applications in which solvent bonding is the method of choice.
HTH,
James
........
And yes, I know many folks will use 16, I just despise the stuff
HTH,
James
Thanks for your help, James.
I have no way of obtaining a small amount of 40/42. If I use 16 (I hate it too), would I cut a 1/4" groove for the 1/8" tube and fill in half the groove and set the tube in the groove, the way you described for 40/42?
I wish it were that easy
Too much comes into play. Length, height, tolerance for bracing, deflection tolerance, etc. So a little too much to just make a table. There are a coupla formulas out there, but they're flawed. *generally* speaking.. up to 18" height use 3/8", 24" height use 1/2", 30" height use 3/4"
^^ assumes 3" eurobrace and a 5-6" crossbace every ~24" in span..
so a 48 x 24 x 24" tank will use 1/2" with 3" eurobrace and a single crossbrace. Extend it out to 72" and we just add another crossbrace. If we don't add the crossbrace, we have to go up in thickness or increase the width of the eurobrace. None of the calculators take this stuff into account.
HTH,
James
bmanzie
New member
I understand that a lot goes into the decision. for that reason I drew out my idea.
With this I have two questions.
1. What thickness acrylic do you recommend?
2. This is going to be a drop off tank for my office desk. The drop off part I would like to have suspended over the edge of my desk without support. Is this possible?
Thanks!
With this I have two questions.
1. What thickness acrylic do you recommend?
2. This is going to be a drop off tank for my office desk. The drop off part I would like to have suspended over the edge of my desk without support. Is this possible?
Thanks!
Very possible
I'd most likely use 3/4", though 1" would cross my mind, at least for certain panels.If it were going to be fully supported, you could probably get away with 1/2" material. But since it'll be on it's own, I'd go thicker. Going thicker will also alleviate the question as to whether a cross-brace might be necessary.
If/when these tanks crack, they almost always crack in the same spot. Basically, separate the tank into 2 separate tanks (left side & right side) and draw a line between the load centers. Now draw a line from that lower corner such that it's perpendicular to the line between load centers.. this is the spot you gotta watch. If you can, try to leave a bit of a radius or some "meat" at that lower inside corner..
HTH,
James
meaning you don't want a sharp corner on that lower corner where it starts to drop. If you did and accidentally bumped into the tank, all the stress would be concentrated on that point and the tank could crack.
James
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