Acrylic sheets????
- Thread starter ajolie30
- Start date
scuba guy ron
New member
lowes or home depot
der_wille_zur_macht
Team RC
The stuff sold at Lowes or Home Depot is going to be overpriced and very poor quality (usually a low-grade extruded material.) For the occasional little project it'll be OK, but I would be worried to try and build an entire sump out of it. For one thing, those places rarely sell material thick enough.
Your best bet is to go to a plastics or glass shop - look in your local yellow pages. Besides getting higher quality material, you may find that you can get it for very cheap, or free, if you can make use of the small pieces of offcuts in their scrap bin.
Check out the DIY forum if you haven't yet, there's a TON of really good acrylics info in there.
Your best bet is to go to a plastics or glass shop - look in your local yellow pages. Besides getting higher quality material, you may find that you can get it for very cheap, or free, if you can make use of the small pieces of offcuts in their scrap bin.
Check out the DIY forum if you haven't yet, there's a TON of really good acrylics info in there.
scuba guy ron
New member
just built a fuge out of acrilyc from lowes. sheets were like $4.00. they work fine once you use gel superglue and silicone sealer to seal them in place. I've had no problems using the low grade.
Playa-1
In Memoriam
A local plastic supplier would be your best bet. They can cut the Acrylic to spec for you as well. They will have different grades of Acrylic sheets and the appropriate cement for the project. Unless you have a custom size to build you might look for a used Acrylic Tank locally and add some baffles. You will be able to buy a used tank and add a few acrylic baffles much cheaper then you will be able to build one from scratch.
you will be in sticker shock if you go to a plastic supplier and lowes is cheaper 40-60 or more for a 4x8 sheet (just an example i realise you my not need a 4x8 sheet) It will be a higher quality at a plastic supply but they do sell .220 which is the same thickness as the supply place will sell as 1/4 inch. lowes acrylic is good enough I built mine from there as well you will need to brace the top or it will bow out
100%hydrophylic
New member
i think it would be a better idea to just buy an old used tank and put baffles in it.
der_wille_zur_macht
Team RC
Just to be clear, if someone was building a sump totally out of acrylic, then the ONLY acceptable method is to use acrylic solvents to bond the parts together. If someone were using acrylic to make baffles in a glass tank to build a sump, then using silicone is OK. Cut the baffles so they fit loose (acrylic isn't very stable and can expand enough to crack a glass tank), and rough the edges up with coarse sandpaper, then use plenty of silicone - it doesn't stick to the plastic well.
scuba guy ron
New member
the question was where to get acrylic for a decent price. the answer is lowes or home depot. Now If you are looking for the answer on how to build a sump that is entirely a different question.
sfboarders
New member
Check out http://www.tapplastics.com. They sell acrylics and the bonding adhesives online. A lil pricey though.
der_wille_zur_macht
Team RC
I totally understand that, but I also believe that it's important to know the OP's intentions before providing an answer. If you're just looking to throw a baffle in a small glass tank to make a sump, the low-quality extruded stuff from Home Depot will be fine. If you're trying to build an all-acrylic sump from scratch, it would be a really poor choice of material, unless you're building something really small and don't care about appearance (it's really hard to get a nice looking weld on extruded acrylic, and it's less stable.) It's one thing to give "an" answer, it's another thing to help the OP determine what the best answer is.
monotreme_man
New member
deja vu all over again.
i went through this 6 months ago.
to do acrylic right, and safe, is somewhat expensive.
i found two sources (for acrylite FF):
1) a major distributer which only sold 4x8 sheets
(and was a tad cheaper)
2) a local plastics fabricator, who not only sold
it by the square foot and cut the plastic to the sizes i
wanted. (and they actually gave me the solvent,
or at least a liter or so, for free.)
i did it mainly to learn how to do acrylic,
and to make a custom sump.
truthfully, if i could have gone with a smaller
sump, i would buy a cheap glass tank
and silicone plastic baffles.
i went through this 6 months ago.
to do acrylic right, and safe, is somewhat expensive.
i found two sources (for acrylite FF):
1) a major distributer which only sold 4x8 sheets
(and was a tad cheaper)
2) a local plastics fabricator, who not only sold
it by the square foot and cut the plastic to the sizes i
wanted. (and they actually gave me the solvent,
or at least a liter or so, for free.)
i did it mainly to learn how to do acrylic,
and to make a custom sump.
truthfully, if i could have gone with a smaller
sump, i would buy a cheap glass tank
and silicone plastic baffles.
