DIY Acrylic Questions

A

Anthonius

New member
Heres my barrage of questions. If there is a one stop shop for these questions in a thread somewhere dont hesitate to point me there.

Wheres the best place to buy acrylic from if you live in the Iowa area?

What type of acrylic sheeting?

What weld-on should I use?

If building a 150g'ish tank what thickness should I purchase my sheets in?



Thanks guys!!! :dance:
 
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1056956&highlight=acrylic+i+can+help

All the answers you will ever ask.

Not to be smartalec here. I dabble with acrylic ,and if you don't already know the answers to your questions then don't think about building a large tank.
I like building small stuff with it. And still wouldn't try a large tank that I expect to place in my living room.:facepalm:

Read more.
Practice smaller.
Plan to waste money while you learn. [learning is the fun for me]
G/L
 
Anthonius said:
Heres my barrage of questions. If there is a one stop shop for these questions in a thread somewhere dont hesitate to point me there.

Wheres the best place to buy acrylic from if you live in the Iowa area?
Click to expand...
try the distributors in your area such as Ridout or Regal, both within range of you..or just check your local yellow pages: Plastics Fabrics, Film, Sheets, Rods, Etc Producers

What type of acrylic sheeting?
Click to expand...
Plexiglas G or GM, or Polycast *only*

What weld-on should I use?
Click to expand...
probably #4

If building a 150g'ish tank what thickness should I purchase my sheets in?
Click to expand...
Impossible to answer effectively. Thickness is based on several things and capacity is not one of them. Span, height, bracing, and deflection tolerance are the key factors.
Figure out *exactly* what you want; every dimension - then you can look at what thickness you can use given bracing and deflection tolerances.. usually a compromise between these and costs. Acrylic has gone way up in price over the last few years..

James
 
GrampaDon said:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1056956&highlight=acrylic+i+can+help

All the answers you will ever ask.

Not to be smartalec here. I dabble with acrylic ,and if you don't already know the answers to your questions then don't think about building a large tank.
I like building small stuff with it. And still wouldn't try a large tank that I expect to place in my living room.:facepalm:

Read more.
Practice smaller.
Plan to waste money while you learn. [learning is the fun for me]
G/L
Click to expand...

Oh I fully intend on failing a few times before I do anything with a big tank. I already have a glass tank set up currently so there isnt a rush. However I am looking into moving towards acrylic for the more custom application. So I didnt take your response as smartalecy. I really appreciate the post and obviously the experience... both good and bad.

When you say smaller. Do you mean like a 10g or a sump or something?
 
Acrylics said:
try the distributors in your area such as Ridout or Regal, both within range of you..or just check your local yellow pages: Plastics Fabrics, Film, Sheets, Rods, Etc Producers

Plexiglas G or GM, or Polycast *only*

probably #4

Impossible to answer effectively. Thickness is based on several things and capacity is not one of them. Span, height, bracing, and deflection tolerance are the key factors.
Figure out *exactly* what you want; every dimension - then you can look at what thickness you can use given bracing and deflection tolerances.. usually a compromise between these and costs. Acrylic has gone way up in price over the last few years..

James
Click to expand...

Awesome. Thank you for the information. I greatly appreciate it.
 
A 10-20g sump is a good start to get a feel for it.
I have mostly used the extruded. And lean to having more thickness in material than the minimum. [It just seems to work better]

I have built one sump using 3/8 Plexiglas G [cast] and luv the cast.
But like stated it is more expensive to play with.
 
Last edited:
Yeah... the pricing isnt so much the issue and reason why I am going to try acrylic. The whole thing is customization and building things to my specifics. Currently I have a eshopps acrylic sump that cost me 250 bucks and to be honest I dont like it and it feels very cramped... even for the 40B it sits under. I would like to build something with a larger footprint and a little less height. I would like to incorporate some probes for the controller I will be getting for christmas. I would like to also have a refugium at some point and my current sump doesnt give me that option.
 
peppie said:
Are you tooled up to properly prep the edges of your acrylic?
Click to expand...

I have a router or two but theres also like a scraping tool used to smooth the blade marks on the sheets right? I dont have said scraping tool but I believe the manufacturers sell it relatively cheap.
 
Anthonius said:
I have a router or two but theres also like a scraping tool used to smooth the blade marks on the sheets right? I dont have said scraping tool but I believe the manufacturers sell it relatively cheap.
Click to expand...
forget the scraping... it's *not* the way to do it well.. learn to do it properly with the router. Scrapers are only "good" for deburring sharp edges, and any chisel will do that better anyway :)

James
 
Did you watch the whole thing? At the end is a part about flame polishing and routing. Routed edges are considered smooth enough for bonding. Flame polishing will not work and causes crazing.
 
webersole said:
Did you watch the whole thing? At the end is a part about flame polishing and routing. Routed edges are considered smooth enough for bonding. Flame polishing will not work and causes crazing.
Click to expand...

OH, my mistake, I watched the intro and part of the video but not to the end.
Edit adding - at 2:40 in the video it does say not to glue polished edges, but I didn't see anything about routing for flat edges?

I got suspicious when I saw that it was a tap plastics video. Didn't mean to po po on your post, just meant to clarify in case someone took it to mean that flame polishing or scarping would be appropriate for edge prep. Sorry for the confusion....
 
Spent to many hours reading acrylic threads :spin2:

My biggest hurdle was/is edge prep. :headwally: It can make that much of a difference.
 
Anthonius said:
Good to know. I am about 30 pages in. But I know there's a split. It's gonna be awhile.
Click to expand...

It will get off track a bit here and there.
I felt the read was worth it
110_2662.jpg


110_2665.jpg



​


The site gave me the info to eventual have the knowledge to build this 90gal AIO
 
peppie said:
It will get off track a bit here and there.
I felt the read was worth it
110_2662.jpg


110_2665.jpg



​


The site gave me the info to eventual have the knowledge to build this 90gal AIO
Click to expand...

Very nice... make sure to come back and link me a build thread when you start it. Gorgeous tank. Thanks for the post. Any other photos of in progress or newly completed diy tanks?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

D
DIY Stand Help
Replies
6
Views
391
kharmaguru
kharmaguru
guserto4
Planning a New Build - Acrylic Thickness 80x30x24T euro-brace?
Replies
1
Views
392
griss
griss
adova
300g DIY Acrylic Tank Recommendations
Replies
5
Views
1K
griss
griss
S
200 Gallon Mixed Reef - Rock Questions
2
Replies
20
Views
556
wvned
wvned
M
  • Question Question
Fixing leak in acrylic aquarium seam with Weld On 4?
Replies
11
Views
2K
fish879799
F
Back
Top