DIY Tank (Dialup beware), Step by Step

[Acrylics]

miwoodar,
I'm assuming you are using WO4? If so, not gonna be able to find anything better without ordering gallons online or are able to mix your own (read $$). Raise the temp 10 degrees if possible. Material, solvent, and ambient temp should be 70-75 +/- IMO. Humidity is fine.
If you can find Polycast material, give that a try, then Cyro's Acrylite GP. I wouldn't bother with anything else except trying out some extruded. Practicing w/ some extruded will help teach you the signs of how to "time" pulling the wires since it breaks down so much faster.

Chris,
Yeah 16 is garbage for these applications, but the bubbles are in the solution to begin with and are essentially trapped by the viscosity of the solution and that the 16 will skin fairly quickly, thus trapping the bubbles in.

James

 

[Chatouille]

James

Yeah... I wouldn't use, or suggest to use weld-on 16 for anything like this. I used it to try and seal a leak on a sump I bought a few years back. After that I found AcrylicMan's thread, that you so graciously continued, and have never used it since. Without threads like this, and your great mentoring, I would have never tried to build acrylic projects. (or found out that I should have used weld-on 40 instead to fix that joint.)

It doesn't look like you are doing anything wrong, quite the contrary, you guys never cease to amaze me in how well you pick it up.

You shouldn't really be amazed... you're the reason we are able to have the success we do. Look at this thread for example, it's an illustrated walkthrough. The only thing you haven't done is apply the solvent for us. I'm sure the results would be different if resources like this weren't available to us. The next step is for you to hold classes via web conferencing

Chris

 

[miwoodar]

^^^ What he said +1. James, thanks.

 

[Acrylics]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11730332#post11730332 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Chatouille
Without threads like this, and your great mentoring, I would have never tried to build acrylic projects. (or found out that I should have used weld-on 40 instead to fix that joint.)

Hi Chris,
Well, if acrylic work has been good for you, then cool if not, eek! sorry 'bout that.

To the rest of your statement; gratefully humbled :beer:

James

 

[Chatouille]

Well, if acrylic work has been good for you, then cool if not, eek! sorry 'bout that.

It's always good . It's great when someone comes in and see's the tank, and asks where I bought it. It's something that I enjoy to do when I have the time, but I only make things for myself.

Chris

 

[miwoodar]

Good news. I just couldn't help my self - I had to know if it was going to work. After making new jigs and practicing today, I decided the following:

1) My new jig is the entire height of the tank and is much more stable. The two smaller jigs I was using before sucked.
2) Not all bread ties are the same - I found some thinner ones that work better. The WO4 wicks in much easier now.
3) When reviewing my practice joins, I found that longer edges appeared to have joined better than shorter edges - some of the short ones were terrible. This gave me more confidence to make the plunge on the tank itself.
4) I was a little too anxious on some of my prior joins - I was fiddling with the join or stuff on the table when I should have been upstairs watching TV or something.
5) After running the WO4 I'm now starting my watch and waiting a minute and a half before pulling the pins.
6) Raised the temp in the room to ~75. It's better for me too!
7) Added a fan to the room to circulate the air and hopefully dry up the edges of the seams a little quicker.
8) Called the Plex-G support line twice and left my number each time. Maybe they will return my call tomorrow after I'm done with everything!?

So the good news - this is the best join I have done yet. It got off to a bad foot, I shot a bubble that was about as big around as a pencil eraser in the first inch of the shoot. Fortunately I blasted it out right away but got WO4 all over the place in doing so (looks like I'm in for a little extra sanding later on). The join is almost completely clear other than that. There is a tiny bit of edge creep in a few places but nothing I'm going to worry about. I can't wait for it to dry so I can shoot the next one.

---Edit---
Also, I'm now using a 22 gauge needle. I couldn't find a 20. The salesperson at Walgreens initially refused to sell me the 22 without a prescription. She finally caved after I pleaded for a few minutes. $0.25 - not bad. I like it a lot more than the 25 that came on the bottle. I cut the old one off and easily superglued the new one in place.

 

[Chatouille]

Sounds like everything is going well for you :thumbsup:

It's funny.... you can't go in and buy a needle without a rx, but yet they hand them out to junkies for free in some cities. I ran into the same thing, but someone at another forum hooked me up. The needle on you applicator bottle didn't just twist off? (1/4 turn) I must have got lucky, as the one I have, B-D needles fit perfectly.

Don't forget to take pic's when you build your tank!!!

Chris

 

[Chatouille]

hmmm... dbl post

 

[miwoodar]

3 down...the last vertical seam is a few hours away. The second seam was better than the first. The third was not though. It's still better than any of my practice stuff but I was looking forward to them getting progressively better as i went.

My bottle looked like this:

( Picture credit: http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2007/7/diy)

I couldn't get the lock ring off so I stuck a razor blade beneath the ring and sliced through the green section.

 

[melev]

Looks like you are making good progress.

 

[spleify]

It's looking good Miwoodar, I can't wait to see it done.

 

[Acrylics]

miwoodar,
Any updates?

 

[miwoodar]

Yes my friend - both the bottom and the top have been cemented in place. I'm pretty confident the tank will hold water A-OK as is. I do want to add a bead of WO 40 to the top and bottom joins though for a little extra strength JIC. I'm planning on running a line of masking tape, mixing up a small batch of 40, and applying it with a large syringe. It would cure slower and at a lower temperature if I slightly reduced the quantity of the catalyst, right? This would minimize the chance for crazing?

I spoke to the technical rep at the sheet manufacturer to get his advice about the fine edge bubbles I saw in my seams as the WO4 dries. He said that he would not have recommended using WO 4 and aquarium manufacturers almost exclusively use WO 40. Kind of reminds me of when I was researching the option of making this project out of glass and learned that silicone manufacturers do not recommend their products for aquariums either. Sounds like a lot of CYA to me...

I started a build thread (http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1312082)

 

[Chatouille]

miwoodar

I was just going through your other thread... sounds like everything is coming together well.

I noticed that you wanted to water test it by the end of the week... it's best to let it set for a few days before putting water to it, to allow the joint to fully cure. James would be able to answer you better as to how long you should wait.

Chris

 

[Acrylics]

Wait a couple weeks if at all possible. For a display tank, it's 7 days minimum IMO. Some folks want to do it sooner, but it's better to let it fully cure.
The WO40 is a CYA thing, take a look at virtually all aquaria made, they use solvent with the primary exceptions being the bigger stuff. Guy doesn't know his business very well if he actually thinks that

HTH,
James

 

[miwoodar]

Thanks for the reminder Chris/James. I thought the wait was 2 days...that could have been bad. I guess I'll have plenty of time to route the edges and polish them up before the test. My micro-surface polishing kit (#NC-78-1 as recommended on page one) showed up yesterday.

I laid the beads of WO 40 along the bottom last night. They'll be covered under the sand and out of sight. Even so, they turned out better than I would have expected. Every other time I have ever broken out the WO 40, I've ended up making a big mess of some kind. Last night I got lucky. I'll run the top bead tonight. Am I breaking the rules by running the extra bead of 40? Will a secret police track me down and arrest me?

 

[otto486]

GREAT THREAD, THANKS FOR ALL THE HELP GUYS! You have no idea how much you saved me in the past!

 

[miwoodar]

I did the water test last night - no leaks! After it was full I gave the panels a few good hard smacks then I started pushing. I pushed hard enough on the sides and edges that I cringed a few times thinking that something was going to pop for sure. If this were an off-the-shelf tank, I wouldn't have put it through the abuse but since it's my handy work, I really wanted the extra piece of mind.

Polishing is a little more difficult than I had hoped. It definitely takes some finesse (magic?) that I have yet to develop.

Pics to come in the next week or so after I get it into place in the living room.

 

[Chatouille]

:thumbsup: :celeb2:
Good to hear! Now for the REAL test :uzi:

What problem are you having in regards to polishing?

Chris

 

[miwoodar]

I can't remove all of the scratches from the previous sheet so I get all the way through to the end and find a bunch of scratches that I should have removed a few steps prior...I think the solution to this one will be a lot of practice. Yes?

When I walked in the door today I went and gave the tank a good HARD shove making a good wave across the tank. As the wave started to subside, I started to hear a fizzling noise. Almost like high pitched cracking. As I backed away I was looking for which panel was getting ready to blow...then I realized it was the mag pump I dropped in cavitating every few seconds . Did I have you going? I was in a genuine panic for about 15 seconds! The pump is just stirring up the water so I can remove as much dust and shavings as possible when I drain the water out tomorrow.