Home Depot Acrylic ?
- Thread starter Hurt
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TheFlyingTang
New member
Look in your yellow pages for a plastics wholesaler. Much beter quality than the acrylic that is in stock at Home Depot for window repair.
I planned on using 1/4 inch. I plan on making it 8*12*12 divided by 231 gives me just under 5 gallons. I'm not an expert by any means working with acrylic, but I have put together two acrylic overflows and both still work
So I guess I'm that bad with it.
I believe the acrylic from HD is extruded, and I know acrylic aquariums are cell cast. But, I'm not at all concerned with what it looks like for my application...just want to be certain it will not fail.
So I guess I'm that bad with it. I believe the acrylic from HD is extruded, and I know acrylic aquariums are cell cast. But, I'm not at all concerned with what it looks like for my application...just want to be certain it will not fail.
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There are two types of acrylic on the market, FF and GP. GP is cast and is much easier to work with however I would recommend using a slower adhesive such as Weld-on #4. FF will work ok for building a tank however it will surely be harder to work with because it tends to gum up tools (i.e. routers) much faster. I would surely not buy acrylic from Home Depot. As it was said earlier, it is crap. I recommend Acrylite GP. Great clarity, cuts nicely, and the joints usually turn out much stronger. Do you really want to risk 5 gallons of kalk on the floor because you did not want to spend an extra couple of bucks? Unless you are using tube or solid rod, GP is the best.
Yes that may be true, however, there is still destinct differences between the two. CYRO makes Acrylite, if we must get into this. Acrylite is a trademark of the CYRO corp. EITHER way, FF and GP are different in both the way they are made and the way they respond to machining, cementing, or heat forming. JUST TO BE SPECIFIC. I only trust CYRO myself. IMO!
Avast Marine
.Registered Member
Not having to peel that crappy plastic coating off HomeDepot acrylic is worth every extra penny I spend on acrylite! It machines nicer, glues nicer, looks nicer, is stronger, doesn't absorb water, and all that jazz, but more important than any thing else is the brown paper peels right off. SO WORTH IT!
crypticghost
In Memoriam
The machine they use does make cuts and it will never seal properly. its really cheap stuff, you should really buy from a very good plastic company...also they do not sell arylic it is plexyglass.
CoolUsername
New member
And plexiglass isn't acrylic?
According to wikipedia:
Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) or poly(methyl 2-methylpropenoate) is the synthetic polymer of methyl methacrylate. This thermoplastic and transparent plastic is sold by the tradenames Plexiglas, Perspex, Acrylite, Acrylplast, Altuglas, and Lucite and is commonly called acrylic glass or simply acrylic.
CoolUsername
New member
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7855489#post7855489 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Driftwood
My Home Depot had 3-4 different types of acrylic... I went with 1/4 inch lexan for my baffles. I really didn't find it difficult to peal off the blue plastic on there either.
Lexan is actually polycarbonate. It is quite a bit stronger then acrylic, but not as scratch resistant. This is what they make bullet proof glass out of, clear plastic "unbreakable" cups. You can use the same solvents as acrylic for working with lexan. For a sump it would be fine to use this, but the lower scratch resistance is why no one really uses this on a display tank. But yeah weld-on 3 and 4 work with polycarbonate.
MrSpiffy
Premium Member
When it comes to making anything for the aquarium, do NOT use polycarbonate (i.e. Lexan). It may look and react similarly to acrylic, but it is NOT acrylic. Polycarb will eventually break down, yellow and become brittle when exposed to UV rays (unless you get UV coated polycarb), whereas acrylic won't. It was mentioned that PC might be useful for sumps or other things that don't need to be asthetically pleasing. But if you ask me, I wouldn't use it at all. Most of your stuff will be exposed to light somewhere, and nearly all light sources will give off SOME UV rays. Unless you put this thing in the dark, I wouldn't trust PC with anything. If you're gonna do it, do it right the first time. Acrylic all the way! Just my opinion...
And if you need acrylic, I've found that the local plastics shop tends to sell scrap pieces at VERY reasonable prices. I got a piece the same size as HD was selling at 1/3 the price and it was thicker, too. They're not small pieces, either. I'd check plastics shops first. They'll also have the Weld-On solvent adhesive you'd want, as well. Most other places won't sell that, as it's industrial adhesive.
And if you need acrylic, I've found that the local plastics shop tends to sell scrap pieces at VERY reasonable prices. I got a piece the same size as HD was selling at 1/3 the price and it was thicker, too. They're not small pieces, either. I'd check plastics shops first. They'll also have the Weld-On solvent adhesive you'd want, as well. Most other places won't sell that, as it's industrial adhesive.
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