onebadbug
New member
Hi...
This project is for my son and I and has been a long time coming and I suppose its just time to blow the dust off it and actually do it. Besides, what better to heading into the long winter season tackle projects. Perfect timing.
What we are going to build is a stand alone 24"DX26"HX96"L custom 240G long tank build.
More or less just like any other build I suppose but, some of you might actually get taste of what actually happens when someone orders a custom tank from a reputable local glass shop or dedicated tank builder. From simple glass cutting, different edging technique, drilling etc... Please take in mind I am not the best narrator, let alone a teacher, by any means... so keep that in mind. But I imagine there's probably more than a handful here that have never seen things from an actual fabrication shops perspective and may even answer some of those silly questions in the back of your head saying... 'So that's how they do that'... and 'now I get it'...
While its been near a decade since I have kept a reef tank... or any tank since then for that matter. My son has recently taken an interest in Reefing. He has started with one of those nano-tanks and really seems to be enjoying it and the more I see him enjoying it well? yes it gives me the itch again. I am sure many of the technologies that I came up on in reefing from a decade ago and while most of their fundamental functions are still the same but with reading around here over the last few month many have gone up in leaps and bounds since I was into it so more than likely I'll be asking quite a few questions as well.
And as I said above this just happens to be the right time. Originally this build was started 2 years ago in '08 but I was blindsided with one of those dumb things called a stroke so that's why the project has been sitting collecting dust since. I guess I can see this as a form of therapy then as well. And that's about as far as I'll go with any drama in my build so lets just get on with it. And I'll just start where I started and left-off prior being 'sidetracked'. With a little luck? We'll start stocking by sometime in Jan/Feb 2011.
:thumbsup:
Have fun & we hope you enjoy our little build.
So where do you start? The same place everyone else does...
That vision you get in your head...
Get out some paper scribble down a few facts and figures and do some math and throw your wallet away...
About the only criteria I tried to adhere to was only using 1 stock sheet of 14mm 84" X 130" clear float glass. And get both the tank as well as a decent size fuge. Even for a glass shop this stop doesnt grow on tree's ya know?! A single sheet of 14mm as I used my cost is roughly $420/sheet, that's 75 Sq. Ft. which rounds up to about $6 per Sq cost. and all I have done so far is look at it..! let alone move its 680-ish# sheet-of-clear-death, haven't made cut 1, or wrestled with it 20 times on the cutting table, run every single edge through the edger & the second I hit the switches it makes the electric meter run like a Frisbee at light speed on 3 phase commercial voltage, then move it another 20 time to wash it & then wrap it up for a customer.
So where was I oh yeah... fish tank...
Refine your scribblings try and try and produce up a hard drawing and print a few out (it's always subject to change) Leave lots of space on it... your going to be making notes all over these as you go. At least I do anyway makes it easier to keep track of things like cut lists, what I got, what I'm missing, shopping parts & prices, drawing funny faces etc. Heck you can even throw it in a folder if you want along with the mass of receipts you are about to accumulate and you can see how much you invested in the end and then ask yourself... Was this really worth it? ..OF course it was...
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So now we gotta pretty good idea. I can see it on a pice of paper that I can hold and according to the math I get to cut up the clean cut (raw edges) pieces from the raw sheet as shown below... (Somewhere I do have the optimization sheet of this sheets numbered cut pattern if I find it I attach along here somewhere)
For the tank:
--- Long sides: 2 pcs. 24-1/4" X 96-1/4"
--- The bottom: 1 Pc. 26-1/4" X 96-1/4"
--- Short sides: 2 Pcs. 24/14" X 25-5/8"
For the Fuge:
--- Long Sides: 2 Pcs. 17-1/4" X 60-1/4"
--- The bottom: 1 Pc. 18-1/4" X 60-1/4"
--- Short Sides: 2 Pcs. 17-1/4" X 17-5/8"
I thought you said you tank was going to be 24"DX26"HX96"L? Why do all your cuts end with fractions? Glad you asked... whenever I have to run anything through the edger you must add what the material that is going to be removed for polishing it and winding up at the correct size you want. Otherwise by the time I make 2 runs say on just the 2 long edges, the edger grinds a full heavy 16th (1.3mm +/-) of material on each edges machine pass... So if I only cut a 24" strip by the time I'm done machining it I would wind up with a piece that is now only 23-3/4" in the end and that's not the correct size of what I wanted. This is pretty much standard for most shops as well. Also the thicker the glass is? as you cut it is more inherent to get cut flaring, small chips or oysters, heat pops (especially if you are cutting without oil) as well as bad runs sometimes that also need to be figured in that process.
I've always worked on the Italian made machines The Zanneti's, Bovone, Botero etc... All peripheral wheel machines mainly... Try to avoid shops that use machine with horizontal wheel machines like Somaca's VE (or even worse a CRL single spindle machine) style machines which do not do anywhere near as flat and flawless surface that a peripheral wheel will do. Their finished product edges are like night and day. For mirrors and shelving and doing pencil edging? fine... But for the best possible flat edge? forget it... Find shops using peripheral wheel machines and heck before you ever order ask your fabricator what they are using.
And a couple words here on buying any fabricated glass product and fabrication size tolerance guidelines of ANY fabricated glass is, in definition, 1/2 of 1/2 of the edges actual plates thickness... in other words... if you have a piece of 1/2" glass this ends up with an 1/8" +/- size tolerance in any single direction but should never be more than 1/4" total in any square condition... Make sense???
So, this isn't about machinery.. YAY! Lets go cut & juggle some death-plate!
Tis actually kind of boring... and we were arguing about playing world of warcraft when I grabbed the camera (yeah we play WoW & have fish tanks weird, huh?)
<center><embed width="600" height="361" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullscreen="true" allowNetworking="all" wmode="transparent" src="http://static.photobucket.com/player.swf" flashvars="file=http%3A%2F%2Fvid697.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fvv340%2F0nebadbug%2FFishtank%2FCutBigGlass.mp4"></center>
And a little more in depth...and still kinda boring... But at least I show you how to tap a run out small cuts on small pieces of heavy glass though...
<center><embed width="600" height="361" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullscreen="true" allowNetworking="all" wmode="transparent" src="http://static.photobucket.com/player.swf" flashvars="file=http%3A%2F%2Fvid697.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fvv340%2F0nebadbug%2FFishtank%2FCutSmallGlass.mp4"></center>
Well now that we've got it all sliced up I suppose you wann see that machine don't ya.. well our flat edge weapon of choice is the Zanetti FP6. I started working on this machine over 2 decades ago and in a weird twist of fate wound up in my lap from my old employer 15 years after he sold it off.
<center><embed width="600" height="361" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullscreen="true" allowNetworking="all" wmode="transparent" src="http://static.photobucket.com/player.swf" flashvars="file=http%3A%2F%2Fvid697.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fvv340%2F0nebadbug%2FFishtank%2F30E3.mp4"></center>
I know... you wanna see what the big one look like going the machine don't you... They're just like the little ones are. Except they take longer to run and are way heavier than the little ones.
<center><embed width="600" height="361" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullscreen="true" allowNetworking="all" wmode="transparent" src="http://static.photobucket.com/player.swf" flashvars="file=http%3A%2F%2Fvid697.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fvv340%2F0nebadbug%2FFishtank%2FEdgeBigGlass.mp4"></center>
Well that's about all I got for right now. And I don't think you want to watch me hang a suspended ceiling in the basement right now. So as soon as I ready to get move along I will update. Maybe I will pull down a material list for the stand this weekend though more than likely and start getting that ready for when I'm ready to actually dive back in.
This project is for my son and I and has been a long time coming and I suppose its just time to blow the dust off it and actually do it. Besides, what better to heading into the long winter season tackle projects. Perfect timing.
What we are going to build is a stand alone 24"DX26"HX96"L custom 240G long tank build.
More or less just like any other build I suppose but, some of you might actually get taste of what actually happens when someone orders a custom tank from a reputable local glass shop or dedicated tank builder. From simple glass cutting, different edging technique, drilling etc... Please take in mind I am not the best narrator, let alone a teacher, by any means... so keep that in mind. But I imagine there's probably more than a handful here that have never seen things from an actual fabrication shops perspective and may even answer some of those silly questions in the back of your head saying... 'So that's how they do that'... and 'now I get it'...
While its been near a decade since I have kept a reef tank... or any tank since then for that matter. My son has recently taken an interest in Reefing. He has started with one of those nano-tanks and really seems to be enjoying it and the more I see him enjoying it well? yes it gives me the itch again. I am sure many of the technologies that I came up on in reefing from a decade ago and while most of their fundamental functions are still the same but with reading around here over the last few month many have gone up in leaps and bounds since I was into it so more than likely I'll be asking quite a few questions as well.
And as I said above this just happens to be the right time. Originally this build was started 2 years ago in '08 but I was blindsided with one of those dumb things called a stroke so that's why the project has been sitting collecting dust since. I guess I can see this as a form of therapy then as well. And that's about as far as I'll go with any drama in my build so lets just get on with it. And I'll just start where I started and left-off prior being 'sidetracked'. With a little luck? We'll start stocking by sometime in Jan/Feb 2011.
:thumbsup:
Have fun & we hope you enjoy our little build.
So where do you start? The same place everyone else does...
That vision you get in your head...
Get out some paper scribble down a few facts and figures and do some math and throw your wallet away...
About the only criteria I tried to adhere to was only using 1 stock sheet of 14mm 84" X 130" clear float glass. And get both the tank as well as a decent size fuge. Even for a glass shop this stop doesnt grow on tree's ya know?! A single sheet of 14mm as I used my cost is roughly $420/sheet, that's 75 Sq. Ft. which rounds up to about $6 per Sq cost. and all I have done so far is look at it..! let alone move its 680-ish# sheet-of-clear-death, haven't made cut 1, or wrestled with it 20 times on the cutting table, run every single edge through the edger & the second I hit the switches it makes the electric meter run like a Frisbee at light speed on 3 phase commercial voltage, then move it another 20 time to wash it & then wrap it up for a customer.
So where was I oh yeah... fish tank...
Refine your scribblings try and try and produce up a hard drawing and print a few out (it's always subject to change) Leave lots of space on it... your going to be making notes all over these as you go. At least I do anyway makes it easier to keep track of things like cut lists, what I got, what I'm missing, shopping parts & prices, drawing funny faces etc. Heck you can even throw it in a folder if you want along with the mass of receipts you are about to accumulate and you can see how much you invested in the end and then ask yourself... Was this really worth it? ..OF course it was...
<center>
So now we gotta pretty good idea. I can see it on a pice of paper that I can hold and according to the math I get to cut up the clean cut (raw edges) pieces from the raw sheet as shown below... (Somewhere I do have the optimization sheet of this sheets numbered cut pattern if I find it I attach along here somewhere)
For the tank:
--- Long sides: 2 pcs. 24-1/4" X 96-1/4"
--- The bottom: 1 Pc. 26-1/4" X 96-1/4"
--- Short sides: 2 Pcs. 24/14" X 25-5/8"
For the Fuge:
--- Long Sides: 2 Pcs. 17-1/4" X 60-1/4"
--- The bottom: 1 Pc. 18-1/4" X 60-1/4"
--- Short Sides: 2 Pcs. 17-1/4" X 17-5/8"
I thought you said you tank was going to be 24"DX26"HX96"L? Why do all your cuts end with fractions? Glad you asked... whenever I have to run anything through the edger you must add what the material that is going to be removed for polishing it and winding up at the correct size you want. Otherwise by the time I make 2 runs say on just the 2 long edges, the edger grinds a full heavy 16th (1.3mm +/-) of material on each edges machine pass... So if I only cut a 24" strip by the time I'm done machining it I would wind up with a piece that is now only 23-3/4" in the end and that's not the correct size of what I wanted. This is pretty much standard for most shops as well. Also the thicker the glass is? as you cut it is more inherent to get cut flaring, small chips or oysters, heat pops (especially if you are cutting without oil) as well as bad runs sometimes that also need to be figured in that process.
I've always worked on the Italian made machines The Zanneti's, Bovone, Botero etc... All peripheral wheel machines mainly... Try to avoid shops that use machine with horizontal wheel machines like Somaca's VE (or even worse a CRL single spindle machine) style machines which do not do anywhere near as flat and flawless surface that a peripheral wheel will do. Their finished product edges are like night and day. For mirrors and shelving and doing pencil edging? fine... But for the best possible flat edge? forget it... Find shops using peripheral wheel machines and heck before you ever order ask your fabricator what they are using.
And a couple words here on buying any fabricated glass product and fabrication size tolerance guidelines of ANY fabricated glass is, in definition, 1/2 of 1/2 of the edges actual plates thickness... in other words... if you have a piece of 1/2" glass this ends up with an 1/8" +/- size tolerance in any single direction but should never be more than 1/4" total in any square condition... Make sense???
So, this isn't about machinery.. YAY! Lets go cut & juggle some death-plate!
Tis actually kind of boring... and we were arguing about playing world of warcraft when I grabbed the camera (yeah we play WoW & have fish tanks weird, huh?)
<center><embed width="600" height="361" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullscreen="true" allowNetworking="all" wmode="transparent" src="http://static.photobucket.com/player.swf" flashvars="file=http%3A%2F%2Fvid697.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fvv340%2F0nebadbug%2FFishtank%2FCutBigGlass.mp4"></center>
And a little more in depth...and still kinda boring... But at least I show you how to tap a run out small cuts on small pieces of heavy glass though...
<center><embed width="600" height="361" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullscreen="true" allowNetworking="all" wmode="transparent" src="http://static.photobucket.com/player.swf" flashvars="file=http%3A%2F%2Fvid697.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fvv340%2F0nebadbug%2FFishtank%2FCutSmallGlass.mp4"></center>
Well now that we've got it all sliced up I suppose you wann see that machine don't ya.. well our flat edge weapon of choice is the Zanetti FP6. I started working on this machine over 2 decades ago and in a weird twist of fate wound up in my lap from my old employer 15 years after he sold it off.
<center><embed width="600" height="361" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullscreen="true" allowNetworking="all" wmode="transparent" src="http://static.photobucket.com/player.swf" flashvars="file=http%3A%2F%2Fvid697.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fvv340%2F0nebadbug%2FFishtank%2F30E3.mp4"></center>
I know... you wanna see what the big one look like going the machine don't you... They're just like the little ones are. Except they take longer to run and are way heavier than the little ones.
<center><embed width="600" height="361" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullscreen="true" allowNetworking="all" wmode="transparent" src="http://static.photobucket.com/player.swf" flashvars="file=http%3A%2F%2Fvid697.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fvv340%2F0nebadbug%2FFishtank%2FEdgeBigGlass.mp4"></center>
Well that's about all I got for right now. And I don't think you want to watch me hang a suspended ceiling in the basement right now. So as soon as I ready to get move along I will update. Maybe I will pull down a material list for the stand this weekend though more than likely and start getting that ready for when I'm ready to actually dive back in.
