where can I buy and have cut acrylic?

[peircer]

I want to make myself an eight foot acrylic tank, but I don't have the tools to cut it myself. Does anyone know of a place that sells and/or cuts cell cast acrylic within, say, an hour or so of Cedar Rapids?

 

[Double-J]

what are the dimensions you are thinking? just curious, sounds like a big tank in the making! If you haven't already purchased your acrylic I think most places that you buy it from would cut it to size for a small fee. might as well go 8x4x?tall though to get the most out of the material.

 

[peircer]

I wasn't looking to go nearly that tall, I was hoping to make it out of two sheets of 8' x 4'. Maybe 150 gallons or so. I just want a long tank.

Haven't bought it yet, I'm trying to find a place that carries it locally. I'm not really in a hurry, I want it made by the time I move next year.

 

[glaspie69]

regal plastics is evansdale has cast and they'll cut it for you but they won't assemble it

 

[peircer]

Great. After you said that, I remembered there was some old fasioned technology I could take advantage of that I'd forget about, ie, the phone book. They were the only one's in it, and that was the Cedar Rapids phone book. Any guess what they cost? I figure I'll just call them some time this week and find out.

Thanks

 

[glaspie69]

the last time i looked into buying any it was like 5 or 6 bucks a square foot for 3/8 and 7 or 8 a square foot for 1/2......but that was awhile ago

 

[vvolfe1]

If you went 2 sheets you could go 8'X2'x2' and have a 2'x4' piece left. Might as well get alittle more and make an awesome sump too. good luck and please post pics

 

[peircer]

That's assuming no center bracing though, right? (8 x 2 x 2)

Speaking of center bracing, I'm having a hard time finding any sort of detail on how to design those. Can they be made of multiple pieces that are fused together or does it have to be one large piece that has holes cut out the middle of it?

 

[Double-J]

your still going to need perimeter bracing which would be around 4" Here is a sump that I designed for Brad that is 8x2x2. The builder gave me the specs on the bracing so it wouldn't bow. In the picture the bracing isn't in even thirds but you can do it that way. Here is a pic of the sump
8x2x2:

<img src="http://www.shallowreef.com/display_image.php?id=334">

 

[peircer]

Right, I knew I needed bracing. 4" that's good to know. My question is: can the bracing be glued together from multiple pieces, or does it need to be one piece (like your drawing shows)?

I think this would be really fun to do. But I was just talking to someone that's done a lot of acrylic work and he was telling me there's a lot of risk doing this yourself, if you don't glue the pieces together just right you just blew a huge sheet of acrylic...

 

[Double-J]

Thats true, I was at Spazz's a few weeks ago and saw first hand him glueing seems, it definitely would take some practice if you never done it before. About the top, I would just use one piece it would make for a cleaner look and be stronger I'm sure.

 

[peircer]

Hmm. This is starting to sound like either a used tank, or a glasscages 8 footer in acrylic would be cheaper. They have a 8 foot 180 for $700 and a 240 for $800.

Decisions decisions...

Thanks for all the help, I'll let you know what I do.

 

[Double-J]

If you decide to get a big tank I have a 6x2x18" tall sump that I'm going to be selling soon so it might be able to fit under the stand.

Good luck either way, I would think it would be less of a headache to just pay for it unless you knew your stuff about acrylic work, could make for an expensive lesson after it was all done.

Why not go glass since you are going thru glass cages? the weight would be managable I would think. I've moved 210 gallons and they aren't that bad really.

 

[peircer]

Mostly weight. That and I've heard bad things about their silicon not curing before they ship the tanks. I've got a 130 that I just hate to move because it's the old kind that has 1/2 inch glass and no braces. I'm not a weakling and I hate moving it, I don't want another tank that weighs just as much... I'm willing to spend another $200 for acrylic.

My other alternative is someone I know is checking into a used 240 gallon acrylic tank. Hopefully that pans out and isn't too expensive.

I'm not in a huge hurry to find anything either, I'm moving in a year and the tank is for then, I don't need it right away.