Acrylic fabrication questions? I can help!

[Acrylics]

Maybe, or tape a 12" tall piece of material to your fence so the whole tube is against this "new" fence.
Make sense?
James

[slavearm]

These guys are freaking brilliant. It will cost me about $80 to build a similar jig for my tablesaw, but may very well be worth it at this point.


http://www.jcrocket.com/tubesaw.shtml#rollers

I may just try the trick they used by inserting the wood block into the tube and then screwing a pan head screw into the block. I will post pics if I build the jig. I plan on making all kinds of acrylic crap so, it wont hurt to have good jigs.

Only problem I have with the "new fence" is that the ends are not really even close to square at this point.

[Acrylics]

Doesn't matter as long as the fence is perpendicular to the tablesaw. I'm assuming you are rotating the tube on a miter gauge. If this is the case, the part of the tube that is most out of square will be the only part of the tube hitting the fence. Since this will be a constant, the tube will rotate true. On a short fence, the tube doesn't ride true against the fence. Now it would.

HTH,
James

[slavearm]

Wow... I never looked at it like that... I am now truely inspired. Construction shall begin. Thanks James you da man!

[bchbum189]

So James,
how do they make the larger cylinder tanks that are like 36" plus in diameter? Is there acrylic cylinders made like smaller tubes or is it bent and sealed at the joint?

[Acrylics]

Originally posted by bchbum189
So James,
how do they make the larger cylinder tanks that are like 36" plus in diameter? Is there acrylic cylinders made like smaller tubes

Yep, well mostly, see below

or is it bent and sealed at the joint?

There are some fabricators that do this but you can always tell. The only mfr of tubes this size does it like the smaller tubes.

James

[bchbum189]

so which way would be better, bending it and gluing, or a pre fabbed cylinder. Of course this is assuming that the bending gluing part is quality work

[Acrylics]

IMO, a pre-fabbed cylinder is best. For the same reasons as a pre-fabbed sheet is better than pieces glued together. The only reason folks buy or build a bent & glued cylinder is that they're cheaper than a pre-fabbed, not because they're better in any way.

James

[RokleM]

One of my recent projects I thought I'd post. A second chamber for my GEO skimmer to drop the PH a bit before it hits the tank.

[slavearm]

Quick question. I was reading my WO#40 directions today, and it mentioned I should anneal the acrylic before using the 40 to glue cut pieces together to avoid crazing. I am a little concerned, because I am using the 40 to adhere the pvc unions/pipe combo to the body of a 12"OD 1/4" tube through holes cut with a forstener bit. Unfortunately the tube is extruded from futureplast in Canada. So am I rightfully concerned about crazing using the 40 to bond these pieces? Would 4052 be a better option?

Gracias.

[Acrylics]

Eric,
good job and no - I haven't forgotten

Slavearm,
Shouldn't make any difference if it was 40 or 4052. Virtually *every* bonding method mentions annealing prior to bonding.
12" x 1/4" wall extruded tube???? sure about that? possible I suppose but unlikely IME. If you have a scrap piece of tube, try the 40 on it to see how it does. I'll be doing some 42 tomorrow so maybe I'll try it on a smallish chunk of tube to see what happens.

de nada
James

[slavearm]

Wow... that second Chamber looks awesome Eric! I can see the pic now it didn't show up earlier.

James,
Futureplast makes the tubing up to 24" in extruded from what the vendor told me. He also said that Futureplast was about the only company making extruded in that size or anything even close. I really wish it was cast, and hope that it is. Let me know if you get the chance to try it. The only pieces I have of the larger tube are all at least 15" long, so not much room to play with there. I am hoping that using the forstener bit and going real easy and slow, I wont have stressed the acrylic too much.

[Dwarf Seahorses]

Dumb question but here it goes:

Does a router only make holes and such for overflows or does it actually cut the 4x8 sheets of acrylic into the pane size you want?

[LuisC]

Originally posted by Acrylics
Welcome to Part III

Hiya Marc,
Coupla things:
If you had to lift the vertical piece to get the wires/pins in there, then you should release the clamps and let the vertical piece settle. Do not push down or "mash" the vertical piece to get ooze, you end up pushing the solvent out many times.
If you did not lift the vertical piece, just pushed down on the horizontal piece to get the wires/pins in, just let it be.
As you had guessed, let the weight of the panel do any pushing. You may have to shim, however, between the horizontal piece and the foam at times to make up for excess warpage in the horizontal piece.
I can't tell what kind of acrylic you have there (brand name) so can't tell if you joints are due *just* to the above or of the acrylic might have issues as well. Some brands of acrylic simply glue badly. This is why I only recommend Polycast, Acrylite GP, and Plexi-Glas G/GM

HTH?


Is acrylic FF lyte any good?


James

[RokleM]

Originally posted by Acrylics
Eric,
good job and no - I haven't forgotten

no problem

Originally posted by Dwarf Seahorses
Dumb question but here it goes:

Does a router only make holes and such for overflows or does it actually cut the 4x8 sheets of acrylic into the pane size you want?

I believe most people will get rough cut from an acrylic shop and/or rough cut it with a tablesaw. You then can use the router to rip a very small amount off of the acrylic edge to make it super smooth and straight.

[Dwarf Seahorses]

Oh I see now, thank you. But a router does make holes for overflows and such, right?

[RokleM]

There are a number of devices you can use for various acrylic work, but yes a router would be a good bet when making overflow teeth. I also use a ton of forstner bits (need to get a much larger set with different sizes).

[bchbum189]

if its a hole inside of a piece and not on the perimeter, then a starter hole must first be drilled with a drill bit to fit the router bit inside.

[RokleM]

On the lid of the calcium chamber I built (picture up a few posts), I drilled a hole slightly bigger than the compression fitting. At that point, I tightened the nut on both sides and actually used Weld-On 40 and put a thick layer on the threads and nut on the "inside" of the reactor.

I have a situation that I'd like to try to install the male side of a PVC union/tube in the lid. This will be a slightly higher pressure system. Will Weld-On 40 properly bind to the PVC and acrylic, or should I use another adhesive like an epoxy?

[Acrylics]

40 should be fine.

James

[RokleM]

Excellent, thanks James.

[newreef8584]

James,

Do you find you have issues with the pieces of acrylic twisting after you bend them? I just cut and bent an overflow for my new project tank and find that it no longer sits flush to the bottom of the tank now. I didn't use any fancy jig or anything just a pair of of 2x4's sandwhiching it then heat and bend.

Any tips before I bend up another one and make the same mistake??

[Acrylics]

I bend acrylic as little as possible
It could be that you are not bending square with the bottom edge.
Is it just the flare or "bell" at the corner? if so, this is typical, edge should be cleaned up prior to gluing.

HTH?
James

[kasslloyd]

I'm trying to find a calculator to find out acrylic thicknesses for an aquarium I'm considering building here in a few months (hopefully).

I want to build a hillstream loach river aquarium (long, low height, fast moving water). I was wanting to make it as long as a sheet of acrylic (so 8' I think?) and about 18" height and 2' width giving around 170gal tank.

What thickness of acrylic would I need?

[newreef8584]

Try this site.

http://garf.org/tank/buildtank.asp