Building an Acrylic Tank
- Thread starter el bob
- Start date
chipmaker
Active Member
Well if its yur first endeavor with acrylics I would suggest making some other projects first and then you be the judge on weather or not you can do it. Edges have to be cut smooth and square and fit poperly. Acrylics is not hard to work with, nor is it any harder to work with than wood IMHO. While it may not be the proper acrylic needed for aquarium proojects, it works the same as plexi, and that is lexan (Polycarbonate). You can get it at most nay big box store and its cheap., Buy some of it and practice and experiment. Order some Weldon #4 or 16 and have a go at making a box and other items.........do not use silicone as its not any good for much of anything with acrylics......Unless you can justify it, its hard to spend money for a router with proper bits, and a table or other saw, just to make a acrylic tank.....now if those items are gonna be used for other things then thats different. Contrary to what others may say, none of us here knows your skills and ability and tool inventory, so only you can answer that. But give it a try with cheap lexan and see if its what you really want to try.
bojik
Member
Originally Posted by chipmaker
Well if its yur first endeavor with acrylics I would suggest making some other projects first and then you be the judge on weather or not you can do it. Edges have to be cut smooth and square and fit poperly. Acrylics is not hard to work with, nor is it any harder to work with than wood IMHO. While it may not be the proper acrylic needed for aquarium proojects, it works the same as plexi, and that is lexan (Polycarbonate). You can get it at most nay big box store and its cheap., Buy some of it and practice and experiment. Order some Weldon #4 or 16 and have a go at making a box and other items.........do not use silicone as its not any good for much of anything with acrylics......Unless you can justify it, its hard to spend money for a router with proper bits, and a table or other saw, just to make a acrylic tank.....now if those items are gonna be used for other things then thats different. Contrary to what others may say, none of us here knows your skills and ability and tool inventory, so only you can answer that. But give it a try with cheap lexan and see if its what you really want to try.
Unless you have them for wood working already Or have people you can borrow them from
But I would agree tinker with little stuff first to get used to it. It takes some practice to get used to the rate the glue flows out of the tubes and the handling needed for the projects.
Well if its yur first endeavor with acrylics I would suggest making some other projects first and then you be the judge on weather or not you can do it. Edges have to be cut smooth and square and fit poperly. Acrylics is not hard to work with, nor is it any harder to work with than wood IMHO. While it may not be the proper acrylic needed for aquarium proojects, it works the same as plexi, and that is lexan (Polycarbonate). You can get it at most nay big box store and its cheap., Buy some of it and practice and experiment. Order some Weldon #4 or 16 and have a go at making a box and other items.........do not use silicone as its not any good for much of anything with acrylics......Unless you can justify it, its hard to spend money for a router with proper bits, and a table or other saw, just to make a acrylic tank.....now if those items are gonna be used for other things then thats different. Contrary to what others may say, none of us here knows your skills and ability and tool inventory, so only you can answer that. But give it a try with cheap lexan and see if its what you really want to try.
Unless you have them for wood working already Or have people you can borrow them from
But I would agree tinker with little stuff first to get used to it. It takes some practice to get used to the rate the glue flows out of the tubes and the handling needed for the projects.
psusocr1
Active Member
once you build about 100 things from acrylic its very easy to do. Its not hard but it does take alot of practice to gets your joints looking "proffesionall" and you have to know how fast each different # weld-on sets so you know how much time you have to work with it...this all of course comes with experience.. if you wanted to try somethign out i can walk you through it step-by-step
chipmaker
Active Member
Originally Posted by Phixer
Be sure your edges are perfectly smooth and flat. I have found the best way to prep edges consistently is with a CNC router.
I use a milling machine. However a CNC or milling machine would virtually leave most folks out of luck. It can be done perfectly fine with a hand held router with proper guide and cutting bits or a shaper.
Be sure your edges are perfectly smooth and flat. I have found the best way to prep edges consistently is with a CNC router.
I use a milling machine. However a CNC or milling machine would virtually leave most folks out of luck. It can be done perfectly fine with a hand held router with proper guide and cutting bits or a shaper.
phixer
Active Member
Hite, The thinner stuff works fine by hand. Wanted to ask you if youve done it by hand on material over 1" thick because I havent been able to get a consistent cut on any panels over 8FT long that are 1" or thicker by hand. I run the router along a steel straight edge but still cant get the finish to equal what the CNC router and vacum hold down will do as far as consistency and control of the chip rate
(no pun intended). Some of the spiral bits by onsrud throw the chips out far enough to prevent them from re-welding back to the base material. I had this problem all to often when hand routing anything over 1" thick.