Acrylic for top braces?

[jjohnwm]

My current plywood building project is swimming along; now, a question. All my previous builds used 1 or 2 cross braces running from front to back and made of the same material as the rest of the tank, i.e. plywood, sealed exactly like the rest of the tank. Now, as silly as this sounds...the shadows cast by these braces always bug me. They are even more irritating with an increasing distance between the light source and the water surface, as well as a single-point light source rather than an extended one, and that will be an issue with this build.

If I were to frame the top all the way around with plywood, as I normally do, but then make the actual braces out of acrylic (3/4-inch thick, for example, and perhaps 6 - 8 inches wide), does this seem workable? I am toying with attaching the braces to the front and rear framing pieces using a few 1/4" stainless steel bolts/washers/nuts. I think this would solve my ridiculous problem (non-problem?) easily and effectively. Thoughts?

 

[M1A1]

Yes, acrylic braces on a plywood tank make a ton of sense. You don't get the irritating shadows and you also have the convenience of removing them for setup, maintenance, etc. Thickness and width are basically just whatever you have access to easily or cheaply so 3/4" by 6" sounds totally reasonable. And I agree with stainless hardware, nylon would work too.

The only negative I can think of is the attachment method and waterproofing: do you make through-holes that you epoxy/paint, do you embed bolts or nuts, how does water drain out when it gets onto or into the hardware. I would lean towards larger through-holes to fit a bolt with a bushing - so the threads don't scratch the waterproofing - and then add inspection to your maintenance schedule. Just undo one at a time and see if there's any water, corrosion, etc.

 

[jjohnwm]

Now that ^ is genius! I was thinking about shadows; never even occurred to me to make them removeable to allow easier set-up and access. I love it!

I think what I would probably do is attach a short piece at the front, and another at the back. They would project only a few inches over the wooden frame. They could be permanently attached to the wood, and the fasteners completely covered and sealed along with the tank interior. Then, 2 or 3 holes drilled in each short "flange", matching holes in both ends of the actual brace...and there you go! Transparency, no loss in strength, and still easy to remove without worry about leakage or damage to the hardware.

Thanks, M M1A1 ! Answers like that one are the thing I love about this forum.

Even better when they come from a fellow shooter!