I am interested in knowing what you found out about this product and silicone. I went to the company web site and found that they sell a special purpose sealant formulated for adhesion to recycled plastics. I could not find any more specific information. This could be a hybrid type silicone, but that is just a guess. Definitely test! Also be aware that some sealant / substrate combinations behave differently when submerged - so a dry test does not always tell the whole story. You may want to consider investigating hybrid or polyether sealants for this application.
ANOTHER!!!!!!!!!!!! plywood tank idea.
- Thread starter jpedric
- Start date
I am interested in knowing what you found out about this product and silicone. I went to the company web site and found that they sell a special purpose sealant formulated for adhesion to recycled plastics. I could not find any more specific information. This could be a hybrid type silicone, but that is just a guess. Definitely test! Also be aware that some sealant / substrate combinations behave differently when submerged - so a dry test does not always tell the whole story. You may want to consider investigating hybrid or polyether sealants for this application.
I had a 10G in University that the bottom was broken/missing. I elmer's glued a panel of waste linoleum flooring to a piece of waste 3/4 ply cut to size, and siliconed that into place. It worked for as long as it needed to- a couple of months/year. Probably would have worked longer but we upgraded and it became a coffee table.
If you go to http://www.aquaticeco.com/ they have fair prices on epoxy, i built a plywood tank about 3 years ago and the epoxy worked very well.
You might find this link helpful - at article about building a boat out of ABS sheet using acetone to solvent weld the seams:
http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/07/designs/plastic/index.htm
http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/07/designs/plastic/index.htm
ive been busy with work, christmas, etc but have still been working on the tank. i still need to post the pics ive taken so far. i lined the tank already with the poly-wall and tested a few different caulks on scrap. the winner so far is 100% silicone.....plus it keeps the entire build fda food safe so it shouldnt kill my fish. i had origionally chosen the poly-wall because of its fda approval plus the low cost. even though the silicone seems to hold well im gunna change my game plan. i have been researching and practicing thermo weld plastic. i have welded a few scrap pieces together using thin strips i trimmed from other scrap pieces. it is water tight and permenant. im still going to put a bead of silicone over the weld just to be safe and i will also use it for the front glass.
What plastic welder are you using? My brother in law had a really high end one. When he sold it used he got $3000 so I hate to think what it would be worth new in today's market. He says the cheap ones are a waste but I guess I'd say the same thing if I had a several thousand dollar plastic welder. At any rate, I've always wanted to try it but have never got around to buying a (cheaper) machine.
When I first starting experimenting I was using a cheap soldering iron which actually worked great buy was very slow. The material I'm using is mainly recycled polypropylene and polyethelyne and melts right around 500.I have a fancy invaded thermometer that showed my irons tip was 550. I got really good penetration into the base material with it so I may end up just using that...but I bought a very cheap 55soldering dollar hot air welder that is working pretty well. I probably need a little more practice with it though before I decide which I'm gunna use on the actual project.
Sorry......alot going on since the new year.......divorce being the most time consuming. But any way. I got the tank done. I ditched the plastic welding (which was much harder than I had anticipated and ended up getting ABS sheets. I made my own glue using acetone and cut up ABS pipe. I melted the pipe in the acetone then put it in a polyethylene condiment squeeze bottle. I then used that to bond all the seems and then 2 days later laid a thick bead of 100%silicone silicone for good measure. My glass is 1/2 thick and it held water fine for 2the weeks so I went ahead and walled it in.......I will post more pics but just wanted to put this out asap because
