How forgivable is unforgivable acrylic?
- Thread starter Blobfish
- Start date
Hmmmm.... this is a tough one... one of those "measure twice, cut once" scenarios...weve all been there.. From what i can see everything is just not square? Cleaning up the "extra" material on the outsides is no biggie...and can be achieved with ur hand router and a good "trim bit"... it will make quick work of the imperfections leaving them flush and fairly smooth. Most tanks built actually leave excess material like that on purpose to account for the imperfections...and its almost impossible to get everything to line up perfectly. The bottom sheet/piece is always left larger to compensate and because its very easy to use a router/trim bit to make it perfect after glueing... The tank should still hold just fine being a bit "off" and gaps can be pulled in to seal with multiple clamps.... but this is the time where u deciede to start over or keep moving forward.
This may sound like a nightmare...but u can cut that piece right back off and reglue it. Not an easy task but very plausible. The tank may end up 1/8"-1/4" shorter somewhere from ur original dimensions due to the thickness of a saw blade and clean up to make it "fresh" again for glue but it may not be a bad idea. I assure you once that step is complete. You will have a far better understanding of the process and working with acrylic. Ive learned all this myself the hard way. and i commend you for ur efforts so far. Its not easy with no help working alone on larger scale projects and often have to do trial and error until you get a good understanding of and perfect it. Hard when matetial costs so much i know all to well.
Back to cutting that piece off.... If your fairly comfortable with wood working... all the tools and methods pretty much apply to acrylic aswell. Its a pretty soft material even tho it seems unforgiving. Once removed u can trim the other side to match on a table saw.
Theres 3 ways to remove that joint...
1. a small tooth hacksaw blade by hand.
2. a table saw with help from others
3. a skill saw (hand circular saw)
Either way will get it off cutting right on the inside of the seam. then ull need to maybe recut again on a table saw to flush it up back to square and or sand it down back to square. then reglue as u did before checking all the points of square multiple times as things move when u clamp them.
Im thinking you may have sanded too much before glueing and rounded an edge or threw the thickness of material off kilter and it was turned into a larger problem when u clamped it up. a minute/slight off...will register alot larger when u get to the other side if u know what im saying... as u saw. it happens. dont beat urself up over it. u can build a dozen tanks and still find better ways to do it after ur done lol...thats how all this goes. only way to learn in my opinion. In my opinion its not necessary to sand the edge of material before glueing. the solvent will melt down any imperfections down to clear. you may have just tried too hard to prep them with the hand sanding block actually doing more harm than good throwing off the square of material and it didnt show until clamped/glued.
Maybe post some more pictures its hard to tell how bad its off. An overhead shot maybe im havin a hard time telling whats actually throwing off ur alignments. Im starting to think maybe whoever cut the pieces saw was off a bit which is not uncommon also. if thats the case u should be able to clamp a board/metal edge on that side piece and use ur router/trim bit to shave it back to square.
This may sound like a nightmare...but u can cut that piece right back off and reglue it. Not an easy task but very plausible. The tank may end up 1/8"-1/4" shorter somewhere from ur original dimensions due to the thickness of a saw blade and clean up to make it "fresh" again for glue but it may not be a bad idea. I assure you once that step is complete. You will have a far better understanding of the process and working with acrylic. Ive learned all this myself the hard way. and i commend you for ur efforts so far. Its not easy with no help working alone on larger scale projects and often have to do trial and error until you get a good understanding of and perfect it. Hard when matetial costs so much i know all to well.
Back to cutting that piece off.... If your fairly comfortable with wood working... all the tools and methods pretty much apply to acrylic aswell. Its a pretty soft material even tho it seems unforgiving. Once removed u can trim the other side to match on a table saw.
Theres 3 ways to remove that joint...
1. a small tooth hacksaw blade by hand.
2. a table saw with help from others
3. a skill saw (hand circular saw)
Either way will get it off cutting right on the inside of the seam. then ull need to maybe recut again on a table saw to flush it up back to square and or sand it down back to square. then reglue as u did before checking all the points of square multiple times as things move when u clamp them.
Im thinking you may have sanded too much before glueing and rounded an edge or threw the thickness of material off kilter and it was turned into a larger problem when u clamped it up. a minute/slight off...will register alot larger when u get to the other side if u know what im saying... as u saw. it happens. dont beat urself up over it. u can build a dozen tanks and still find better ways to do it after ur done lol...thats how all this goes. only way to learn in my opinion. In my opinion its not necessary to sand the edge of material before glueing. the solvent will melt down any imperfections down to clear. you may have just tried too hard to prep them with the hand sanding block actually doing more harm than good throwing off the square of material and it didnt show until clamped/glued.
Maybe post some more pictures its hard to tell how bad its off. An overhead shot maybe im havin a hard time telling whats actually throwing off ur alignments. Im starting to think maybe whoever cut the pieces saw was off a bit which is not uncommon also. if thats the case u should be able to clamp a board/metal edge on that side piece and use ur router/trim bit to shave it back to square.
thanks for the advise. what router bit would you recommend? do you have a link to it by chance?
thanks again
PS...not quite done beating myself up
Should be able to pick these up at any hardware store. the bearing is ur guide and keeps everything flush... the bit part will rip off any excess material pretty easily. wear a good pair of saftey glasses. not fun pulling acrylic chips out of ur eyes lol... You should have a bit of play with the bit/chuck to take off different thicknesses of material... get urself a bit longer or as long as the thickness of material not including the bearing thickness.
Great work wednesday.
OP, You'll find that flush trim bit useful. You'll use it often. I use it to remove the "flashing" or overages that you have on your panels after construction. I'm assuming you made the top and bottom panels with an extra .25" or so? The overages are crucial to correct imperfections and help the seams to not have bubbles or air intrusion.
OP, You'll find that flush trim bit useful. You'll use it often. I use it to remove the "flashing" or overages that you have on your panels after construction. I'm assuming you made the top and bottom panels with an extra .25" or so? The overages are crucial to correct imperfections and help the seams to not have bubbles or air intrusion.
