joining acrylic to make a single panel

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pdxmonkeyboy

pdxmonkeyboy

Candiru
MFK Member
Nov 23, 2016
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so I am sitting in the hospital after a construction accident and thinking about my next tank build. I want an 8' long by 30" high acrylic tank. I'm thinking I could save myself a couple hundred bucks if I did the following.

if I had two 4x8 sheets of 3/4 for the sides, when I rip them down to 8'x30" I will be left with two 8'x18" strips. Could I then glue those two pieces together and use it for the bottom of the tank? I know that huge aquariums weld several pieces of acrylic together but I am obviously not a professional aquarium builder. I would think however if you got a good seam that it would be fine as its on the bottom of the tank.

and in case this thread is boring I'll post a picture of my accident... running a nail gun building a short retaining wall for a friend. pop,pop,pop,pop.. using the nailer in bounce mode. I step over the wall and my leg bumped the nailer... POW.. 3" nail through my calf, through my fibula, and out the other side. yes. ouch. shattered the bone and now have a rod though my entire fibula. 30+ years working with power tools, this is my first accident. be careful put there fellow DIY guys and girls. 20161206_132053.jpg
 
YIKES! I hope you have a good recovery.

I've been looking at butt joining acrylic as well. It's tough to find on the internet. There is one message board thread on another board that references it and shows pictures of a 12 foot saltwater tank build. On MFK in this DIY section there is a long thread on using weld on 40 and there are mentions of successfully butt joining 2 acrylic sheets with it but no actual photos or instructions. Kinda frustrating. I'd have to look at the thread again, but I think there are one or two regular contributors who have successfully done it.
 
well that sounds promising. I would think for the bottom it would be totally doable. you could always lay a line of weld on 16 to ensure it's sealed.
 
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If you do this and it works ket me know. I'm probably at least year off before I get to my project (been thinking that for a couple years now unfortunately). If I do it I plan on documenting it. It'd be a good thing to add to that weld-on thread.
 
yeah I sent a message to the weldon thread guru. the thing is that when dealing with an 8 foot long 32" tall piece of 3/4" it would be so heavy it will squeeze all the glue out, which as per the weldon website.. is not a good thing.

A saw a video where a guy cut a slight angle to his pieces, maybe a degree or 2. While the "tip" of this angle wpuld probably be dry, it would allow for a good deal of penetration and prevent the weldon 40 from squeezing out.

I don't know.. it's like top secret info or something
 
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