My first DIY acrylic tank!

[Modest_Man]

Ok, not really. 2" cube. Doubt it will hold water.

Went to the local plastic shop and grabbed some scrap acrylic (1/8th and 1/4th inch), weldon, and a torch. Total cost was about $30 for 8lbs scrap, torch, weldon 4, weldon 16, and an applicator.

Things I've learned.

Etching and breaking aren't the best way to cut acrylic. Haven't tried with a saw yet.

Clamps would be a good thing to have.

1/8" acrylic catches on fire really easily.

Too much weldon in the seam causes bad crackling.

In the same vein, too much weldon and it gets on your fingers and you leave nice fingerprints everywhere.

The guys at TAP Plastics answered all my questions and gave me a sweet pamphlet on cutting and bonding acrylic. I'm going to mess around a bit more today, see if I can't make some better lines.

 

[Pharaoh]

Nice job for a first try. I make a huge mess when I bond acrylic. LOL

 

[Conner]

Ok, not really. 2" cube. Doubt it will hold water.

Went to the local plastic shop and grabbed some scrap acrylic (1/8th and 1/4th inch), weldon, and a torch. Total cost was about $30 for 8lbs scrap, torch, weldon 4, weldon 16, and an applicator.

Things I've learned.

Etching and breaking aren't the best way to cut acrylic. Haven't tried with a saw yet.

Clamps would be a good thing to have.

1/8" acrylic catches on fire really easily.

Too much weldon in the seam causes bad crackling.

In the same vein, too much weldon and it gets on your fingers and you leave nice fingerprints everywhere.

The guys at TAP Plastics answered all my questions and gave me a sweet pamphlet on cutting and bonding acrylic. I'm going to mess around a bit more today, see if I can't make some better lines.

Nice cube! Aren't you glad you tried with scrap first?

And as for catching the acrylic on fire and leaving fingerprints...

 

[Conner]

Nice job for a first try. I make a huge mess when I bond acrylic. LOL

Yeah. I was making a filter sock holder for my sump. I managed to weld the acrylic panel to a piece of cardboard and a piece of wood holding the panel upright... I didn't know weldon stuck to that stuff! Plus I left weld on fingerprints all over the piece.

 

[chloe]

u forgot to leave a lid open to put the water in!

lol great though...i dont even brave DIY

 

[daveydoodle]

So........is that gonna be a growout tank? If you plan it just right, you might be able to get it going without overstocking it! Nice work!

 

[Modest_Man]

I'm heading out to get some c-clamps, bar clamps, and hack saw blade.

Etching and breaking left a very inferior edge. Time to start shopping for a used table saw.

 

[heavyhitter]

I use a table saw with carbide tip blades and they cut acrylic beautifully. Smooth with no cracks or burns/melt. Plus you get strait even cuts.

 

[Modest_Man]

So, is crazing due to too much weldon? Don't mind the shoddy bond, that's my poor prep. I'm just wondering cause every thing I've done so far has crackled.

 

[Modest_Man]

Here are some photos from take two. Bought some clamps (vital). Started filing the edges a bit before fire polishing them. The best way for me to work with 1/8th acrylic is to etch and break (like glass). I just picked up a 10" blade table saw off Craigslist today and got a 200 tooth blade made for plastic. (I went with the $9.97 steel blade instead of the $69.99 carbide tipped blade. That's more than I spent on the whole freaking table saw. And supposedly the carbide lasts 5X as long. Which would put me at $50 after 5 blades, still less than the carbide blade. *shrugs*) I'm going to start messing with 1/4 inch tomorrow.

First of all here is how I'm etching and breaking the acrylic. I'm using the square to get a nice straight etch line.

I found my knife did a much better job etching than a razor blade. After you etch it just give it a hard push and it snaps right in two. I have some issues getting straight lines near the edges still.

Squaring up a side to be welded.

I have some spots I'm going to go back over with weldon 16 and I'll see if my little cube (5" X 5") will hold water.