Plywood front panel - acrylic?

[Dovii kid]

Hello all. Looking for a front panel for my plywood build. Was originally planning to go glass but the price on acrylic has me thinking. I know dealing acrylic is more difficult due to fact silicone doesnt bond well. That said I know some have had success. Any tips? If it matters planning on going 3/4” thick on either the glass or acrylic. Current plan has a 1” recess in the front panel to mate the plate, roughly 1/2 gap on each side to fill with silicone once the panel is in place.

 

[kno4te]

Think some of the recommendations were 3M MAS 5200 and dow 795. Never used it myself but was successful in the short run. Long game is hard to say.

 

[HowUDoin]

There is a YouTube channel, Mandatory Monsters, where the dude has used acrylic panels on plywood and pond liner bills. I will link the one video he made for the plywood build.

 

[Dovii kid]

Thanks all. At this point I’ve researched and researched some more and have yet to find a definitive answer on how to go about it. Also add in the price of the specialty silicone I believe I’m better off going with glass.

 

[wannadivesteve]

Look in the DIY Plywood aquarium thread in the sticky files at the top of the message board. The very last post is by Stempy, who did a plywood tank with acrylic front with Dow 795. He said after 5 years it looked like new. Everything I've read seems to point to Dow 795 working just fine with fiberglass to acrylic,. It's used in the marine industry all the time, if you've ever been in boat in rough water you'd know what kind of jarring forces windows could take on a boat, if it didn't hold they'd pop right off. I can't say "difinitively" but there's plenty of evidence it'd work.

 

[fishdance]

I went through a similar exercise for a concrete shell and went with glass and I'm glad I did.

If using acrylic, you could drill some holes and bolt on to get a compression seal.