Question: Laminating 2.5mm glass to plywood

[RecycledElectrons]

My local Lowes home improvement store has 2.5mm glass cheap.

Has anyone tried gluing thin glass to plywood and using it in place of an all-plywood side on an aquarium?

I am contemplating taking 3/4" furnitutre grade plywood and checking it for voids by pushing or hammering where it looks not solid. Then I would cover one side with a thin coat of silicone sealant and lay the thin glass on it. I expect it would be a challenge to get pressure on the 2.5mm glass without cracking it. Maybe foam will help me?

The idea is to build a big & cheap tank out of some salvage pieces of glass plus some homemade glass-plywood laminate. The homeade glass-plywood laminate would go on the bottom or back (obviously.)

The tank would be waterproof because the inside would be all glass and silicone sealant.

I would reinforce the whole thing with wood bracing outside the glass, around the edges.

I am worried the plywood would bend and break the glass.

 

[Justin David]

Interesting idea. Would love to see this tried.

One potential problem, and the biggest problem I see is if the wood has some flex to it, the glass may not be able to bend w it and it’ll snap. But I think it could be done w proper bracing

 

[Swimswim]

2.5 mm glass is far too fragile. Its being used less and less in residential Insulated windows now days due to how easy it is to break. Even if you are using 3.2mm I would recommend tempered, much more impact resistance than raw 2.5mm, which is too thin to temper in most tempering furnaces. If you were closer I would hook you up with whatever you needed. I run a large glass wholesale company and the amount of scrap glass we trash weekly is saddening. 15-20 large pieces of 3/8" and 1/2" go in the dumpster every few days due to small defects that the casual fish keeper wouldn't mind.