Transforming a acrylic display into aaquarium...., need some suggestions...

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portabuddy;825609; said:
laminating a big piece like that is NOT a good Idea, it there is a scratsh or divit in wither sheet your $crued you will get a ugly bubble. but if lets say bolth peces are brand new and un marked then all you do is cover the one with a thin coat of Methylene chloride not acetone, acetone will work and well just not as well as Methylene chloride the you squish them together and your gold..., I would and did say do it go for it!!!, i think i was actuly one of the first to say it?, Even at 3/8 its a bit thin but like you said it profetionly done so its not like its going to leak, and the top trhe way it is its going to be plenty strong. Not like the rays are going to wreck it or anything.


Laminating will give to a stronger ank but for the trouble its forth i wouldnt, its worth the risk I think.
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Thanks for the advise......, Im still alittle on the fence about this laminating deal....., like I said...., im not to concerned if the finished product isnt spectacular....., Id rather it just be at the least functional..... so I dont know

I definetly agree that laminating it to a scratched surface is not going to look to hot....., but Im not sure as to how i would fill those 1/4" holes and feel comfortable with them not leaking.....

Does anyone else have any suggestions as to how I should fill those holes???

Thanks again...
 
Oh im sorry i misunderstood, i thought you wanted to go allaround and lamiate it all with 1/8 for strength... if all your doing is filling the holes then yah go for it it'll hold up. sorry.
 
portabuddy;826231; said:
Oh im sorry i misunderstood, i thought you wanted to go allaround and lamiate it all with 1/8 for strength... if all your doing is filling the holes then yah go for it it'll hold up. sorry.
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Im not sure what you mean........................., are you saying that it will be ok to laminate the two sides with holes in it with 1/8" acrylic???......., the only reason that i am going to be laminating it is because it will provide a surface to hold in the acylic mixture that i use to fill the holes....

Is that what you though I was doing...... is that what you were agreeing with....

If I laminte those two side i might as well just do the other two shorter vertical sides....., its not that much more....., and it may help beef it up so that it doesnt bow..... ya know.....
 
again thanks to anyone with comments.....,

If anyone else has anyother suggestions I would definetly appreciate it....
 
To do the laminating, have a friend help. Use Weld-On or equivalent. Pour a big blob in the middle and hold the acrylic sheet by both ends letting it bow in the middle. Then lower the middle into the puddle of solvent. Work the acrylic and glue outward. Pay attention to air bubbles and work them out if you get any. By working from the center out, the air will have some place to go. If you glue the whole thing at once and lower the sheet onto the tank, the air bubbles will be permanently trapped.

Keep in mind, that you should never lift the sheet after it has been glued. It will be murder trying to get the air bubbles out the second time. Make sure you pour enough glue to do the job the first time. If you have to add glue, do so before the glue in the work area runs out. Other wise you will have air bubbles or you will end up lifting glued acrylic.
 
and wreck the finish forever... since weldon or Methylenechloride MELT the plastic the finish once the WeldOn is aplied is done... if you do it then you must follow through, its not like siliconing or glueing its "bonding the pieces chemichly" i woild say chomp is totaly right, the holes are where you are going to run into problems but a big blob seems to be the way to go.
 
portabuddy;829336; said:
and wreck the finish forever....
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Since it is going to be a ray tank, the viewing will be primarily from the top. It was stated earlier that the side viewing does not matter. However, if the side quality can be maintained, all the better. About the concern of wrecking the finish, the glue will remain transparent and will be contained between the sheets of acrylic. As long as the glue is kept air bubble free, it is possible to maintain the optical quality of the original two pieces of acrylic. (I think that is what you were thinking, right?)
 
well sort of..., I was thinking that if you apply the "glue" then lift off the piece then the part that the glue was applied to will melt distorting the finish. the meth.chlo. will melt the two pieces together. After the curring process is over there will only be one piece of acrylic and no glue, because its not glue its solvent that causes a chemichal reaction, so theirfor if you have no bubbles in between and you dont lift the top layr off durring the process, it will be one clear and strong piece.
 
portabuddy;831181; said:
well sort of..., I was thinking that if you apply the "glue" then lift off the piece then the part that the glue was applied to will melt distorting the finish. the meth.chlo. will melt the two pieces together. After the curring process is over there will only be one piece of acrylic and no glue, because its not glue its solvent that causes a chemichal reaction, so theirfor if you have no bubbles in between and you dont lift the top layr off durring the process, it will be one clear and strong piece.
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Yep, lifting it will distort the finish. If you try to rework it after lifting it, since the two surfaces are glued and with non-uniform surfaces, the air entrapment becomes extreme. It is almost impossible to remove all of the air.
 
thanks guys for the insight....., I have to admitt that I currently wasnt thinking about the method that you described..... But may have came to me when i got to it....., this process sounds very promissing

Seems like it would be hard to do with anything other than 1/8" acrylic

Does anybody have any suggestions on how/what to fill my 1/4" holes with??? I was thinking of just disolving acrylic shavings in solvent to make a thick liquid and injecting it, to fill the holes. But when i have done that in the past it was hard to keep the meltd liquid from containing alot of air bubbles...

Is there a product that i can use instead...., or something else that is reccomendded for these situations???
 
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