DIY acrylic sump

[jiggly75]

Hey, Does anybody know where you can buy an acrylic bonding agent. The local Lowes and Other hardware stores told us there was no such thing. Can somebody please help me. We want to build a sump that will fit under our 55 gallon tank. thanks in advance

[Ninong]

You can get that at any plastics company. Look in the yellow pages under "Plastics." I got some from an outfit in Baton Rouge, just 38 miles from my house.

[jiggly75]

hey got another question. we bought 1/4 inch acrylic to make our sump, and we bought a "supposed to cut through acrylic knife" (hahahahaha). we needless to say that didnt work. does anybody know how we can cut this stuff????? any suggestions would be helpful, as this stuff is not exactly so cheap as to keep buying more. thanks

[Reefland]

I'm no acrylic professional but a fine tooth blade on a table saw should work pretty good. Be sure to experiment first though.

[jiggly75]

ok forgive me i'm a girl, but what kind of saw, circular, or what kind. i dont know anything about power tools

[jiggly75]

well hubby figured it was a circular saw. so hopefully we can get on with this building a sump project.

[MyLittleOcean]

Hi everyone.

For cutting the acrylic use a 80 tooth blade or higher. A table saw would be the best. The cutter knife doesnt work that good. Do you have a local glass co. that can cut it for you? Do not sand the edges as this will usually round the edges. You can 'back scrap it' by pulling a shape along the edge. Use Weld-On 4 to seal the edges. WO4 is very watery and only a tiny bit is needed. After 24 hrs you can use Weld-On 16 if not comfortable with the seams (like silicone). When glueing the pin method works great. Use a couple pins or small dia. wire to seperate the two pieces that are being bonded, use the WO to seal and pull the pins out. This gets a good seal from one side to the other with no bubbles. Hold in place for a couple mins. WITH OUT ANY movement.

I have a pic of the one I built on my home page. Fell free to check out the DIY skimmers too.

Good luck. Let me know if I can help any.
also
Pratice, pratice........

[MyLittleOcean]

Web address would be helpful I guess.....

www.geocities.com/jeffsreef

[jiggly75]

thanks for the help, very informative. really like your site. nice pic

[Mai]

http://www.melevsreef.com/

This a great sight for acrylic sumps. A table saw would be better than a circular saw. It will be easier to keep the edges straight.

[jiggly75]

thanks for the info. we didnt have access to table saw, so he used circular saw. but we have plans to buy a table saw b4 we start on sump for our new tank we are gonna get.

[wanareef]

On those blades, don't skimp on quality. Stay away from Sear's Craftsman carbide tipped blades- the carbide is too soft to stay sharpe. Freud is a good brand, good quality and varity of styles of carbide tipped saw blades. As mentioned, get one that has as many theeth that you can afford, with the smallest "kerf".

You'll need a router, soon. If you go this way get at least a 1.5hp plunge router with a 1/2" collett. The same thing for the bits too, if you are going to make a lot of acrylic, you'll need it. Why, when you cut the acrylic you'll get some chipping. When you assemble your "box" you allways leave the pieces shy of the edge. When dry, you would use the router to trim down that edge that was "proud" of the adjecent piece.

You don't really 'glue" acrylic together but rather bond them together. The solvent melts or softens up both side's, then becomes one solid piece. Weld-on #4 is used regulary and is a little slower drying than #3, which is faster drying. #16 is for those times that you don't get quite a perfect matting edge, but should not be more than 1/16". And thing wider, you need to use #40.

hth