Cutting acrylic

[junglejonny]

Has any one ever had to cut acrylic?? Any special bits or saw blades needed?? Any tips or tricks of the trade i should know ?? I have pretty much no room for error so all the help is greatly appreciated

[cdearing]

Go to youtube and do a search for "how to make a sump". There are many videos that will show you how it is done. Keep us posted on how it goes. I will be making a sump shortly, myself. Yikes!

[ibefishy]

I used a bandsaw to cut the acrylic I was working with. The slow speed of the saw kept the acrylic from melting and it was easy to follow the line I had to cut on. After the initial cut I went over to a belt sander and did the fine finish work on the acrylic. You need to be careful on this part as you can take off a lot of the material real quick. Thats just what worked for me. Im sure others will have other ways to work with acyrlic.

[Seige]

Cool I need to build one too. Quite ironically I actually have a bandsaw as my one and only saw. Guess I'm buying a belt sander. ROFL

[seandm13]

Lots of good info on sumps here, including how to cut, glue, etc when making your own. Melevsreef.com | Acrylic Sumps & Refugiums

[metalhead]

A table saw works best.

[cdearing]

Yes, melevsreef is a great site. Just be prepared to be sitting at the computer for a long time. There is a LOT of information there and some great photographs of different tanks, sumps, etc.

Here is what it says on Melev's Reef:

"I measured the opening in my stand, and figured I could fit a retangle 22L x 14D x 12T (all in inches). After I knew the exact size of each piece, I cut them all on my little Black&Decker table saw, with a 7 1/4" circular saw blade with 80 teeth. Raise the blade as high as you can, so that as you push the acrylic through the blade, only the teeth will touch the material at the front and back edges of the blade, reducing any melting of the plastic. Also, leave the protective paper on the acrylic for as long as possible, even during most of the gluing stages (except the bubble trap, because you will have no room to remove it later)."