Acrylic Sheets for cheap???
- Thread starter Mekinnik1
- Start date
Check you local yellow page for plastic shop. Call different places, and compare the price. Make sure they are of the same grade, since acrylic of the same dimension often had very different price due to molecular weight (->strength). For aquarium, use the casted sheet.
Just to add to the above - ask specifically for either Polycast, Cyro Acrylite GP, or Plexi-glas G. These are the only three that are consistent enough quality-wise to be recommended for aquaria. They are all cell cast acrylic of high quality.
HTH,
James
HTH,
James
It is up to you. My sump holds 30 gal, but if the tank cracks, the water from the display will dump a total of 100gal onto the floor.
What is important is the water height of the sump, which translates to hydrostatic force. With extruded, it flex over time, and personally, I will not use it to construct a sump. Since the sump is do small, what difference does it makes for material cost?
A good engineer does not over-spec and use unnecessary material, but I feel the extra duty is worthwhile...
What is important is the water height of the sump, which translates to hydrostatic force. With extruded, it flex over time, and personally, I will not use it to construct a sump. Since the sump is do small, what difference does it makes for material cost?
A good engineer does not over-spec and use unnecessary material, but I feel the extra duty is worthwhile...
That's why I asked -- wasn't sure what the difference is between the two types.
I found a local place that will cut my pieces to order, but they only have the lucite in stock, and I'll have to buy a full sheet of the cast stuff (of which I only need half....)
Guess I'll just spend the extra 50 bucks. What's the best way to cut the stuff?
I found a local place that will cut my pieces to order, but they only have the lucite in stock, and I'll have to buy a full sheet of the cast stuff (of which I only need half....)
Guess I'll just spend the extra 50 bucks. What's the best way to cut the stuff?
>...What's the best way to cut the stuff?
I use the acrylic scorer(basically a funny-looking razor blade that looks like an arrow). You use it to cut straight channel in the sheet, and when it is deep enough (1/3 of the way thru), you put the sheet on a table edge, line up the cut line, and snap it into two halves. Some plastic shop will cut it for you for like 50 cent per cut. Ohter people who do lots of work on acrylic have special blade for acrylic in a saw table or a router table.
>... buy a full sheet of the cast stuff (of which I only need half....)
Make two and sell the spare one... :?
I use the acrylic scorer(basically a funny-looking razor blade that looks like an arrow). You use it to cut straight channel in the sheet, and when it is deep enough (1/3 of the way thru), you put the sheet on a table edge, line up the cut line, and snap it into two halves. Some plastic shop will cut it for you for like 50 cent per cut. Ohter people who do lots of work on acrylic have special blade for acrylic in a saw table or a router table.
>... buy a full sheet of the cast stuff (of which I only need half....)
Make two and sell the spare one... :?
---- I'm curious what your final costs run - if you don't mind...
No Problem -- I'll update with the finals, but I know this much now.
Full Sheet of cell-cast acrylic = ~$100
Weldon to bond it all together = ?? (haven't looked too much yet)
My time, effort, mistakes, learning = FREE
Hey, at least somethings come for free.... :wink:
No Problem -- I'll update with the finals, but I know this much now.
Full Sheet of cell-cast acrylic = ~$100
Weldon to bond it all together = ?? (haven't looked too much yet)
My time, effort, mistakes, learning = FREE
Hey, at least somethings come for free.... :wink:
For good quality cell cast acrylic (esp retail) $100 seems pretty fair IMO - only $3/ft. By good quality cast I mean names like Cyro, Polycast, Plexiglas. Acrylic has gone up ~15-20% this year alone and next month promises another 11% increase from what I've been told by more than one mfr. I'm not saying don't shop around by any means, just that it seems like a fair price.
BTW, solvent should be around $5-5 plus applicator bottle ($3).
James
BTW, solvent should be around $5-5 plus applicator bottle ($3).
James
I used extruded acrylic (the cheaper stuff) for my DIY tank and sump. I have a 65 gal (used ½” acrylic) tank which I had cut and squared by a local plastic comany. For my sump which is 20-30 gal I used ¼”, but it is braced twice with divisions inside of the sump. I used scrap acrylic for the sump and cut it myself, it isn’t very pretty, but it only cost me 10 dollars. My system has been running for 6 weeks now and there are no problems so far.
This link will help you to calculate what sheet thickness needs to be used
http://cyro.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/cyro.c ... PTE*&p_li=
This link will help you to calculate what sheet thickness needs to be used
http://cyro.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/cyro.c ... PTE*&p_li=
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