Recent content by Acrylics

Hi Kim, I try to get around a little when time & energy permit :) Hope you're doing well, James

Thanks for the welcome :) Depends on the brand of acrylic. The only brands I'd recommend at all are Polycast, Cyro Acrylite GP, and Plexiglass G. Most of the others have too many variations in their quality controls to work with reliably. One of these variations is that their mol chain...

I'm a little late to this but Eznet2u was pretty much right on. Acrylic (all, not just extruded) absorbs moisture and will *always* cup when used as a tank cover. The top side will become concave and the under (water) side will become convex as it grows due to moisture absorption. Just flip...

Sorry, haven't been around in a while. If the chip is on the corner, best bet is to machine the corner off and then re-buff. For example, use a radius cutter in a laminate trimmer and round over the edge and then sand and buff the newly machined area. You can buy 1/16" radius cutters at any...

IME, most of the issues you are experiencing can be attributed to the router table setup. If the table surface is not highly polished & waxed, will make controlled movement of pcs problematic, smaller cutter diameters get "grabbier", and so on. There are also little differences in how you angle...

Just wanted to pop on by and say howdy. Hope you are doing well and good luck with your business venture :) James

Hmm, worth it?? I'll put my money where my mouth is :) If you were *my* customer, I'd do my best to try to talk you out of the idea and if asked to actually do the work - would refuse. Even a 5% chance of a screw-up is too much for my taste, and a screw up could easily be catostrophic. I can...

You are reading correctly :) First the disclaimer; I do not advise you to modify the tank, esp while in operation, too many potential risks involved as I'm fairly certain you are aware. That said, cutting placing the new centerbrace first and then cutting the old ones out is the only "safe" way...

Youcould remove the crossbracing and it would hold water, but would bow some. My thoughts go two ways on this; either place the bulbs towards the center of the tank but over the two outside openings which should be fine, or remove the two crossbraces and replace with one in the center as you...

Just use all 3/4" triangle, it'll be as good as anything else. If you have a Tap Plastics or other plastic shop in your area, take a look there too, pricing is a little less. One caveat though, these shapes are not square by any means nor are the sides flat. Shouldn't matter if using Weld-on...

Perfectly reasonable to me :) James

You can make the triangular yourself just as easily. Just route an edge on the material and then cut on a tablesaw at 45deg angle and you now have the gusset :) James

A gusset, in terms of aquariums, would be a 1 x 1" (or so) strip of acrylic (sometimes triangular but not necessary here) that is glued on the inside of the joint such that it bonds equally to the horizontal (bottom) and vertical (back) pieces. Given that solvent didn't bond well to begin with...

Ah, I see, sorry for the confusion, some day I'll learn to read :) IMO the gusset(s) installed with liberally applied Weld-on 40 would work as well as anything. You could also just turn the tank on an angle so the back corner is down (front up) and just flood that area with 40. There used to...

Cross support at the bottom of the tank? not at all normal for acrylic tanks...hmm You could put gussets in there though I'd use Weld-on 40 rather than any solvent. James