Acrylic Fabrication Q & A

Lowell Lemon · Jun 15, 2016

Flush trim bit 28-57 unless you are cutting acrylic more than 1" thick.

Look at the Whiteside bits on their site for the 2 flute 1/2 cutter without a bearing. Looks like 56-082 but 1/2" shank instead of 1/4".

Sorry don't remember page for solvent mix. I think is is near the beginning of the thread.

pushtc · Jun 15, 2016

Ok thank u very much

Lowell Lemon · Jun 15, 2016

@Floyd R Turbo and cromag08,

Over arm stone router that is like the machine you described from Tanked is called Scorpion by Rye Corp. Of course it would have to be modified to extend over a taller tank instead of just a table.

imustbenuts · Jun 15, 2016

I have a question. I'll be bonding the bottom on my build soon. I noticed the solvent squeezed out on the bottom edges when doing the sides. Will I need to do anything to remove this or will it be ok as is?

Lowell Lemon · Jun 15, 2016

@imustbenuts
You are good to go on bonding the bottom. Squeeze out is fine. Panels look nice and flat where it joins the side. Nice job.

Turbo's Aquatics · Jun 15, 2016

This is where I take a razor blade and scrape just to make sure 1) the joint it planar 2) the squeeze out is removed. Start with the razor blade at a 45 angle and away from the joint (edges touching 2 panels) and drag it inward toward the joint a few times, then go to the other 2 and repeat. You should be able to see your scrape lines and tell if there is a microscopic ridge. Hard to describe

Turbo's Aquatics · Jun 15, 2016

ugly but hope this makes sense. I 100% all the time do this on every corner joint. You will get bubbles otherwise. Esp if you used fingers/fingernails to "feel" to make sure the panels were flush (also 100% necessary IMO and leaves a fingerprint in many cases)

cromag27 · Jun 16, 2016

FYI, don't use plastic rated router bits with wood. I made that mistake (accident) and now I need new bits. lol.

primo21 · Jun 17, 2016

Looking to make a probe holder...where would you suggest I look to get some scrap pieces. Tried searching for plastic in the yellowpages and the results were all large manufacturers. Is there something more specific I need to search on?

thanks.

dbl · Jun 17, 2016

primo21 said:
Looking to make a probe holder...where would you suggest I look to get some scrap pieces. Tried searching for plastic in the yellowpages and the results were all large manufacturers. Is there something more specific I need to search on? thanks.

Might sound silly, but if you can't find any locally, there are a ton of vendors on Ebay that sell small pieces and the shipping won't kill you. Just a suggestion.

primo21 · Jun 17, 2016

yeah, online is always an option. was hoping to make a weekend project out of it. thanks though.

Turbo's Aquatics · Jun 17, 2016

Search online for Regal Plastics, Port Plastics, Laird Plastics, Sabic Polymershapes.

primo21 · Jun 17, 2016

Thanks Floyd. looks like Laird and Sabic are close to me. since its not for a tank can I use any of the types of sheet they have? any material I can't use?

Turbo's Aquatics · Jun 17, 2016

Any cast or extruded would do. see if they have a scrap bin. Some places will let you pick out of that.

pushtc · Jun 17, 2016

I read through the pages and understand it needs to be cell cast.
When I called and got pricing this is what I was told . Anyone have any experience with any of these ?
1/2" acrylic 4' x 8'
Sheets
Chemcast 224$
Plaskoline 224$
Vision. 217

Turbo's Aquatics · Jun 17, 2016

Chemcast is the only one I recognize and that is the one with the bad history of tanks falling apart after 6 months.

What is your build? I don't see specs/dims posted here

Also I missed this post

pushtc said:
And I'm still trying to locate floyds solvent mix if you can give me a general page that would be great

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/acrylic-fabrication-q-a.224773/page-4#post-2621611

pushtc · Jun 17, 2016

I plan on making a display tank 2ft tall 4ft long 1 ft wide . Bad news on the acylic

that's what I have available locally . Thanks for this post and all the help btw!

pushtc · Jun 17, 2016

Floyd R Turbo said:
James has posted his mixture so it's not a totally huge secret.

The key is getting the right quality chemicals. To the purist, you want to use the most pure chemicals you can get. But that's not always cost effective.

I buy my Methlyene Chloride from Midland Scientific. I get the 99.5% pure stuff, that's good enough for just about any hobbyist level build, if you were serious you might go for 99.9% purity. Mine might be actually. I buy it in the 4 or 5L jug.

The next ingredient is Glacial Acetic Acid. This is ultra-pure (99.99%+) so it's not vinegar but it still smells like it, only a whole lot stronger (don't take a whiff). AA causes the MC to run a bit slower and increases working time. Running slower means less propensity to from bubbles in the seam because you can control it more. The catch is that AA indices crazing if you allow too long of a soak time or use too much. Generally speaking, absolutely no more than 10% in the mix, I use between 5-7%.

The third ingredient is Ethylene Dichloride. This is nasty, dangerous stuff. Also it's like $150+/gallon. Is has the same effect as AA except no crazing. It also eliminates the susceptibility of the joint to turn "foggy" if you bond in poor conditions like high humidity and/or temperature. 15% to the mixture.

So the mixture that's been recommended to me (posted by James) is 80% MC, 15% EDC, 5% AA. I'm sure there are tweaks to that and potentially other ingredients that make for an ever better mixture. Hope posting that doesn't irk you other fabricators...like I said, it's posted elsewhere so that above formulation is publicly available if you took the time to dig through a 10 year long thread.

I use straight MC and 5-7% AA. I mix 4oz up at a time in an 8oz large-mouth Amber glass jar with a Teflon-lined kid. The MC evaporates but the AA does not, so if I let it sit on the shelf long enough, I just add a little bit of MC to thin it back out - better to have too much MC than AA. I've found that the jar I use makes for a very long shelf life (especially without the junk fillers)

I've never used EDC myself, for that reason, I have to make sure my garage is temperature and himumidity controlled whenever I'm doing bonding: 68-74F and low humidity. Being in Iowa, that means a beefy heater in the winter, and in the summer I have to keep the garage door closed and open the door to the house and out a fan in the doorway overnight before I do any bonding to make sure the air and the material and the solvent is all at the same temp. If the humidity is too high, when the solvent dries (the fillet) it turns white. This doesn't necessarily affect joint strength, but to looks pretty shoddy.

Thanks for all the fabricators chiming in, at this rate the thread is starting to write itself lol. But I'm not gonna let that stop me from totally avoiding work during the day by writing up more good stuff...

@ Floyd R Turbo
Anyway you would be willing to sell me smaller portions, I wanna get my feet wet first . If I'm not good enough to stick with this hobby , I don't want to be stuck with it lol.