How to glue/seal acrylic?

[crusso1993]

From a hobbyist perspective, I have dabbled a bit in making things out of acrylic for my tank. I've even made an outside the tank overflow like you're wanting to make.

I've made a few sumps:

I'm not set up for acrylic work, more for woodworing. What I suggest is to cut slightly larger with the table saw and either use a jointer to clean the edges or a router table. I prefer the router table because it produces a cleaner edge, your buddy with the woodshop can help with setting it all up.

when ready to bond with weldon 3 or 4, I use acupuncture needles (pennies on amazon) to provide a space between the 2 pieces to be joined so that the weldon can soften the acrylic and create a uniform bond. after about 30 seconds remove the needles and let the 2 pieces join, allowing them to set for a few hours to completely cure before moving onto the next bond, then simply rinse and repeat.

Practice on scrap acrylic to get a feel for it, but definitely something that you can do yourself.

Nice work!

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

I love that cube sump you made!

Made it for a buddy, he bought the acrylic, I offered up my time and tools.

looking at that picture again, on the left is scrap plywood screwed together as a "T" to make a straight edge. On the flat surface is adhesive sand paper to sand the top flush to accept the top brace. That reminded me of another way to get a good edge. If you can put your cut acrylic on a 90 degree fence with sand paper on the table, you can run sand the edge to be joined square. That should work for small pieces and removes the hassle of setting up equipment.