15 gal acrylic build by Scuttle

[cuzican76]

Sweet yea i have all the tools to do wood work and metal work but I've never messed with acrylic. Always wanted to build a tank but always just been to nervous bout it busting cuz I didn't get the edges right

 

[TJ's Reef]

Looking good, man. Just a side note, on your next build, don't flame polish before you apply your solvent. It will craze for sure. If you want to really go hog wild on the polish, try sanding with wet/dry from 220, 320,400,600,800 then 1000, and then use a buffing wheel on a drill motor with some rouge. That is how I do all my edges. Keep it up, J

+1 to what Jason said as he builds some very fine acrylic aquariums out here. I ended up buying a buffing wheel and compounds for my bench grinder to polish all my smaller Acrylic Projects with works great and much easier being able to hold onto piece with both hands. What are your plans for fabricating the overflow box? Being an absolute DIY nut I'll follow along and pass on any info I have that may help you out.

Cheers, Todd

 

[PepperDeath]

Looking good, man. Just a side note, on your next build, don't flame polish before you apply your solvent. It will craze for sure. If you want to really go hog wild on the polish, try sanding with wet/dry from 220, 320,400,600,800 then 1000, and then use a buffing wheel on a drill motor with some rouge. That is how I do all my edges. Keep it up, J

Yea we had a little bit of that craze but not too bad. So lesson learned lol. Ok awesome thank you for the tips !!! Is there a way to flame polish between the teeth on an overflow. We tried a couple pieces but didn't work that well

 

[PepperDeath]

Sweet yea i have all the tools to do wood work and metal work but I've never messed with acrylic. Always wanted to build a tank but always just been to nervous bout it busting cuz I didn't get the edges right

If you get them pretty smooth it will be a good seam. We tried a couple really rough edges and the seam came out surprisingly well lol but the smoother you can getter it the better..I say gets some scraps n start practicing! It's addicting lol

 

[PepperDeath]

+1 to what Jason said as he builds some very fine acrylic aquariums out here. I ended up buying a buffing wheel and compounds for my bench grinder to polish all my smaller Acrylic Projects with works great and much easier being able to hold onto piece with both hands. What are your plans for fabricating the overflow box? Being an absolute DIY nut I'll follow along and pass on any info I have that may help you out.

Cheers, Todd

Oh that's cool we don't have a bench grinder but that's a good idea! Well we we are probably going to go with something like the ghost overflow. Very small in the tank and the small box with the drains on the back. But I'll definitely put pics up when we build it and test it. And any tips you guys have is great!! Thank you.
Also I think I'm going to paint the back of the tank black. What do you guys think?

 

[55g]

I'm interested in acrylic an was wondering what you mean by crazing on the seams?

PepperDeath, what your plan to paint acrylic black on the back? Getting it to adhere and salt creep; is there something that can make it long lasting? thanks..

 

[PepperDeath]

It's like small spider web looking cracks. Just on the surface of the acrylic I think. My friend that we are building a 60 gallon did some research on the right kind of spray paint for acrylic. And it came out great so far. I'll find out what it is

 

[PepperDeath]

here's his tank when we painted it

 

[Troylee]

a couple things to take into consideration... stay away from flame polishing and paint on acrylic.. for that matter even windex it severly weakens the acrylic and will lead to premature failure... besides that you are on the right track.. keep practicing..

 

[Troylee]

oh ya also use pins when you wick the solvent in the joints... makes for a better glue joint.. i have plenty of threads floating on this forum check them out i have built hundreds of tanks..

 

[scheadle]

Nice looking project brother

 

[PepperDeath]

Thank you!

 

[PepperDeath]

. Plumbing supplies came today!!!

 

[Bluesaltwater87]

I'm likeing the airheads candy.

 

[PepperDeath]

Oh yea lol plumbing goodies and candy came in the box

 

[PepperDeath]

Built the overflow box on the back for the bean animal overflow and got the tank drilled.

 

[427HISS]

here's his tank when we painted it

How did you cut the overflow notches ?
Looks great.

 

[427HISS]

Also, follow Todd's advice as he is the Master,..... Gooru on the planet !
Check out his build pics.

 

[PepperDeath]

How did you cut the overflow notches ?
Looks great.

Thank you ...We set up a jig on the router table so you can just set the piece on there and push it in till it hits the jig to keep them at the same depth. We are about to do this again for my overflow box. So I will take some pice while we are in the process.

 

[PepperDeath]