Acrylic

[bunglito]

Please post any helpful tips you may have in handling, cutting, preparing, gluing, clamping, routing, bending and anything else you can do with acrylic. My first curiousity is which glue size is not to thick but not to thin, cuz I'm sure my joints won't be perfect on my first few pieces.

[Redwinger]

Where is that hooligan acrylic guy when you need him.:tongue: I am sure Bob from reefmania will chime in here shortly for ya.:smile:

[morty]

Not to step on the toes of the pros here in MN, but there's also a guy named Marc who is a regular on RC and has put a lot of work into putting info on diy acrylics (and other reefkeeping info) on his website:

http://www.melevsreef.com/

[REEFSTOCK]

Deffinatly no reason to retype all that good info!
If you have any specific questions however...

[TekCat]

Pardon my ignorance, but what is the difference between cast and excruded acrylic? And what's the best application for each type?

[David Grigor]

Extruded kind of think about it like tempered glass. It's thinner, pressurized. Also isn't as smooth and you can see the ridges. Best application is when you don't need to drill it in anyway. It can be drilled but adds stress and can break easy.

[David Grigor]

If your talking about your overflows, no bending needed. 1/4" is plenty thick.

[morty]

BTW extruded is the kind that HD sells for windows etc. Cast is the preferred kind for machining and building sumps/tanks from scratch, and has to be purchased at a plastics supplier.

[REEFSTOCK]

As I understand it:
extruded is quickly rolled out. Cast is cast... ;p
Cast is much stronger because the material is denser from settling.
The chemical properties are the same and can be bonded.
You use cast when extruded isn't strong enough for your application... like holding water.

[JG24]

Sorry, been busy. If you have a specific question let me know.