how difficult is is to make your own acrylic sump??

[fordtrucksrme]

Is it very difficult to make your own sump out of flat acrylic?? Let me know your thoughts please.

[DennisW]

This is an excellent question for FRANK!!!!!!

Frank....come out from under the tank and answer the nice man's question.

Dennis

[Geoff]

i find acrylic very easy to work with. it is all about the glue with this stuff. nothing works but stuff specific for acrylic. i made my @45g refugium out of acrylic. i have never worked with anything bigger than 1/4" though. as long as you have a saw accurate enough to do a straight line you can do just about anything with acrylic.

G~

[Zephrant]

I would say that anyone with basic wood working skills, and a few power tools can do an alright job. To make it look clean, you really need a table saw, and a router. A jointer can really help to clean up the edges too.

If you are looking more for just something functional, and lack the above tools, it can still be done, but takes far more effort.

As mentioned above, using the right glue is key. I suggest Weldon #16 if you don't have a jointer, and Weldon #4 if you do. The difference is #16 can fill gaps some, and can be applied somewhat like regular glue. Weldon #4 takes a far different approach.

HTH-

Zeph

[PaintGuru]

I am curious on this too. I do not have a router but I do have a tablesaw here at work that would do a good job cutting the acrylic. Is there any reason you cant just glue the un-routed corners together? I would really like to make a custom acrylic sump for myself but have yet to try. Also, is the typical place to buy acrylic just your neighborhood glass shop?

[Minnreefer]

I have never made a sump with acrylic, but acrylic is pretty easy to work with. One can get acrylic from either plastic or acrylic stores in the yellow pages. You just want to get thick enough so that it won't bow out and you may need to add some cross supports and top braces. HTH

Jon

[wanareef]

PaintGru

If you don't have a acrylic blade,then use one that has little or no off set. What happens is, when you push the piece thru the teeth chips the edge. And you want a clean edge. After the cut, scrape the edge clean and smooth. If you use sandpaper, use a block, but which ever way becareful not to make any dips.

Check out RC in the DIY "acrylicman" thread. He explains how to use "pins" to shim the two pieces apart while the solvent is "melting" the two pieces for bonding. And the "order" in which to assemble the unit.

hth

[PaintGuru]

Actually what we have at work is a diamond saw that is designed to cut plastics and gives little to no chipping. I may have to look into getting some and experimenting with making my own sump. I will look at RC for that thread too, thanks!