4 inch acrylic tubing

[eddie holland]

can someone pint me in the right direction.i am looking for 4 inch acrylic tubing. i am makeing a kalk reactor i need a peace 24 inches long
thanks ed

p.s. in edmonton please

[mr_alberta]

You could try Johnston Industrial Plastics on 50th Street and 97-ish ave or GE Polymers somewhere on the west end. Acrylic tube cutoffs are rare though, so you might have to buy a 6' length.

[muck]

I maybe interested in a chunk as well Ed...
Let me know what you find out.

[KrazyKuch]

I would also be interested in a 24" piece if you have any left over!!!!

[Richer]

Looks like you have enough interest to justify buying an entire 6' tube :razz:

-Rich

[Tangman]

Before you buy, acrylic tubing is sold as out side dimessions and if you are using PVC fittings you must get 4.25" tubing, because PVC is sold in "ID" sizes. 4" tubing will be too small

[sleeman]

Hey Guys,
Before you run off and spend a bunch of money, I am going to give you my take on a DIY Kalk reactor. If you only plan on building one or even two projects it is not going to be worthwile. You are better off to call Ocean Aquatics and buy one of their Kalk reactors. ON top of that, they are 6 inch acrylic instead of 4. I think they caost 150 bucks.
Here is the cost breakdown.
extruded 4" is about 16 bucks a foot.
You will probably want to buy two types of weldon.
Weldon 5 is for extruded and is about 30 bucks.
Weldon 40 (thicker for any problem areas) is another 30 bucks.
Pump is 25 to 35 bucks.
Circle Cutter. 9.99 at Princess Auto but junk or a good one for 25 bucks at canadian tire.
two taps, one for your bolts and one for the water lines 20 bucks.
Plumbing bits about 15 bucks and 20 if you use a union for a fill hole. I recommend this.
Gasket material 5 bucks
So all said and done, you are looking at about 150- 170 bucks for all the parts to build the reactor. If you have some of the tools or parts it will be cheaper.
On top of that you still need to buy or have some flat acrylic to make the base and flange. And I can guarantee that you will have to redo one part of the project if you have not worked with acrylic before.
Hope this helps guys.
If you decide to go ahead, let me know if you have any questions.

Cheers,

Al

[mr_alberta]

Wow, Al, you use Weld-On 40? That does, however, give you a crazy strong joint, but I don't think you really need more than 16. I agree though that it is quite expensive if you don't have all the tools or access to the tools.

P.S. Ed, I have Kalk Reactor for sale in the Classified Section :mrgreen:

[StirCrazy]

Or you could make good cuts and just use weldon 4 for 5.99 a tin (this will do about 75 reactors) I have used it on stuff that is 3 years old and still in use (made from extruded tube) and not a leak yet. I have never seen weldon 5 personaly.

here is the weldon descriptions

3/Non-Flammable/Clear

Water-thin, very fast set, solvent cement for acrylics. Also bonds other plastics such as styrene, butyrate and polycarbonate to themselves.

4/Non-Flammable/Clear

Water-thin, fast set, solvent cement for acrylics. Also bonds other plastics such as styrene, butyrate and polycarbonate to themselves

5/Clear

Water-thin, medium set, solvent cement. Formulated for, but not limited to, bonding Cyro FF, ICI Perspex and Plex MC.

16/Clear

Fast drying, high-strength, medium-bodied cement. Bonds acrylic to itself. Also for styrene, butyrate, polycarbonate, other plastics and porous surfaces.

40/Clear

Two-component, reative, high-strength adhesive, clear joints. Good weatherability.


so as you can see weldon 5 isn't even for acrylic.


Steve

[Willow]

if i can also add, you need a few john guest fittings, john guest tubing. plus if you want to make it easy to take apart you need to do keyholes and need fasteners. i can see doing your own cr but im not sure its worth doing a kalk reactor.

[sleeman]

Steve,
You are right, sort of. Weldon 3 and 4 will work as will weldon 16 with extruded. The problem is you may get some crazing with anyof these products. Weldon 5 should not craze or at least craze as much.
From IPS page :
5 - Water thin, slow-setting solvent cement for bonding acrylics. Also bonds styrene, butyrate, PETG and polycarbonate to themselves. Will not bond to cross linked acrylics.
Since annealing is not an option for the average person, a slower setting cement should help. Weldon 5 is more expensive, but you also get a lot more.
As for the weldon 40, you will find that you get a much better joint when gluing PVC to Acrylic. IME, Weldon 16 will work when glueing PVC to acrylic. It has a tendancy to shrink, and seems almost too hard compared to the Weldon 40
Anyways, that was not my point.
After all the running around to 2 or 3 different stores, inhaling a bunch of nasty chemicals and then possibly having to do something over again because you screwed up a joint.
It may be more time and cost effective to just buy one.
I am not trying to stop anyone from DIY projects, that is what makes this hobby so much fun for me, and I believe many others as well.
I just hate to see someone spend a bunch of money only to realize they could have done it cheaper and easier.

Cheers,

Al

[sleeman]

Harvey,
you are right about cure strengths. I never really paid much attention, but here are the numbers.
Lap joint bond strength is based on using 1/4” thick substrate with 1 square inch bonding area.
Weldon 3,4 and 5 all give 2500 PSI after 1 week of curing
weldon 16 is actually less at 2200 psi
and weldon 40 rocks at 4000 psi

Willow,
I don't bother with Keyholes for the Kalk reactor. I actually use nylon bolts. When I clean the reactor, I just fill the tube through my 1" union and the dump out through the same hole. I guess it might be worth it once in a while to actually open it up and give it a good cleaning.

Cheers,

Al

[StirCrazy]

if i can also add, you need a few john guest fittings, john guest tubing. plus if you want to make it easy to take apart you need to do keyholes and need fasteners. i can see doing your own cr but im not sure its worth doing a kalk reactor.

it is very well worth doing a Kalk reactor as a DIY, you could easily save 50.00 +tax and shipping. it is one of the easiest to make and there is no science to it whats so ever. Ca reactors take a little more though and a lot more fittings but the savings is there also. The skimmer takes the most research and planing to make.

Steve

[StirCrazy]

Steve,
The problem is you may get some crazing with anyof these products. Weldon 5 should not craze or at least craze as much.
From IPS page :
5 - Water thin, slow-setting solvent cement for bonding acrylics. Also bonds styrene, butyrate, PETG and polycarbonate to themselves. Will not bond to cross linked acrylics.
Since annealing is not an option for the average person, a slower setting cement should help. Weldon 5 is more expensive, but you also get a lot more.

Al

Can you send me the link from that Page? weird IPS would say that and the weldon page its self doesn't even mention acrylic under 5 and in fact points to extruded plastics not acrylic.

as for crazing, I think this is a rumor created from companies trying to justify there price of there products because the chose to go with cell cast for better looks. extruded doesn't crazy because of the glue or because it is extruded, it crazes for the same reason as cast, stress points caused by gluing edges that were not done properly or precise enuf. the major cause is using the wrong types of blades to cut acrylic, not getting a flat edge and flame polishing.

Steve

[sleeman]

Can you send me the link from that Page? weird IPS would say that and the weldon page its self doesn't even mention acrylic under 5 and in fact points to extruded plastics not acrylic.

as for crazing, I think this is a rumor created from companies trying to justify there price of there products because the chose to go with cell cast for better looks. extruded doesn't crazy because of the glue or because it is extruded, it crazes for the same reason as cast, stress points caused by gluing edges that were not done properly or precise enuf. the major cause is using the wrong types of blades to cut acrylic, not getting a flat edge and flame polishing.

Steve

Here is the IPS link.
I found out about Weldon 5 when doing some work with Lexan MR10. I called their tech support and drilled him with a bunch of questions. I am not completley sold on your crazing theory, but you may be right. A theory I came up with may be ther slower setting time with the Weldon 5. Perhaps it doesn't shrink as much when drying. Thus reducing the stress on the joint. This is just coming out of my butt as I type, so I may be way off.
The weldon 5 bottle also has in big type that is is meant for extruded acrylic. I have leant the glue to another reefer, or I would take a picture.
http://www.ipscorp.com/ind_html/acrylics.html

Cheers,

Al

[StirCrazy]

hmm neet, I wonder the why differences on the sites, definitely worth looking into when I am out and about next time.

Steve

[sleeman]

I think I paid 25 bucks for it in Edmonton, and had to get it shipped from GE in Burnaby. I think the price per ml is the same as 3 or 4, you just have to buy a bottle instead of a small can. I don't think that you can get 5 in the can.

Al