First time with acrylic. Not hard at all!

[Canadian Man]

Well I went to my LFS (big als) and looked at their overflow made of acrylic and looked like great quality but was $180.00 :eek: , and that was with out the bulk head fitting.
So my wonderful wife convinced me that I could work with acrylic so I gathered up all the stuff today and built the start of my overflow box.
MAN this stuff isnt as hard as I thought it would be. the 4 x 8 sheet cost me $107 dollars and glue and aplicator for $8 and saw blade for $17(everyone says you need a table saw, well you dont you just need to be creative). I also purchased two u tubes for 30 total from big als. I am sure i could get them cheeper (if anyone knows let me know).
So my total price for all the stuff i needed to make my own overflow, with 90% of a sheet to spare was about the same as purchasing one.
I will post pics when it is finished and pics are on my site. untill then I wanted to tell everyone that acrylic isnt that hard to work with, so if you have had the urge to try, then go for it!

[ 19 April 2002, 22:02: Message edited by: Canadian Man ]

[Delphinus]

So my total price for all the stuff i needed to make my own overflow, with 90% of a sheet to spare was about the same as purchasing one.

Well .... that's just the thing. Same cost, except you have an insane amount of acrylic left over for future projects. You could probably build a half-dozen overflows and your total cost would be the same. Those overflow boxes are WAY overpriced.

Just a heads-up for when you use up that acrylic ... the place I get my acrylic from, will sell it to you in any size you want. I bought a 1'x4' strip for $20 when I needed some baffles made up. I was prepared to buy a whole 4x8 sheet because that's what I thought was my only option. I was thrilled to learn that there are far more "short-term cost-effective solutions." The place is Industrial Paints and Plastics up in Builder's Park (east of Chinook Centre).

Yes, very nice stuff to work with. I wish I had gotten going working with this stuff years ago.

[Tau2301]

Hey Jon, I would like to see what you have done.

I think you should build about 4 more and put them up for trade/sale. :D

Could you just build the U tubes from PVC Pipe parts?

[Delphinus]

You could, but having done this myself and finding out what the real pros&cons are ... you don't really save that much, a clear U-tube is only about $10, and with that you're a bit better off anyways because you get the continuously curving 180-degree turn (instead of 2 90-deg or 4-45 deg bends) and also you're able to see inside to check for any air bubbles accumulating. Even if you have a venturi input which should theoretically pull out any of that air, for myself I still feel better knowing I can take a peek and know for sure that the siphon isn't about to break.

OTOH, I wonder how hard it would be to bend an acrylic tube and make your own U-tube that way.

[Tau2301]

Maybe this could be a good DYI topic for the next meeting.

[Canadian Man]

Thanks tony
thats where i purchased it from and it is strange cause they had a 4 x 8 foot of 4.5mm acrylic (which is what i essentially purchased) for $107.00. and they had in their pile a 4 x 4 piece for $91.00. so the guy basically told me for $20 more i could have both. :confused: :confused:
anyway
Kim i agree with tony that a clear tube would be better and i dont know if we could bend them by ourselvs with out kinking them. next time i am there i am going to ask if they can do this for me.
Would definatley love to show off my work.
now i want to purchase a table saw to make it much more easier/accurate for the cuts but lol no money.....WAIT!!! with the money i saved maybe i can get one.... :eek:

[Tau2301]

Jon, I have a 10" table saw, router, and various other power tools that could be put to use.

My garage is a mess right now as I am in the proccess of installing some old kitchen cupboards that I got from a friend. I was hoping to finish this weekend, but I will see how it goes.

In the mean time if you want to make a few cuts, I could always make some room for you.

[Canadian Man]

Thanks kim i may take you up on the offer some time.