My acrylic fuge DIY build

Here are my pics from my build. After my glass fuge broke and spilled, I decided to make my own out of acrylic.
I bought 1/4" sheets of Lexan to build out the tank walls and cut 2 of them to 21"x 11"H to make the long walls. Then I cut the other 2 walls 13"x11"H to make up the depth walls. I used 3/16" acrylic to make the internal walls and baffles. I made my fuge with dual input drains, one for regular draining, and a low flow for the fuge. Both lines are controlled by ballvalves to regulate flow. I used Weld-On 4 to weld the acrylic sheets together. It's no joke, if you use this stuff, use a respirator! Sniffing this stuff will get to you. I ended up gluing one of my inlet baffles upside down on accident and had to work around that mistake.
Anyhow, I used a plain 7-1/4" 70 tooth table saw blade to cut the acrylic sheets, and used a table router to cut the teeth for the fuge and to route off the rough edges that were to be glued. My bit decided to take a cr@p when I was flush cutting one of the walls and chaffed the wall pretty bad, as you can see in one of the pics. After it was all said and done, I used a Mapp torch to polish the edges.

 

And the last of my images with one showing it in place. I had to replumb my tank as well, to accomodate the dual input fuge. The entire build took about 1 month total time. Working with acrylic is fun, but it can be extremely frustrating, especially when you have a leak. It is an art and takes a lot of practice. I'll be more thorough on my next fuge build for my 150G tank. I also made a little case for my Aquacontroller Jr. I hadn't added my probes in yet, which is why my readings on the screen are so off. As soon as I get my 3/4" bit to drill out the hole for my heater, they will all go in. The AC Jr is currently used for my lighting system only and to power my pumps.

 

You don't want to do this. Lexan does not glue very well, it is polycarbonate and is very soft and very hard to bond. It is not acrylic.

The main build looks very nice, just the wrong material

Kim

 

Craftsmanship looks good, if you can, post some more pics of it plumed into the system...

 

hey Kim. im actually talking to him right now, and he used ACRYLIC on the outside/main tank so he should be OK. I was worried at first also, as weld on 4 doesnt glue lexan, but he assured me that its acrylic/plex and lexan is only used for the internal baffles, etc.

 

The pictures show lexan for the main panels as well. I have never seen a brand of acrylic with that white plastic covering. Now the baffle for the fuge section that he is cutting teeth into looks like acrylic from the paper coating. I think he has his parts wrong and has acrylic for the internal baffles and polycarbonate for the main body.

You can even see the blue tint to the bottom panel, which is normal for polycarb not acrylic.

Kim

 

looking at it closer now, i think you are right Kim. Either way, weld-on 4 wont work on lexan.......

 

Yup.

And I don't know of a good solvent that will work to hold water with Lexan, I don't think I would even use something like weldon 40 to make something water holding out of lexan.....

Kim

 

Nope, the only solvent that will hold lexan together is this 2 part 3M epoxy stuff. We use it at work quite abit. Ill have to find out the name for you guys.

 

My fuge design wasn't great to begin with and will be redoing it. The last thing I want to risk is flooding. I did go and look and the outside was in fact Lexan sheets. I bought them online on ebay as the auction title as "Clear 1/4" Thick Acylic sheets" and didn't even think so much outside of that. I do have 2x4' sheets of acrylic now, so I have my materials to make a new fuge. Thanks for the heads up to both of you!