Acrylic framed screen for rimless tank

Jimbo662 · Apr 7, 2014

I'm still in the process of building the frame so I'm hoping it works out. I bought 1/4" square acrylic rods at a local plastic company and this small vice from Lowe's. I've got the main part of the frame put together. Right after taking this pic I attached the center brace. Next steps are to add small pieces that will rest on the top of the tank and hold the frame up and add the small pieces that the netting will attach to.

ethridge78 · Apr 7, 2014

Looking good

wrasseluver · Apr 7, 2014

If like to see how this turns out. I'm having the same issue covering my rimless tank.

ryanwongg · Apr 7, 2014

too cool! following

mfinn · Apr 8, 2014

I want to see how the netting is attached.

ethridge78 · Apr 8, 2014

Me too

feh · Apr 8, 2014

Nice. I've been contemplating a more attractive way to put a screen over the new tank. Following along.

stubb86 · Apr 9, 2014

NIce Following along

mfinn · Apr 9, 2014

any updates?

AsphaltPays · Apr 9, 2014

mfinn said:
any updates?

+ 1 definitely looking forward to seeing how it turned out

Small triggers · Apr 9, 2014

Are you going to hot glue or heat fuse the netting to the frame? (Or some other wa I have not thought of yet?)

Rob&Gab · Apr 9, 2014

how Strong is that? if you pick it up will it bend around like a sheet of metal? awesome, i cant wait too see this. great idea.

i think Glue or some type of bonding agent will do best.

Jimbo662 · Apr 9, 2014

Got a little done tonight...waiting for it to cure completely before testing the frame on the tank. Initial plan was to basically make two frames and bond them together so it was more rigid. I realized if I did that it would put the bottom at the water line and I was worried about salt creep so I'm going to test it with the single layer.

LOL, Small you'll just have to wait and see. :bigsmile:

jasonp87 · Apr 9, 2014

This looks like a great idea. Looking forward to see how you attach the screen. The first thing that came to mind for me was setting it up on a table saw with a saw depth around 1/8" (blade is also 1/8") and cutting a groove to lay the spline in. You could also go with a white spline so it is less noticeable.

Edit: Just realized my way would be a little hard if the pieces were already put together.

Jimbo662 · Apr 10, 2014

I'm actually going to cut pieces just under 1/4" long that I'll glue along the top edge. I'll cut a horizontal groove in the middle of it for the net to rest in.

Jimbo662 · Apr 10, 2014

It's getting close!

Here's a support tab attached

Tabs holding it in place

You can barely see it!

I'll glue these around the frame to attach the netting to. I cut a little notch into it to give the net something to grab.

Jimbo662 · Apr 11, 2014

Got the netting on and found I need to add a few more of the little pegs. Once I add them I think I'll be able to smooth out most of the waves in the net. I think overall it's going to work pretty good