Acrylic Material for lid = no sag

lemonyx · Nov 2, 2016

What type of acrylic do I need to get, so the lids that won't sag.Have tried with thickness up to 3/4" and even a small area like an overflow box , the material still sagged (it was cast too). This is for a 48"long tank with 2 cut outs on top. (freshwater)

tia

cromag27 · Nov 2, 2016

I've been making these for five years. are you handy with acrylic?

Slm222 · Nov 2, 2016

Polycarbonate

cromag27 · Nov 2, 2016

Not as rigid as acrylic, despite what some believe.

Slm222 said:
Polycarbonate

ReefQueen · Nov 2, 2016

cromag08 said:
I've been making these for five years. are you handy with acrylic?

That looks awesome! I need one of these! This temporary eggcrate top on the 90 is already getting on my nerves lol. To the OP, my solution to the bowing is to flip my top every few days. This is on an 8 gallon though, so probably a little bit easier to flip lol

cromag27 · Nov 2, 2016

What a pain!

ReefQueen said:
That looks awesome! I need one of these! This temporary eggcrate top on the 90 is already getting on my nerves lol. To the OP, my solution to the bowing is to flip my top every few days. This is on an 8 gallon though, so probably a little bit easier to flip lol

ReefQueen · Nov 2, 2016

cromag08 said:
What a pain!

Well we all don't have your skills lol. You can just send me some tops so I don't have to go through the painfully time consuming monotony that is flipping the 10"x10" top on my reject tank. Just make sure you send those shrooms along with them

cromag27 · Nov 2, 2016

You are very needy.

ReefQueen said:
Well we all don't have your skills lol. You can just send me some tops so I don't have to go through the painfully time consuming monotony that is flipping the 10"x10" top on my reject tank. Just make sure you send those shrooms along with them

Nano101 · Nov 2, 2016

how about acrylic with vertical braces? almost like lifting handles

cromag27 · Nov 2, 2016

Odds are, the braces would also sag eventually.

Nano101 said:
how about acrylic with vertical braces? almost like lifting handles

Nano101 · Nov 2, 2016

Ok, Aluminum braces?

cromag27 · Nov 2, 2016

Possibly, but the issue would be finding an appropriate adhesive. acrylic is very finicky when it comes to that. would look ugly though.

Nano101 said:
Ok, Aluminum braces?

Nano101 · Nov 2, 2016

I would think a marine clear epoxy would do the job. Clamped aquarium silicone would adhere as well (done it). Just make sure to clamp and use a very clean bead.

cromag27 · Nov 2, 2016

No. silicone does not adhere well to acrylic.

Nano101 said:
I would think a marine clear epoxy would do the job. Clamped aquarium silicone would adhere as well (done it). Just make sure to clamp and use a very clean bead.

Nano101 · Nov 2, 2016

Not sure if you could use west system, but I use it all the time with sailboat stuff

Pepcrylic · Nov 3, 2016

Lexan wont absorb the water . which causes orther scrylic to wrp

cromag27 · Nov 3, 2016

Lexan is a brand name. but, polycarbonate will absolutely absorb water, just not as much as acrylic. but if the lid is kept dry it's not an issue with acrylic.

Pepcrylic said:
Lexan wont absorb the water . which causes orther scrylic to wrp

spllbnd2 · Nov 3, 2016

Cromag08,

That is a very nice top cover you made there. Did you use plastic screws to affix the screen / mesh to the acrylic frame?

Cheers,
Alex

lemonyx · Nov 3, 2016

cromag looking good there. I'm kind of handy with acrylic, do you sandwich the netting between two pc of acrylic or do you run a spline?
So polycarb is the material, then?
Is that what you use?

tia