Oh and I only had one side on! LOL!
What happened Rev? Looked too good after you put just one of your 3 lids on that you couldn't handle it any further? LOL. We wanna see full shots!
I've never heard of glass bowing. Only acrylic.
On the contrary Fishlee glass does INDEED also bow. In a rimless setup it won't bow as much as equivalent thickness acrylic would by comparison, but it does bow. As a popular example, most of the customers we have with Red Sea 525XL or 450 report measurements at the middle of the tank to be 1/4" greater than at sides. This equates to an average 1/8" bow per side at panel center on the front and back panels. The side panels, being less than 2' long, on the other hand will exhibit very little if any. Accounting for this deflection is part of why most of our ClearView Lids have support tabs that are at least 3/8" wide (except on tanks with thinner glass/acrylic).
Yay! Can they be done for tanks WITH rims too? I have a standard 75 gallon (common 48" size)
Absolutely they can. In this case we eliminate the support tabs as the lid is able to utilize your tank's internal lip for support. If your tank isn't listed on our named section you can go to the Custom Lids section and enter your needed lid dimensions to see which custom lid you need to order. If your tank has a center brace you would likely need two lids so would enter the size of each opening for the lid needed.
I got one of these lids for my Red Sea Reefer 350 last summer with cutouts in the frame at the back for two Radion RSM brackets. I'm thinking of getting a multi light rail to hold three Radions but the RSMs then attach to the sides of the tank not the rear. If new cutouts are made in my frame on the left and right sides, how does the lid come on and off? Currently it just slides forward since the RSM brackets don't impede it.
An alternate idea would be to have three RSMs at the back but I would then need to add two new cutouts further to the sides, and have the middle RSM come out of the black overflow.
How easy is it to cut polycarbonate and in either scenario, would having 4 cutouts weaken the frame too much?
VCVet, most RSR350 lids have a frame width of 2" which leaves about 1.5" on the outside of the spline channel. Any cutouts we recommend stay at least 1/2" away from the spline channel which leaves you with 1" to work with. RMS mount width varies dependent on the spacer you use when installing them. We get reports anywhere from 3/4" to 2" for cutout width for RMS mounts. With wider mounts we integrate wider frame space when programming fresh lids to compensate. Trying to modify post production indeed has limitations. If you operate within these limitations you should have no issue with frame weakening. Polycarbonate is exceptionally strong. Look at the support tabs on the lid you've had since last summer....they are 1/8" thick and extremely durable. Acrylic would break in a thin tab setup such as this.
Cutting polycarbonate can be tricky. It's a very 'grabby' material when cut with the right tools and will melt with the wrong tools. For at home modification, the most ideal tools would be a hand router with a flush trim bearing bit and a jig/template for your cutouts. Double sided carpet tape the jig/template to the lid, clamp lid down good and machine with flush trim bit. Some may/have given it a go with a dremel, but they spin entirely too fast so do melt material at point of cut. This can be managed in a pinch by manually sanding the rough cuts afterwards, but won't look as clean/professional as if done with a proper router.
The other alternative is to mail the lid back to us so we can secure it on the CNC table and precision machine your new cutouts. We offer this service for a nominal fee. We keep every single file for every single lid we program so we would still have access to your original cut file as well.
I made a few modifications to mine so that it fits better around my over flow and to allow feed door to sit flush with the rest of the lid.
Looking good Ortho! I see further in string you now have others asking about your fancy flush mod
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Mine can't get here soon enough! A fish launched himself over the wall again. Lucky for this one I was standing right next to the tank. My cat has abandoned the bird feeder window and now waits by the tank for jumpers
You are coming up on the cut schedule soon squarerigger! Keep the cat away just a bit longer! Lol!
Are the standard feed doors supposed to sit flush? Mine are cut out properly, but there is no knockout for the tabs:
EDIT: Never mind; I see that they are not.
Nope, I'd imagine Ortho's ingenuity above may have lead you to think that possibly
. A CNC only machines one side of the material and all machining is done from the 'bottom' side of the lid for our production needs. To add knockouts for feed doors would require 2 sided cutting which adds a surprisingly extreme amount of complexity and time to the cut process for a comparably small benefit. Feed door tabs are only 1/16" thick (compared to main support tabs which are 1/8" thick) so don't impose or look ugly/out of sorts in any regard. Ortho is just showing off we think =P lol.
