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Drizzy 
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 Topic: To Bend or not To Bend?
Posted: April 27 2004 at 3:41pm |
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From what I have read it seems that the most experienced aquarium
makers dont ever bend any of the edges but glue two sides
together. Is there a reason for this? I realize that it is
more work to bend corners but it seems that the asthetics make it worth
the xtra work. Is it not as strong? Any reason why you pros
dont bend much?
Along the thoughts of bending acrylic I was told that it is a good idea
to have a strip heater that is 4 times as wide as your acrylic is
thick. Does anyone know where I could buy a strip heater that is
2" wide around SLC? Thanks.
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jglover
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Posted: April 27 2004 at 4:12pm |
Have you ever tried to bend acrylic? If you have the equipment go a head it's not something you can just try out. Did some in high school and, mistake alright.  . If you can find the tools great. It does look alot nicer! I think it's just because of the time involved to make it look nice my bend had alot of Z's in it.
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Jared Wood
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Posted: April 27 2004 at 4:13pm |
Drizzy,
I don't know the answer to you question but I do want to say welcome to the message board
I wonder if asthetics is the main reason. I am guessing that bent corners would make an aweful lot of distortion for viewing the aquarium. My daughter has a tiny plastic aquarium with bent corners and I think that the glued corners offer less distraction. But you know what they say, asthetics are in the eye of the beholder. As I said before, I don't know, I am only speculating. By tomorrow morning you will probably have some good answers show up on here.
Again. Welcome!
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jfinch
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Posted: April 27 2004 at 4:25pm |
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I bend acrylic for all sorts of projects using a propane torch, but I would never do that for anything that would need to hold water. Strip heaters are not cheap (over $100). Check with Delvies, Regional Supply and Lards for the equipment. Delvies has a strip heater in the shop, maybe they could do the bending for you if it's just a one time thing your doing. Personally, I don't think I'd ever build an acrylic tank anyway (glass is the only way to go in my opinion). Square corners on a sump are A-OK in my book. Good luck and welcome. Please let us know how your project works out.
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tomason
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Posted: April 27 2004 at 4:56pm |
If the bend isn't exactly square, the piece won't sit flat on the bottom. Also, if the top or bottom edge of the piece being bent puckers at all during the bending process, then the piece won't sit flat on the bottom either.
All things considered, I think bending it is quite risky. I also agree with Jared about the distortion, so I wouldn't want to put forth that effort anyway. 
If you do end up bending it, I would be very interested in how you do it! Be sure to post pictures! 
-Tom
Edited by tomason
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Drizzy
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Posted: April 28 2004 at 7:44pm |
First of all - thank you for the warm welcome! I am quite new to
aquariums. I have a small tank I bought for work and ended up
taking home that has 1 cichlid in it. That is as far as my
expertise goes - so call me a newbie if you want! :) But I'm quite
interested!
Well, I got a good start today. This is my first attempt at
making an aquarium so I'm making it pretty small. It is
18'X18"X15". I built my own strip heater (pic 1) and used that to
bend the front 2 corners. It turned out pretty good. Here
are some pics. I still have a lot to do to finish up but
hopefully this weekend... if only my finals werent next wednesday and
thursday! :)
I made this to bend the acrylic...
Here it is right after the bend... clamped down for about 10 mins to set.
Sorry not a great pic. You can see the biggest problem I've
noticed - the ends of each bend bowed out a bit.. hopefully I can get
that smooth.
Here it is! The front and two sides. Now I'll have to
finish the sides and glue it all together. I'll post pics when
I'm done...
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Drizzy
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Posted: April 28 2004 at 7:47pm |
OH I almost forgot! I have to atleast show my battle wounds from
todays fun! I was screwing two pieces of wood together and the
screw kept pushing the pieces of wood apart so I had to push down
really hard to keep the wood pieces from separating - anyways the drill
slipped off the screw and into my fingernail. It broke it pretty
good. I tried to keep the cuss words down as best I could. :)
Its hard to tell but my nail is still indented and as of yet I havent been able to pry it up... kinda hurts when I try.
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jfinch
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Posted: April 28 2004 at 8:00pm |
 I wince just looking at that!!!
Very cool bending! what did you make the heater out of? And how hot does it get?
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Drizzy
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Posted: April 28 2004 at 8:20pm |
Thanks! I hope that it ends up looking good! I read about
how to make your own acrylic heaters on the internet. Since I'm a
poor college kid I dont have the money to buy a nice one. You can
buy heating strips at acrylic stores. I bought this one at Lairds
Plastics. It was $37. You just buy some plywood and heavy
duty aluminum foil. Total was around $50. I practiced by
making some stands for a display out of acrylic. It is actually
quite easy. The only thing is it doesnt get hot enough to bend
acrylic thicker than about 1/4". They do sell heating elements
that will get hotter and bend thicker pieces but I didnt price them...
just getting my feet wet first. I dont know how hot it gets...
you can feel the heat from a few inches away but I was surprised that
it didnt feel hotter.
Here is another pic of the way you use the foil, plywood, and strip
heater. You just have to make sure the acrylic doesnt touch the
heating element but is close to it. I used 1/4" plywood on both
sides.
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jfinch
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Posted: April 28 2004 at 8:22pm |
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Can you flip the acrylic piece over while it's heating and bend thicker (1/2") material?
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coreyk
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Posted: April 28 2004 at 8:52pm |
drizzy: i have the same heating strip! they work pretty cool, eh? i used mine to build an overflow box. i later scraped it, because i didn’t like the design much. it was still a fun project though! :)
your tank is looking cool ... post more pics as you go!
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Drizzy
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Posted: April 28 2004 at 9:22pm |
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jfinch - actually I used that technique for 1/4". I had to flip
it over and get both sides soft. I will look into a wider and
hotter one for bending thicker acrylic. If anyone knows any
prices for other heating elements I'd love to know.
coreyk - thanks! Yeah I'll post more pics.. hopefully this
weekend will have some major progress. You said you didnt like
the design much - what do you refer to? the design of the tank
using one?
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Jared Wood
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Posted: April 29 2004 at 9:11am |
You are way ahead of me on the Do It Yourself meter. I'll be checking back to see how it turns out.
Also nice battle wound!
Check out these scars on my chin. Got 'em from a 3-wheeler accident a Pismo Beach.
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In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth ... then He let it cycle. Have you read my dinosaur theory yet?
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Drizzy
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Posted: May 01 2004 at 10:11am |
Nice chin scar. Indiana Jones-ish. Well, here is an
update... I still have a ways to go and as you'll see in the pictures
there is still some rough edges I need to work out.
Bending the filter area...
Its coming along... I've DEFINATELY learned things to do and not
to do the next time. Not too bad for a first go ever at making an
aquarium.
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Drizzy
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Posted: May 01 2004 at 10:21am |
And here is a pic of the filter from the backside.
bio balls will be between the grates and then a pump on the left
side... I would have designed this different if I could do it
over again. I also would have made this go across the whole back
of the tank to make it all black rather than just the middle 2/3.
live and learn. I think this will end up going to my nephew and
I'll apply what I've learned to my own. :)
**Oh btw anyone know where I can get a good deal on some bio
balls? I thought they were a bit over priced at the local store I
went to...
Edited by Drizzy
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coreyk
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Posted: May 01 2004 at 10:42am |
lookin good! thanks for all the pics! i think your prob going to be a popular uncle. 
i was talking about the design of the overflow box ... it was a hang on overflow kept getting bubbles in it, needed a power head, etc. :) fun first time acrylic project though!
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Aquarium Creations
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Posted: May 01 2004 at 10:44am |
I have some for cheap, let me know when you want them and you can come pick them up for the big whoping price of FREE....
Eric 809.4469
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ollie
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Posted: May 01 2004 at 7:06pm |
I built a large tank a few years ago out of 1/2" acrylic and bent the corners. You can bend up to 1/2", but its tricky. If think my experience might be of benefit to you, pm me. There are a number of things I would do differently now in hindsight.
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Drizzy
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Posted: May 02 2004 at 8:57am |
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Wow thanks Eric and Ollie! I was pretty excited when I found this
website and this is why - it makes you feel like you're not ever trying
to figure things out on your own. So how big was your strip
heater to bend 1/2"?
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: May 02 2004 at 9:18am |
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Two things.
1. Not enough slots for the overflow. Do the front of the overflow or you will be seriously lacking in flow volume. [edit] after looking at it one more time, it even looks like the slots are small and the pegs are wide! The slots need to be wide and the pegs between them smaller. Take a look at new tanks at the LFS to see what I mean.
2. Bioballs get clogged with detritus. Eliminate them or make a way to keep them in a rigid box so that you can take them all out at once without disturbing them, in order to clean them. I'll be frank with you and open a can of worms. Your design is obsolete in some ways. The hobby has already developed better designs that are simple, usable, cleanable, and better for the most effective natural filtration methods used for the best looking, longest lasting, lowest maintenance reef aquariums.
Just in case you didn't know, bioballs have been found to be unecessary, a hassle, and even dangerous in some instances.
Ask us here about using better procedures and filtration methods.
Edited by Mark Peterson
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