Cut Acrylic

I used a table saw with a carbide tip blade, It worked good for me. John

 

I checked today and Home Depot here will not cut the acrylic for me.

What kind of local shop cut it for you? The LFS? The local glass shop?

Also, what kind of silicone can I use to bond it to the glass tank. I saw many GE silicones in Home Depot, but all said not for aquarium use...suggestions?

Thanks,
Mike

 

The hubby cut mine on his band saw ;D

 

Mirosh, I too am from Northern Virginia. I didn't even ask about home depot cutting my acrylic but am a lil surprised they told you no. I bought a ~$30 black and decker jigsaw and just cut all my pieces of acrylic with no problem. I can post the blade tonight too that I used that cut it perfect and didn't melt any pieces back together like mentioned. I bought my aquarium silicon from Wallys Aquarium in Annandale. looks like this model

Mike

 

I frequent Wally's and Super Pets and well as the occasional trip to Marine Scene...

I am borrowing a friends saw to cut it myself and will try Wally's for some silicone, though Petsmart sells it as well.

Thanks for the heads up!
-Mike

 

silicon bought a home depot is ok as long it says 100% silicon and a lot cheaper than buying aquarium safe. Think the type i used was GE type two. The local shop was one that deals with plastic look in your yellow pages. It cost me about $ 150.00 for all my stuff cut for 50/gal sump/fuge.Check out my pics on this site
for some ideas on how to do yours. Good luck

 

The blade I used was a T101b blade and again worked GREAT cutting .28(i think) acrylic

Mike

 

Mirosh,

Last night I went to Lowes in chantilly while looking for pvc parts for my plumbing and I asked the guy there if they cut pvc pipe and he said no, but that they did cut glass and acrylic that was purchased there. Might want to check them out if you decide not to cut the stuff yourself

Mike

 

Thanks for the heads-up and for checking that out for me, but I have borrowed a friends Jig Saw already and plan on cutting sometime this weekend...though I do have one more concern...
I noticed that many people have .28" thick acrylic...Mine is only the standard thickness...I think its something like .1" thick...is that going to be a problem, should I get the .28" thick stuff? Hopefully not since I already drew my lines on the .1" thick stuff that I bought from HD and i doubt now that it is returnable.

Thanks again,
Mike

 

No problem, it should be easy to cut it yourself, but figured since I was there i'd ask I'm not sure about your question on the thickness though, I went with the.28 because the only other thickness where I got my acrylic was VERY thin and flexed a lot so I didn't want to risk it bowing and falling apart.

Anyone have any comments on this as i'd like to know too.