Acrylic Repairs
 

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Is there any acrylic dudes out there able to help? Again .I believe it was last year that a fellow reefer from Calgary made me a new 6" circlar piece. I mailed the peice to him and he sent me a new one back.It is that time again, i need another part made.

Acrylic
 

what do you need?
Bob

reactor lid
 

this is the lid that i'm worried about. As you can see from the pics it's cracked,it doesn't leak yet but i don't want to take a chance .I have the reactor out of service till i get some media and would like a new piece made if possible.

If you take it to any acrylic shop, they should be able to run some weld-on glue....I can't remember the exact name of the stuff, but it's liquid and it'll wick into the crack and basically melt it together so it won't leak. As long as you aren't unthreading the fittings and they're going to stay where they are, you should be good to go. I'm sure any acrylic place would just do it for free. Or they'll sell you the stuff to do it. There's an applicator bottle with a needle and the glue...shouldn't cost more than $20. Hope this helps.

When you get your new one made make sure they use cell cast acrylic, not extruded as the cast is much stronger. What is the diameter? I have some Lexan (even stronger again) kicking around, I can send you a piece if you want.

If you're in no rush I can make the piece for you. I just finished moving to a new home this week. New workshop is a little bit in disarray right now :redface:

Let me know

i was thinking about trying to glue the cracks together but they are really tight not sure if glue would wick in

the piece is 7" in dia., 11 mill thick, 5/16

any idea how long it would take to make a piece up?

Weldon should wick in. Also, Silicone can be smeard for a patch, if it's just leaks your worried about. Looks like fittings tightened to tight? I'd suggest silicone on fittings to seal them so you dont have to tighten as tight to get a seal

Methylene chloride would certainly wick into that crack and it would be better than new.

Wick the glue in and then remove the fitting to allow the crack to close, then when dry re-assemble the fitting with either less force or use silicone as suggested.

The water like Weldon is Weldon 4.

I tried it on a seam once that was leaking without much luck, might have more luck on a crack.

thought I had a old lid but must be buried deep. Came across this blank ~5.25" diameter, would it work for you?

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h3...5/P3300089.jpg

leave the lexan out of this :mrgreen: while it is good for sigting in 22s it scratches very easy compared to acrylic, and it is very pourous and has an inharently high moisture content which makes it a pain in the A55 to glue. it can be done, just a lot harder than regular acrylic.

All you need to do is go to industreal plastics and paints and get Weldon 3 not 4. run a dribble along the gracks with a needle tip aplicator wait about 5 min, turn over and run the other side. don't use to much, just enough to wet the crack.

Weld on 4 is weldon 3 with a bit of acrylic desolved in it to make it a tinly less wattery and better for getting bubble free joints.

Steve

Maybe 10 minutes total to setup my machine and cut it (cnc router). I have some 1/4" scraps that would do the trick.

I agree to use methylene chloride for this repair, but I wouldn't agree it's better than new.. its been damaged :razz::razz:

Oh, can I be your friend when I move to Kamloops, a CNC :mrgreen:

Seriously though what kind do you have? I have been thinking of making one once I have some time.

Steve

I have a CNC too. But no Acrylic scraps :(

It's a new Canadian built 24x36" cnc router from General / Gorilla CNC. General machinery is known for it's famous green color :). It's at work, but we're a retail tool store and I have to do demos, and seem to have gcode ready :lol: We're soon getting a newer version of the machine with some upgrades. Learning gcode, vector design, and tool paths has been fun.

But, if you're a serious tinkerer having a cnc machine would be golden. I'm trying to work a deal where I can take the machine home from time to time (the store owns it). There is some pretty amazing DIY plans on cnczone.com, and having one machine makes it very easy to build another machine. :rofl2:

Acrylic Repair
 

I elected to get a new piece built and have sent the old piece to Nazerine.

For all those that posted and replyed thx! for all the great input

Old One:
http://nazerine.reefbc.com/photos/041609/P4160012.JPG

New One:
http://nazerine.reefbc.com/photos/041609/P4160013.JPG

Nice new piece, got to try out a new router bit too. 1/8" onsrud o-flute upcut spiral :mrgreen: high feed rates

It seems the old piece was cracked from the pipe pressing down on the top of the flange. After looking at the old piece, its actually bowed downwards like a bowl where the crack is.

Expect it in the mail soon :Banane17:

Awesome job,as soon as i receive the piece the reactor will be up and running in no time.