×
INTELLIGENT WORK FORUMS
FOR ENGINEERING PROFESSIONALS

Log In

Come Join Us!

Are you an
Engineering professional?
Join Eng-Tips Forums!
  • Talk With Other Members
  • Be Notified Of Responses
    To Your Posts
  • Keyword Search
  • One-Click Access To Your
    Favorite Forums
  • Automated Signatures
    On Your Posts
  • Best Of All, It's Free!
  • Students Click Here

*Eng-Tips's functionality depends on members receiving e-mail. By joining you are opting in to receive e-mail.

Posting Guidelines

Promoting, selling, recruiting, coursework and thesis posting is forbidden.

Students Click Here

Jobs

Strongest and best way to bond/weld an acrylic fish tank?

Strongest and best way to bond/weld an acrylic fish tank?

Strongest and best way to bond/weld an acrylic fish tank?

(OP)
Hello, anyone know the best and strongest way to bond/weld a 5 piece rectangular acrylic aquarium. Should i use a solution or is there a process to do this?

thanks

RE: Strongest and best way to bond/weld an acrylic fish tank?

There are many ways that would work fine but my immediate suggestion is to look for the special adhesive recommended for such tanks. I believe it's quite common to make tanks of acrylic (polymethylmethacrylate or PMMA for short) and so there are sure to be adhesives recommended for such tanks. Try a Google search.

RE: Strongest and best way to bond/weld an acrylic fish tank?

There are commercial solvent cements, basically methylene chloride, that make very good, strong, "solvent-welded" joints in acrylic.  The pieces to be joined must have very close-fitting seams.  The solvent is "water-thin" and hence has no gap-filling capability.  Parts to be joined are first "dry" clamped or taped tightly together, then the solvent is applied, usually via a glass or polyethylene syringe, only to the joint seams.  The solvent will "wick" into the joint and fuse the mating acrylic sheets.

To insure water tightness of your tank, I would recommend applying silicone caulk/sealant to all the interior seams.  I believe there is a special grade of silicone sealant that is best suited for full immersion in water, and is also formulated to not contain any chemicals that might possibly harm fish.
 

Red Flag This Post

Please let us know here why this post is inappropriate. Reasons such as off-topic, duplicates, flames, illegal, vulgar, or students posting their homework.

Red Flag Submitted

Thank you for helping keep Eng-Tips Forums free from inappropriate posts.
The Eng-Tips staff will check this out and take appropriate action.

Reply To This Thread

Posting in the Eng-Tips forums is a member-only feature.

Click Here to join Eng-Tips and talk with other members!


Resources