# Acrylic Cage Question



## JFell95 (Jan 20, 2012)

I have been considering making some acrylic enclosures for my T's and scorps. I just don't know what kind of acrylic to use. I'm looking at my local home depot and they have tons of different kinds such as OPTIX and LENIN. Which is better? What is the best thickness? These are all around 2.2mm. What's the best thing to use to seal the sides together? How badly does acrylic warp? And lastly, what are those little vents called that everyone puts in their acrylic enclosures? All help is greatly appreciated 

Thanks 
Jaime


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## Tarac (Jan 20, 2012)

You can use any of the types they have at home depot but I can tell you from experience you are starting at completely the wrong place as they (and Lowe's) have virtually nothing of use for working with acrylics save a hobby iron.  Lexan is a well-used brand of acrylic, that's about it.  Optix is fine too but I urge you to find someone else to cut it all for you unless you have time and extra for mistakes plus the tools, being a decent saw with shallow, high number of teeth blade.  A table saw is ideal, but even then you are responsible for your mistakes where a glass shop will just cut what you ask and eat whatever errors their employees make (acrylic tends to chip and stutter along the blade if you work to fast, that's a show stopper more or less with acrylic tanks which need joints that fit very well).

You are better off finding a plastics or glass shop in your area and having them cut the acrylic via laser/table saw/etc. to the size you want.  The scoring tool is worthless more or less, especially if you are trying to make one of the nice "borderless" enclosures that come to mind when we are talking about acrylics.  You need clean, perpendicular edges for that type of fit.  Finding a local window shop will take care of that part and it will literally be cheaper in the end anyway.  You spend as much on one sheet at home depot as you do having the glass shop cut all your pieces for you plus they do the labor.  Means you have to plan carefully ofc, but it's not so hard.

I put holes in all of mine using a hobby iron, just melt right through so I'm not sure about the vents.  Mine has exchangeable tips of varying size and shape, it was about $8.00 and you can find that one single useful component at home depot.  

The solvent you want to use for welding the acrylic is called Methylene Chloride (DCM, etc.).  You might have to order it offline, none of the substances (such as strip-x, which has MC but also other additives that interfere with a clean rapid bond) at home depot or lowes will effectively work on acrylics.  Check on you tube how to actually apply it, there is a good tutorial for small cages there I think.  Basically the stuff is like very toxic, volatile water that you run along the seems of the acrylic to chemically bond the two pieces together.  It's very very fast.  It's also nasty stuff, but easy to work with.

Do not use silicone, epoxy, etc. etc.  None of those stick very well to acrylic, you'll end up with messy and temporary joints that discolor and eventually release.  The only way to go with acrylic is solvent welding.  US Plasitcs online has lots of stuff, including the acrylic hinges and hasps and such.  I do encourage you to check out that video, do a little reading and try it.  It's really a lot of fun, especially if you are impatient.  And you will be shocked at how beautiful and professional of an enclosure you can make for virtually nothing.  It cost me about $30.00 to get all the supplies and accessories for making twenty 8x8x16 tanks plus about $20.00 per tank for 0.25" acrylic, cut to size by my local glass shop.  So that is less than $25.00 per tank.  You can assemble two or three in just a few hours (I'm a slow worker too).  Faulkner is a good company to get hinges and the like from as well.  Good luck!  It's very fun and satisfying.

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## JFell95 (Jan 20, 2012)

Okay so I looked around and found a local glass shop. So my best bet would be to draw up some plans, and go to the glass shop and buy the acrylic there + have them cut it for me? I did a google search and found this 
http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?sku=43401
Is this the stuff you were talking about?
I also found the hinges and hasps you were talking about. 
Thank you so much for your information you just saved me alot of time and money

Jaime


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## desertanimal (Jan 24, 2012)

I didn't look at your link, but Weld-On 4 is what you want for cement.  I found lots of tutorials online for building custom aquaria before I started working with it at all.  There are plenty of good ones out there and even though those people are working with large pieces of thick acrylic, the principles are the same.  Just watch some of the ones that don't use the pin method.  That won't work on the lightweight stuff we're using.  

I have cut some of my own pieces,  but I'm certainly not always perfect.  The advantage to ordering extra material and cutting yourself is that you can play around a bit and learn a little.  I know I would have been disappointed if I'd only ordered exactly what I wanted for one cage, already cut.  I might have glued something incorrectly, or realized that my design wasn't all that good.  With this thin stuff, you can score it and break it.  They sell cheap scoring tools (I've been using a razor blade, which I suspect is not as good, but it works).  

I'm just about to post a pic of my last effort now, in fact.  It's my last for a while because I've run out of materials from my first order, and I really don't need any more enclosures.

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## Tarac (Jan 26, 2012)

JFell95 said:


> Okay so I looked around and found a local glass shop. So my best bet would be to draw up some plans, and go to the glass shop and buy the acrylic there + have them cut it for me? I did a google search and found this
> http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?sku=43401
> Is this the stuff you were talking about?


That stuff is the same as weld-on more or less, yes.  It will work fine.  They even called it solvent (not Weld On) so that if you search for Weld On on their site it will come up since they don't carry the IPS brand product.  As long as it is mostly methylene chloride it should work well with the exception of strippers that have additives to help slow evaporation, etc.  Some people even use acetone but it leaves a cloudy finish.  

Do plan it out well before going to the glass shop and have them cut it.  Make sure they are using a laser or table saw or something else that gives a nice clean and perpendicular edge, not a scoring tool and breaking method.  Usually they do use a saw though, much more efficient.  Don't forget to compensate for the thickness of acrylic when planning out the sides or you might be making a return trip for some small refinement cuts.  Small adjustments you can make with a file or a decent sander but it's slow and tedious so better just to have it cut correctly than to try to fix.

I found US Plastics to be fairly economical and surprisingly fast shipping.  I ordered some more hasps and a couple more lengths of the living hinge recently and for the meager $5.00 shipping charge it was here in less than a week.  I

Trying to find everything locally can be frustrating depending on where you are so I am happy to be able to point you in the right direction.  If you just go with the method the pro's all use as I described it will be very rewarding as it is easy, fun and you get a really attractive product at the end.  I think you'll be really happy with the whole process if you like DIY stuff.

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