Inexpensive Custom Cut Acrylic?

[R_MC]

Hi All,

 

I'd really love to create a custom acrylic aquarium. I have the design skills, but live in a TINY Boston apartment and am not set up to cut and sand acrylic.

 

Is there an inexpensive online source for custom cut acrylic or glass?

 

As an experiment I priced out a 12x12 cube with a thin black insert on a few sites and it came to almost $300 shipped.

 

Thanks!

 

Rob

[Smithjm5]

Hi All,

 

I'd really love to create a custom acrylic aquarium. I have the design skills, but live in a TINY Boston apartment and am not set up to cut and sand acrylic.

 

Is there an inexpensive online source for custom cut acrylic or glass?

 

As an experiment I priced out a 12x12 cube with a thin black insert on a few sites and it came to almost $300 shipped.

 

Thanks!

 

Rob

Hit up Mike from mirco reefs, i'm sure he could hook you up with something!

mikeguerrero@micro-reefs.com

[Enchelycore808]

Tap Plastics sells custom cut cast acrylic for pretty cheap.

[best3175]

I like where this is headed. Keep us posted.

[Admonition]

Have you tried Home Depot / Lowes? As long as you don't mind sealing it yourself, they sell acrylic and will cut it for free.

[evilc66]

You really don't want to use that acrylic. It's about the lowest quality acrylic you can get, and certainly not up to the task of a tank. What HD sells is extruded acrylic, and is not nearly as strong as cast. They also don't sell it in thick enough sheets.

[ecam315]

buy the acrylic off of amazon or ebay, then check with a local sign shop, they have the laser to cut in anything that you want, slots, holes, teeth, etc. I had a AIO wall made, and they charged $10 for the cuts

[tran]

hi rob,

 

where about you in the boston area.?

for acrylic, I usually buy acrylic sheet from Lowes and they can cut for you there.

good luck.

 

Hi All,

 

I'd really love to create a custom acrylic aquarium. I have the design skills, but live in a TINY Boston apartment and am not set up to cut and sand acrylic.

 

Is there an inexpensive online source for custom cut acrylic or glass?

 

As an experiment I priced out a 12x12 cube with a thin black insert on a few sites and it came to almost $300 shipped.

 

Thanks!

 

Rob

[evilc66]

hi rob,

 

where about you in the boston area.?

for acrylic, I usually buy acrylic sheet from Lowes and they can cut for you there.

good luck.

 

You really don't want to use that acrylic. It's about the lowest quality acrylic you can get, and certainly not up to the task of a tank. What HD sells is extruded acrylic, and is not nearly as strong as cast. They also don't sell it in thick enough sheets.

Same thing applies to Lowes. You REALLY REALLY don't want to use extruded acrylic for a tank, unless you like bowed panels and/or wet floors. Seriously, just get the right stuff.

[StevieT]

Your first acrylic project should not be to build and aquarium. It will end in disaster.