I just called a glass place looking for prices on acrylic. The salesperson tells me that acrylic is a brand name and that plexiglass is the same thing. She quoted me a price of $8.00/sq. foot for 1/4 inch and $6.00 a square foot for 1/8 inch. I am looking to start building my 10 gallon sump tonight, I have a 10 gallon tank that I bought the other day that I will be using as the base for my sump. Is this what I need or is the salesperson wrong?
Plexiglass vs. Acrylic
- Thread starter jbjints1
- Start date
Plexiglass is a trade name. The real chemical name is something like polymethylmethyacrylate (PMMA) or something like that. There are other name that it goes by, but overall, the salesperson is correct to say that they are the same thing.
Thing to watch for is to make sure it is casted acrylic. Other varieties are extruded (softer), and scratch-resistance (good for windows, but PITA to glue together. Oh, polycarbonate ("Lexan" or something) is NOT acrylic, and you don't want that.
Get the 1/4" stuff.
BTW, Lexan polycarbonate works well for these applications, glues just as easily as acrylic and is a lot stronger (basically unbreakable). But DM is right - you don't want it - the price is about 10x regular acrylic. I use it if I have it lying around from some other project, but it is painful to buy!
It's the stuff the Space Shuttle's windows are made from.
BTW, Lexan polycarbonate works well for these applications, glues just as easily as acrylic and is a lot stronger (basically unbreakable). But DM is right - you don't want it - the price is about 10x regular acrylic. I use it if I have it lying around from some other project, but it is painful to buy!
It's the stuff the Space Shuttle's windows are made from.
AFAIR, space shuttle's windshield is made of glass that cost $100K per piece, and it is replaced every flight. Althought the original poster probably not interested about this, but I am also not too sure about the use of Lexan on tank building application because it does not glue well like acylics (solvent cement).
Fergy says that the 3 tops brands for marine applications: 1. Spartech Polycast 2. Cyro Acrylite GP 3. Autofina Plexiglas - G.
He is current using #3.
Does anyone have any experince with the imported brands like Chemcast? My local supplier swears by the imported brands saying there is little to no difference in quality at all.
FWIW, those top 3 would cost me double what the imports are going for!
Louey
He is current using #3.
Does anyone have any experince with the imported brands like Chemcast? My local supplier swears by the imported brands saying there is little to no difference in quality at all.
FWIW, those top 3 would cost me double what the imports are going for!
Louey
James/Acrylics in the DIY forum maybe able to help you on this. So maybe you want to PM him about it.
I feel that if the manufacturer can provide you with the physical data (strenght, mean polymer weight, hardness, etc.), and you do the comparison yourself, it is worth more than anything the suppliers say.
I feel that if the manufacturer can provide you with the physical data (strenght, mean polymer weight, hardness, etc.), and you do the comparison yourself, it is worth more than anything the suppliers say.
David Magen":2inkrvvd said:
True, but it's the kind of useless info I like.
I looked it up on a NASA web site. The airlock window is two panes of Lexan and the sun filters for all the windows are Lexan. The side and front widows are three pane - the inner one is glass and the outer two of Corning HPFS fused silica. The aft windows facing the cargo bay are two pane - inner glass and outer fused silica.
All the spacesuit helmets are made of Lexan - that's probably what I was half-remembering.
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