Reefkeeper
06-21-2005, 11:19 AM
I'm curious about what people are using to heat their acrylic to bend it properly? Back in the day, we used specialty strip heaters where you placed the piece over the heating element and that would heat it sufficiently to bend the acrylic.
I am thinking of trying to make a internal shelf for my tank to place certain animals closer to the surface. Thus, its going to be really simple, approximately 5 bends if my mental image would work.
I have thought of using a heat gun that we used for working with formica when redoing the bathroom. Alternatively, the other heating ideas I had was attempting to use a hair dryer or even a butane torch very carefully.
The only other things that I need to figure out is the thickness of the acrylic, where to get the rolling wheel to soften the edges (its a plastic device that has a groove which you run along the edges if the acrylic....it smoothes it out the cut marks and makes it much safer) and what type of acrylic to use.
Thanks.
I am thinking of trying to make a internal shelf for my tank to place certain animals closer to the surface. Thus, its going to be really simple, approximately 5 bends if my mental image would work.
I have thought of using a heat gun that we used for working with formica when redoing the bathroom. Alternatively, the other heating ideas I had was attempting to use a hair dryer or even a butane torch very carefully.
The only other things that I need to figure out is the thickness of the acrylic, where to get the rolling wheel to soften the edges (its a plastic device that has a groove which you run along the edges if the acrylic....it smoothes it out the cut marks and makes it much safer) and what type of acrylic to use.
Thanks.