Acrylic supplier in Austin

[prof]

I know Home Depot has acrylic and Lexan but only in thin pieces.

Where are the best places to buy sheet acrylic in different thickness’?

I want to build my own sump/refugium but am not sure where the best places are to get supplies.


David Beck

[witecap4u]

If you look under plastics in the phone book(pg.1169) or goto smartpages.com, you find a few. Regal Plastics is where alot of people recomend, and I've bought Weld on from Interstate Plastics, and they seemed ok...cs

[utmachete]

the best retail place to buy acrylic is Interstate Plastics, because the guys there are very friendly and OK on the prices. THe problem is they can cut the acrylic for you but they don't have a jointer. Regal has a jointer but they are not as friendly, prices are OK too.

I buy all my acrylic wholesale but when I get it I buy over $500 of acrylic at a time. This is why I can build my tanks and refugiums so cheap. I buy the acrylic at about %50 less than Regal.

I can get individual pieces of acrylic for those of you who want to experiment with building refugiums and small tanks. Just send me a PM with the dimensions of the pieces and I can give you a price.

[bozack]

I purchased some of that Lexan or thin acrylic from the Depot in plans of making a small custom tank (only around a few gallons). Actually building a tank inside an old computer monitor.

What can I use for sealing the pieces together? Obviously I am using the wrong stuff as I have tried different silicones and the tank just comes apart from the pressure onces it is filled.

Thanks

[witecap4u]

You should be using a product called Weld on. There are different varieties, but I think #4 is probably(someone correct me if Im wrong) the one you want. You can get it at the plastic suppliers listed above, and you should be able to get a good size can of it and applicator for about $10. You'll want to make sure you have nice smooth level edges also, becuase you will be bonding the acrylic together, not just glueing and sealing

BTW, as you've found out, silicon doesnt stick to acrylic too well, and is also not good to use on PVC...cs

[bozack]

Thanks, I'll try the above stores for a look.
Yeah I figured out the dumb way the good ole silicon doesn't work.
Haven't worked with acrylic at all but started thinking it was some type of bonding process when I started redoing my PVC stuff on my sump. Just haven't been able to get confirmation what I needed. I'll give it a go