diy skimmer party???
- Thread starter sciknen
- Start date
Oh, OK, I was probably remembering some cautious reccomendations for doing it at home or something?
Edit, I looked around a little, 300 may not be unreasonably hot );
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Jbish could be the one to take the sheet out of the oven, he's not afraid of a little heat 
FWIW I do think you guys are correct about the higher ignition point. When I looked around last night I found a few links that suggested it was in the 700-800 range.
I wouldn't necessarily dismiss the cautions about the fumes though.
Whatever the case, be careful guys. Probably wear gloves when you handle that hot sheet
FWIW I do think you guys are correct about the higher ignition point. When I looked around last night I found a few links that suggested it was in the 700-800 range.
I wouldn't necessarily dismiss the cautions about the fumes though.
Whatever the case, be careful guys. Probably wear gloves when you handle that hot sheet
jbishop
CIA Agent / Constable
Jbish could be the one to take the sheet out of the oven, he's not afraid of a little heat
I wouldn't necessarily dismiss the cautions about the fumes though.
Whatever the case, be careful guys. Probably wear gloves when you handle that hot sheet
I will grab it, 300 isnt too crazy. I have some nice gloves and I will wear a respirator.
NateHanson
Non-member
When you heat acrylic to bend it, it off-gasses, and those gasses are very flammable. When we made our skimmers a few years ago, we used tubes (I thought they cost about $100 for 3' sections of 6" tube), so $50/person for our skimmers - you can probably find the thread for more accurate numbers though). Then I turned a wood plug for a cone on top of the tube, and we used a torch to bend sheet over the plug. Then I held the cone in a jig and ran it through the table-saw to cut off a flush top surface that the riser neck was glued to. The bottom of the cone was cut round using a template bit in a router table, and then rabbetted to make a better glue-surface with the tube.
As we heated the plastic with the torch, you could tell it was getting close to the forming temperature, because the released gasses would catch fire in little blue puffs. I'd be VERY careful about doing this in a home oven, because it could accumulate the gasses and result in an explosion. I'm sure the 15' walk-in oven used by the plastic fab shop has some good ventilation and fire-supression systems.
As we heated the plastic with the torch, you could tell it was getting close to the forming temperature, because the released gasses would catch fire in little blue puffs. I'd be VERY careful about doing this in a home oven, because it could accumulate the gasses and result in an explosion. I'm sure the 15' walk-in oven used by the plastic fab shop has some good ventilation and fire-supression systems.
Here's that old thread;
http://www.bostonreefers.org/forums/showthread.php?t=3375
http://www.bostonreefers.org/forums/showthread.php?t=3375
Mcmaster has just about any size in 3/16" cast tubing, but their prices look a little higher.
http://www.mcmaster.com/#acrylic-tubing/=dj90q
You said 6' length. I thought cast usually came in 5' lengths?
(Maybe that's just the places I've dealt with?)
http://www.mcmaster.com/#acrylic-tubing/=dj90q
You said 6' length. I thought cast usually came in 5' lengths?
(Maybe that's just the places I've dealt with?)
It is definately possible that they are talking metric. Acrylic material made anywhere but the US is usually metric.
I said 3/16" because that's the closest american size to 5mm.
IIRC I have heard of people saving some $ by buying imported acrylic stock.
Can you share who the supplier is your looking at? Is it that local fabrication place?
I said 3/16" because that's the closest american size to 5mm.
IIRC I have heard of people saving some $ by buying imported acrylic stock.
Can you share who the supplier is your looking at? Is it that local fabrication place?
Oook. So i finally got a quote from PolyFab
"the cost to make the mold will be $225. The price for 1 piece will be $214 if fabricated from 1/4" extruded acrylic, and the price each for 4 will be $188 fabricated from 1/4 extruded acrylic."
We got options i...but its not looking very cheap.
"the cost to make the mold will be $225. The price for 1 piece will be $214 if fabricated from 1/4" extruded acrylic, and the price each for 4 will be $188 fabricated from 1/4 extruded acrylic."
We got options i...but its not looking very cheap.
