laser cutting of acrylic for sumps, custom tanks, etc...

[JonsReef]

Hey everyone-

Today, I was doing some research on laser cutting/engraving for a business idea I'm working on. Someone recommended this place in Cambridge, MA (near central square) called "danger!awesome". They have laser cutting/engraving machines that you can rent (~$2/min for cutting time). I thought maybe this would be useful for those of you that want to create custom acrylic components for sumps, etc. I'm not sure how expensive this would be relative to glass or other cutting methods, but it seems pretty inexpensive if you wanted to prototype something or test a sump layout, etc.

I am in no way affiliated with the store and have never been there, but wanted to pass the info along in case someone might find it useful. Link below.


http://www.dangerawesome.co/

 

[wdebenedettojr]

This is interesting. I was just looking into possibly finding a local acrylic company that could custom make me an ato container. I have such little space in my stand so custom would work best for me. I have seen some online but they are over $100 wonder if this is cheaper

 

[RiverRat]

That's pretty cool. I am in the process of ordering a custom acrylic sump.

 

[JonsReef]

This is interesting. I was just looking into possibly finding a local acrylic company that could custom make me an ato container. I have such little space in my stand so custom would work best for me. I have seen some online but they are over $100 wonder if this is cheaper

I was with someone today at MIT that had one of these in their lab that they used to cut 1/4" acrylic. it was able to cut a 5"x7" piece out of a larger sheet in about 3 minutes, which would have only cost $6 at this place. I'm not sure what format the design files need to be in, but the system I saw today just used an old version of Corel Draw and anything you drew could be fed to the cutter. If you designed your pieces at home out of a larger sheet (similar to a cutting diagram for a sheet of plywood in wood working), I would imagine that you could make parts very cheap at this place.

 

[JonsReef]

if you had the pieces cut somewhere (or could even find someone with a table saw), you could weld them yourself with a syringe and MEK (methyl-ethyl-ketone), which you can get at Home Depot with all the other solvents. i've never welded acrylic, but an organic chemist told me that MEK works better than acetone (dimethyl ketone or methyl-methyl-ketone). since its for an ATO in your stand, I'd probably still use silicone just to be safe.

 

[ro_nicu]

weldon does a much better job than MEK. Another way is to dissolve the shavings from cutting in solvent and use the paste as glue but the complete cure time is in the order of weeks in this case.

 

[mchartier]

My dad had a Kern Laser. For one don't put anything PVC in them. I know with his he used a couple of different software packages depending on what he was doing, CorelDraw was one of them. Can also use CAD. Most of the work he did used Vector drawings. Unless you are doing intricate engraving like a logo on a sump I think the laser cut may be over board as acrylic is very easy to cut and route with normal tools.