fishtank glue

"Steve W." fired this volley in news:m5o04e$pgs$1 @dont-email.me:

Never needed to; but I've only cut 'shop-stock glass' myself, never any of the antique blown glass. I've never had problems snapping a clean score.

Lloyd

"Steve W." fired this volley in news:m5o04e$pgs$1 @dont-email.me:

PS... I've cut circles and other geometric shapes with only a hardened steel wheel. Curves are where I have most often seen "progressive" breaks, instead of clean snaps. There are 'kinks' to cutting oddball shapes, like scoring the lines all the way to the edges of the sheet for any side of a polygon, and only scoring one polygon side at a time, so you're only straining one line. Otherwise, it might start to break in a direction you don't want.

I suppose carbide would be better for everything. It certainly would be less likely to be buggered-up by re-scoring a line. Never had one, though.

I still have a (good) F-T cutter that's most of twenty years old in an oiled bag. (that's another tip. Store the cutter in a bag with an oil- saturated pad to discourage corrosion). The pros keep them in a cup full of machine oil or kerosene, so the wheel, axle, and all the levering slots are kept under the liquid.

Lloyd

Watched a vid on youtube the other day. Search "how to build an aquarium" Just glass and silicone. I'm gona make one now.

I bought a couple 1 1/2 ounce tubes of Loctite clear silicone:

except that mine is labelled as "aquarium safe" in the upper LH corner; when I found it marked down from $4.99 to $1.97 at Mary Maxim, Port Huron Mi. a couple years back. I haven't had occasion to use it on my 140 l. tank, since the only leakage was over the top, between the ackrylic walls and the plastic canopy caused by my 12" Pleco executing trout like maoeuvers. I injected crazy glue gel through holes drilled through the canopy lip. Worked great!

My big Pleco was about 6" long when the neice of SWMBO sent him home with me five years ago. I also have a 4" Pleco and a 1" albino Pleco.

Some time back I did some glass engraving using a high speed rotary tool(35K RPM). Newer glass cut fine and dandy, but the somebody brought me some 80+ year old stained glass. THAT was a hard time. Even using plenty of lube and diamond bits it took a lot of time ,effort and a multitude of bits. I did not do any more of that glass! Although newer stained glass was not a problem.

It can depend on the glass formulation. Lead crystal was/is favoured by people doing cold working, such as engraving, as it is softer than soda lime glass and easier to work with. Not so many people doing lead crystal these days due to the health concerns but I know a few that still work with it due to the demand for it by people that will subsequently have it cold worked or for restoration work where the original was lead crystal.

How is this performed, I've got pleny of propane torches if those are acceptable.

Cydrome Leader fired this volley in news:m5q4rb $bo9$ snipped-for-privacy@reader1.panix.com:

The common wisdom is that the flame is just lightly and quickly played along the score... not getting any one part hotter than another. When the scored surface gets hot enough, the developed strains cause it to break along the line without any bending.

It should work. I've never tried it. Sounds like "more work" to me. Snapping works fine on a properly-scored line, even with pretty thick stock.

Lloyd

Yeah GE silicone.. it also said something on the package about food safe. I use to buy it at Home Depot, but I haven't seen it in a while. I think it used acetic acid rather than ammonia as the.. (?) Well thinner i s not the right word.

So a funny story, I found some old plate glass (1/4") and decided to make m y own aquarium, ~ 2'x3'x2' (two feet deep.) I put it all together and star ted to fill it up in the basement. I went up stairs and, when I came back down it was ~3/4 full and the sides at the top were bulging out several inc hes!!! There's a lot of side pressure. Needless to say I stopped the fill drained it and added a frame at the top to hold it together. But I was ver y impressed with the silicone. No special surface prep, but I cleaned with detergent and water and then isopropyl alcohol.

Don't forget the top frame, George H.

snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com fired this volley in news: snipped-for-privacy@googlegroups.com:

FWIW, they don't "use" acetic acid. Acetic acid is evolved as a product of curing. The GE Silicone II product evolves methanol instead of acetic acid.

Lloyd

Thanks Lloyd.

What actually causes silicone to cure?

Cydrome Leader fired this volley in news:m5qeo6 $sht$ snipped-for-privacy@reader1.panix.com:

Moisture from the air. It will cure more slowly in very low humidity.

LLoyd

Cydrome Leader fired this volley in news:m5qeo6 $sht$ snipped-for-privacy@reader1.panix.com:

PS... there are other types of cure, but the most common ones are type I and type II silicones over the counter.

There are some that produce amines on cure, also, and at least one that produces acetone. FWIW, acetone is the least toxic of all of them.

Lloyd

My 150 gallon tank has 3/4" thick walls. That sucker is heavy! I put in a pier deeper than the tank is tall and wider. It is sitting on a tall frame. Water is tough stuff when it gets deep!

I keep salt water in mine with a near dozen fish, shrimp and other sea creatures.

Martin

I used a special fortified form for the Glass rope on my wood stove out in the mountains of Ca. Nice to have that big stove today.

Martin