Acrylics Project - 50g Frag Tank via Slice & Dice

Finally getting around to starting this one this weekend (sorry for the wait Rich)
Remember this tank from Grove & Platt, the one that cracked out along the bottom and had to be replaced?

Well yes, I still have it.  I'm going to attempt to cut approximately 10" off the top and put on a new bottom.
I plan to slice it up with a circular saw, and cut the overflow box along the same line with a sawsall (we'll see how THAT goes) and re-use the overflow box, either as a drain or as a in-tank closed loop...or something like that...
Then, I am going to make a jig for my router and prep the edge all the way around.  I will probably have to clamp the sides of the tank to reverse the bowing factor before bonding, luckily I also have 2 2" square steel tubes from the old tank stand to do that with.
In the end, I may have to put gussets all around the bottom joint, but we'll see.

 

This was not fun.











But, the first step is finally out of the way!

 

Made quite a bit of progress on this long overdue project today.

First, I had to come up with a way to route the edges. The size of the tank made it difficult to route the rough cut edge on my router table. So I made a custom guide out of a 1/2" thick euro cutout remnant





Then I laid the tank on it's side and weighed it down with a couple of 10 lb weights (not shown) and ran the router down the edge. It worked pretty good!



Then I set the tank on end on the table and ripped the ends down



I had to go back and forth a few times, and the edges didn't come out perfect, but that'll be corrected with a razor blade and some time. Of more concern, is the overflow rough cut.





First attempt, coping saw



Fail.

Then I scored a line with a razor blade, and used a dremel with a saw wheel. I got about 1/2 way through, then continued with the coping saw. Again, fail.

In the end, brute force won



The bottom of the oveflow box won't be bonded. It's fugly. I'm just going to grind it down in one spot and call it done, and I'll have to just put a gusset around it. Either that, or it could be an over/under "internal closed loop" and I'll just make another overflow box.

 

The reason I'm doing it is that someone paid me to. Otherwise I'm guessing it would be sitting in my basement storage room.

 

I draped vinegar-soaked paper towels on the tank yesterday



That's a trick I learned from doing the zero-edge restoration. Works pretty well, you just come back every 15 minutes or so with a turkey baster and keep the towels wet. That revealed the extent of the scratches. Turns out it needs a little more refinishing work so I'm going to get out the wet/dry sandpaper and the buffer, but probably only to the long panels. Gotta do that before putting the bottom on, so that's going to get put off until another day...

 

Insides sanded with 2000 grit



I buffed and polished it after this, turned out pretty good. Took out all of the scratches I put in it when I scraped the coralline off after tearing it out. I put a lot of scratches in it /DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default//emoticons/sad.gif

 

Hey guess what!

 

Flush trimmed the bottom



I didn't think I was going to be able to do this, but after a "duh" moment, I realized I could rather easily.

Black gusset



It's not perfect, due to the bend in the original overflow box, there is a spot in each corner that will need to be filled with silicone (since my Weld-On 40 expired and I threw it out)



Also need to drill the hole for the overflow, and sand and polish.

This one will be at Spring Fest