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DIY Frag Rack

Today while I was at the machine shop, I decided I've build a small frag rack for my tank. I made some insets on the back piece that fits some magnets, so I'll use that to hold it to the glass.

This is the FIRST time I have done a solvent weld for acrylic, and as you can see on the left side of the photo, I kinda messed up. See, I used an aluminum bar to hold the pieces together as I applied the acrylic solvent. It turns out the solvent wicked up the side of the aluminum bar on the left side there. So, lesson learned is that I will make sure that my work-holding apparatus does not contact the joint to prevent this from happening in the future.

I'm REALLY impressed with how the joint turned out though; from the back side you can look through to the front of the frag rack. SO much more pro than the pastey acrylic solvent I've used in the past.

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Very nice. I like how the is only one row of holes and it doesn't stick out to far into the tank. Most frag racks I have have at least 2 or 3 rows of holes. What are your plans with the magnets?

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Nice! i really need to get equipment to make stuff like that. Custom sumps and tanks etc.
Yeah I'm not sure what the best equipment is for this. I cut the acrylic to size with a table saw but the edges were far from perfect. I got some melting of the chips happening. I think maybe the blade on the saw was a finishing blade so too many teeth...

The mill seems way overkill for drilling the holes but I liked having the digital readout so I knew exactly where to make the holes.

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Very nice. I like how the is only one row of holes and it doesn't stick out to far into the tank. Most frag racks I have have at least 2 or 3 rows of holes. What are your plans with the magnets?

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Thanks! Yes I wanted a very small unobtrusive rack.

I was going to use some 1/2" neodibyium magnets but they're too weak to really hold through the tank wall. I am tried some 3/4" ceramic magnets but again was too weak. I will have to order some stronger wider neodibyium magnets and use those. Basically I machined little divots into the back of the mount where the magnets will sit and the plan was to seal them in with epoxy.

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I made a much crappier version of this and used neodymium magnets in countersunk holes to hold it on to the side of the tank. I sealed the magnets in using marine epoxy. No problems and it's been 6 months or more.

You don't need special tools to make these. Just acrylic, a vice, a hack saw, a drill with appropriate sized bits, and the acrylic solvent. But don't expect it to look as pretty as the one tygunn made!
 
I made a much crappier version of this and used neodymium magnets in countersunk holes to hold it on to the side of the tank. I sealed the magnets in using marine epoxy. No problems and it's been 6 months or more.

You don't need special tools to make these. Just acrylic, a vice, a hack saw, a drill with appropriate sized bits, and the acrylic solvent. But don't expect it to look as pretty as the one tygunn made!
Lol yeah it was pretty easy to make. I used to just use a chunk of eggcrate with some magnets encased in epoxy putty. Super ghetto but it works.

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