High Tide Aquatics

DIY Frag Rack

tygunn

tygunn

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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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REEFCARTEL said:
Nice! i really need to get equipment to make stuff like that. Custom sumps and tanks etc.
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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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bee505 said:
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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Click to expand...
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!
 
gaberosenfield said:
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!
Click to expand...
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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