all spot on malc, now you know why I have a thing for expensive giant plastic tubs. :2thumb:
I mean I suppose £300 is good for a pvc 4x2x2 but I build weird things because I probably put too much stock in design, I mean I made a teak rack with giant tubs on soft close rails just so I could play with the joinery (it killed my chisels and plane though, it was soo friggin hard), and I liked the finished hardwood colour, it was not cheap but it was pretty. i tested the shit out of it then I broke it apart and made a cage thing. I made a solid oak version that I built at a specific angle for a weird wall, I sold it before I could get a chance to re-morph into something else.
a boa guy asked me to make a rack (that might have been the Black goldfish tub one) and I almost said no because the design was just too mass produced but I made it anyway, I made an entire dual drawer cage just so I could inset stats in the fascia with all the electrics hidden, an animal never made it inside though before I repurposed it, I did test the shit out of it though, the stats were those stc-1000's, remember them, I really really liked their dependability, on/off with a useable small swing, I always think of the temp swings from basic stats as simulated cloud cover : victory:
I had a guy in Germany, no Austria maybe, Daniel with the dodgy English, he made me three multi channel stats, one four 2 eights's with lighting and misting channels on the 8's, I made a aluminium polypropylene monster rack just for the eight channel, each shelf contained the heating for the tub above and lighting for the tub below but limited to I think 28mm total thickness. my most important takeaway from that project, don't take the guard off ur chopsaw because it becomes a terrifying monster thereafter.
this company
https://www.facebook.com/imcages/?e...ref=gs&dti=1378901919006736&hc_location=group makes very pretty designs, very well thought out, cnc's are beautiful things
I hope you know your post makes me want to abandon this design and buy a giant polypro water tank and do weird things to it:2thumb:
thanks for taking the time for ur input, its very useful information
rgds
ed
PS I have an ex-cel sample, its very nice, very durable, worth the money?, if u can get it trade yes, retail eh I dunno, given the sparse pvcs products available probably yes, just based on its hard face
As most commercial vivs use 18mm thick panels, to compare that with the PVC boards. 2.5m x 1.2m in 19mm thickness - £384 inc vat per sheet
That could make a 4' x 2' x 2', with solid back and a single 60mm substrate retainer (or light shield depending which way up the thing is). If you wanted a second strip to hold the glass tracking in that would require a second sheet with a lot of leftover material.
4mm glass with edges ground all round, plastic tracking, and a couple of vents - £50 so you you could end up with a PVC 4x2x2 for around £420-£430.
If the 13mm material is used (personally I feel this is the minimum) you could shave off £123, so £300 all in
As for joining, I would probably use a solvent based poly adhesive that "welds" the two surfaces together rather than traditional screws.