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tips for siliconing acrylic baffles into glass sump.

scubaD

Non-member
Got acrylic baffles cut at Lowe's last night. They are 1/4" narrower than the inside width of the sump. So 1/8" on each side. Got the GE Silicon I window and door. Ready to go I think. I was hoping to get some tips and techniques for mounting the baffles. I think I know silicon doesn't bond to the plastic, only to the glass. So I am basically locking the baffles in more than gluing them in. Correct? So what is the technique? Line the baffle edges with silicon and put it in, then fill in with more silicon? Or put the baffle sin dry and then silicon on both sides? Something else? Any special tips? Thanks for any insight.

David
 
1/4" might be a bit much I usually cut mine 1/8" shy but if you are using 1/4" acrylic you should be ok.

Cut yourself some strips of acrylic the same height as the baffles (depending on the flow through your sump they should be 1"-1.5" wide) these we'll call gussets.
Now apply a nice bead to two of the gussets and press them firmly flat against the glass at your starting point. Next a baffle, then a pair of "gussets" to sandwich it in place and so on.
This technique will keep the spacing nice and even and also allow the baffle to "float" between the gussets during expansion and contraction.

A couple of tricks I've picked up:

>Work from the end of the tank to the middle.
>add and wipe a nice silicone bead to each baffle as you go (you won't be able to reach it later)
>Use a sharpie and mark yourself a layout on the outside of the tank before starting (some water and a razor will take it right off after)
>on the bottom side of the baffles use a sanding block or random orbit to round the corners to relieve where it contacts the existing silicone bead in the tank, this will make the baffle sit flush to the bottom of the tank.
>Instead of trying to prop up and space the baffle for the "under" flow, just cut it to look like the bottom of an H leaving ~1" "legs" and the same 1"-1.5" as the strips space from the bottom for flow under. This way you can set it right in without messing with propping it up etc.

hope some of that made sense :p
 
Definitely made sense. Thanks for the wealth of info. any silicon on the underside of the baffle? If not what prevents water from going under the baffle? So seeing as I don't think we can take our remaining acrylic back to Lowe's and have them cut the gussets, do you think we can cut it using the handheld scoring tool they sell? Score, score, score, score and then break? That reminds me we do have a random orbit sander. I will have to dig that out. Thanks again.

David
 
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