The gluing of the third side went well. I must put in a note that the cement I used cured VERY fast. Almost as fast as superglue. I could remove the clamps within 5 minutes if the seams were perfect. In a couple seams, the edges had a few small gaps which were compressable(sp?) with the clamps to make the seam perfect. With these, when I took off the clamps too soon, I would see bubbles start forming from the edges as the acrylic pulled apart. I quickly reapplied the clamps, and left them for an hour. When I took off the clamps after an hour, the seams stayed clear with no bubbles. If you use a different brand or type of cement, you will need to determine the curing time for your specific type. I will say the bottle of cement I have DOES NOT say anywhere on it what the curing time is. I had to determine it through trial and error. The way I did this was to put some on two scrap pieces of acrylic, and timed how long it took to evaporate. It was very quick as mentioned earlier.
OK, back to the how-to. The fourth vertical side of the sump was one that would have two bulkheads in it. One bulkhead was
positioned at the VERY bottom, just clearing the bottom edge of the acrylic. This is for the Return pump intake. The return pump I bought was the
Iwaki MD70RLT. I am somewhat worried after reading all the information in the forums that this pump may be too loud...I will let you know.
The Iwaki has a 1" intake and a 1" outlet. In order to ensure the intake stays flooded, I decided on a 1 1/2" bulkhead with 1 1/2" FLEX PVC going to
a reduction bushing. I chose the flex PVC because someone on the forums said it can reduce vibration "megaphone"ing in the sump.
A 1 1/2" bulkhead needs a 2 3/8" hole in the acrylic. A hole saw is the optimal way to make perfect holes in the acrylic. Here is where MISTAKE #1 occured.
I ordered the hole saw for the bulkhead as well as a 1" hole saw with interchangeable mandril(the part that the hole saws attach to that has a seperate drill bit in it)
from mytoolstore.com. They were very well priced, and they shipped everything the same day...very good service.
When the holesaws and mandril arrived, I was so happy to learn that they needed a 1/2" chuck on the drill. I have an ancient Black&Decker power drill I have
had for probably 15 years. It is a true workhorse, and has been rock solid for me it's entire life. It, by the way, is a 3/8" chuck. 3/8" < 1/2" my mistake.
I should have done a little more research before ordering. Anyway, I got a good deal on a nice new DeWalt drill at a local hardware store. I made sure it had a 1/2" chuck.
Here is a picture of my new toy with the holesaw in place.
Notice the wood behind the acrylic in the picture. I believe if you are using a hole saw, you probably understand the concept, but for a true step-by-step, I will put in that you need to have either wood or another piece of acrylic behind the piece being drilled to ensure the hole saw has something to go into when passing through the acrylic. This keeps the edges from chipping when the holesaw breaks through...leaving the paper on the acrylic helps with this also.
Next is a picture of the 1 1/2" bulkhead with a "slug" from a previously drilled hole (sorry, I made the refugium first, and it had one bulkhead..this is where this slug is from). The "slug" is a perfect tool for marking out EXACTLY where the hole will be drilled. It has a hole in the center from the pilot drill in the holesaw. I positioned the slug where I wanted the bulkhead, and marked the center through the hole.
