Biscuit joining Mdf aquairum cabinet.... What glue?

[Terryann]

Hi all, new here and haven't started a wood working project since school ten years ago, so in need of some much needed advice.

I'm planing on building this fish tank cabinet out of 18mm mdf.

Going to be biscuit joining and gluing it as don't want any thing to ruin the finish
Just would like to know what glue people would recommend? Someone has said cascamite... Is this any good for mdf?

Also what size biscuits would you recommend...20#?

Any advice would be great

 

[custard]

Size 20 biscuits will fit with 18mm MDF, but I'd also have a few size 10 biscuits to hand. Size 10 are only a little smaller but might be useful for the ends of the front top rail or you can put a size 10 biscuit in a size 20 slot if you need a bit more "wiggle room".

Regarding glue. The first thing I'd say is you must have a dry glue up before the real thing. This is important for any woodworker, for a beginner it's critical. Simple as this project looks there's almost certain to be one or two issues that will need resolving and you don't want to discover them when the glue's going off!

In a similar vein, even though experienced woodworkers would probably use waterproof PVA I'd strongly recommend Cascamite as it will give you an hour of open time versus ten minutes of open time, which you'll need to get everything together, check for square, ensure the cramping blocks are in the right place, etc.

Good luck!

 

[speed]

d4 grade pva glue

its availabe at tool station

 

[Phil Pascoe]

d4 grade pva glue

its available at tool station

Everbuild D4 - brilliant stuff. But not for that job, it'll grab far too quickly. (as said above)

 

[Skeety]

Just a suggestion as I can't see it in the drawings would be sum 2x3 in the cabinet to help carry the load. You may also want to consider making the top out of 1" MDF or laminating 2 sheets of 3/4" together.

The above comments are added as I have a custom made stand for my tank that was made by a well known custom aquarium manufacturer. It's made out of 3/4" MDF and despite there being some reinforcement in there the cabinet the top is wavy due to the pressure and weight.

What size tank are you putting on it? Have you allowed for anything on the base to make sure you can adjust the cabinet perfectly level to avoid stressing the glass?

My tank is 4' x 18" x 30" the tank alone with the substrate, bogwood etc. weighs around 125KG then add 350L of water at 350KG plus the lid and lighting plus the weight of the external canister filter and that's well over 500KG in total.

When I get round to making a new cabinet im going to do the above and also weld up a box section framework for strength.

Look forward to seeing pics of the cabinet

Jon.

 

[Terryann]

Thank you so much for all the suggestions guys.

Have seen a lot of cabinets built the same as this online, some have support and some don't, so I think il just see how sturdy it is when built and if I'm not confident put some 2x3 in

Cascimite is looking good to me because of the slower setting time, but have no idea how much I would need as you have to mix it with water and there are lots of size pots.... Any suggestions?

I was originally planing on just biscuiting and glueing in it stages ie side and top, the the other side, the bottom then back, leaving 24hours to set in between. If doing it in stages I could use the d4 pva? Or is it better to glue it all at once?

Oh and how many biscuits would you recommend or is it more the better? 3 on the 30cm parts and 4 on the 70cm parts?

Can't wait to get started!

Regards

 

[Ed209]

Very interesting to know a aquarium weighed so much would never have thought that
But your right I checked it out on the tinternet


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[custard]

Cascimite is looking good to me because of the slower setting time, but have no idea how much I would need as you have to mix it with water and there are lots of size pots.... Any suggestions?

The smallest size is 125g, and that's the pot to go for. Once a pot is opened moisture in the air will make it go off in a few months, faster in an unheated shed. So always go for the small pots unless you're a serious bulk user.

Cascamite is mixed up 1:1 with water by weight, or 3.5:1 with water by volume. Get yourself some of those little kitchen measuring spoons and go for 3.5 tablespoons of Cascamite with 1 tablespoon of water. That'll be enough for this job. But if you run short it's not a problem to mix up some more as you've loads of open time. The 125g pot contains about 10 or 11 tablespoons of Cascamite.

Good luck!