ripple tank fabrication

[importtuner]

Hi,
I'm going to build a ripple tank to study square wave propagation. I am planning to construct a fiberglass mold for the ripple tank. The tank needs to be as transparent as posible and uniform in thickness. A plastic material seems to be the most suitable in this application. I plan on overlaying the plastic on the mold and heating it with an automotive heat gun (basically an overpowered hair drier). Is this an acceptable approach? Additionally I believe that Lexan would a good material candidate, are there more suitable alternatives such as plexiglass or acrylic? Scratch resistance is a disirble trait in this material. I would appreciate any help or tips

 

[patprimmer]

Plexiglass is one brand of acrylic.

Acrylic is much more scratch resistant than polycarbonate (Lexan is just one brand name for polycarbonate).

Acrylic can be thermoformed to some extent with a hot air gun, or even better by heating in an oven and forming over a mould. The mould can be simply an appropriately shaped pice of wood.

Polycarbonate can also be formed in this way, but it is more difficult as it must first be dried to prevent bubbles forming as a result of the outgassing of water vapour. It also needs a somewhat higher temperature to form than does acrylic

Regards
pat

 

[bradphillips]

You can also fabricate a tank with plexiglass sheets and use adhesive or solvent bond in the corners. Test the joints on a small piece to see if corners will hold.

 

[PrentP]

You can bond the sheets of acrylic using Tensol Cement.

See

http://www.mcmordiebros.co.uk/tensol_cement.htm

Regards,

Peter P