If you mean that melamine coated masonite, forget it. OK for short term
exposure in a shower surround but constantly soaked in a tank the water
will get through and turn the backing to mush. You may find some solid
plastic stuff a few racks down the aisle at the Home Despot that will
not absorb water. It is usually stuck to walls with Liquid nails or
other construction adhesive but I have not found an adheasive that will
stick to it reliably in a joint.

If you can build the tank outside and install it a laid up polyester or
epoxy FRP tank with a glued on lid would work. If you have access to an
air compressor and want to learn something new for a little less money
you can get a 4x8 sheet of 1/4" HDPE from a plastics distributor for
about $65 and a plastic welder from Harbor freight for another $25.
With a little practice on some scrap you can make a really nice tank
almost any shape you want. (Curves are not easy though)

Backyard Renegade wrote:

Hey folks, Scotty here.
What I am planning is some custom water tanks and such to be made to
fit inbetween two bulkheads. They will hold water for washing hands
and such, not necessarily drinking water. Any suggestions as to what
material and what adhesive/connectors to use to keep it watertight? I
was thinking some of that bathroom wall material they sell at Home
Depot, but would I use some kind of silicone, pvc cement, or would I
have to weld it, and if so, how?
Thanks for the input, Scotty

--
Glenn Ashmore

I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack
there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com
Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com

Glenn Ashmore wrote in message news:E0Slb.90613$sp2.84885@lakeread04...
If you mean that melamine coated masonite, forget it. OK for short term
exposure in a shower surround but constantly soaked in a tank the water
will get through and turn the backing to mush. You may find some solid
plastic stuff a few racks down the aisle at the Home Despot that will
not absorb water. It is usually stuck to walls with Liquid nails or
other construction adhesive but I have not found an adheasive that will
stick to it reliably in a joint.

Thanks, that's what I thought. I found this:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=41592
but I am a little confused. Do you feed some type of volitile gas, or
does it just shoot electrically heated forced air?
Scotty

If you can build the tank outside and install it a laid up polyester or
epoxy FRP tank with a glued on lid would work. If you have access to an
air compressor and want to learn something new for a little less money
you can get a 4x8 sheet of 1/4" HDPE from a plastics distributor for
about $65 and a plastic welder from Harbor freight for another $25.
With a little practice on some scrap you can make a really nice tank
almost any shape you want. (Curves are not easy though)

Backyard Renegade wrote:

Hey folks, Scotty here.
What I am planning is some custom water tanks and such to be made to
fit inbetween two bulkheads. They will hold water for washing hands
and such, not necessarily drinking water. Any suggestions as to what
material and what adhesive/connectors to use to keep it watertight? I
was thinking some of that bathroom wall material they sell at Home
Depot, but would I use some kind of silicone, pvc cement, or would I
have to weld it, and if so, how?
Thanks for the input, Scotty

Backyard Renegade wrote:


Thanks, that's what I thought. I found this:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=41592
but I am a little confused. Do you feed some type of volitile gas,
or does it just shoot electrically heated forced air? Scotty

That's it. Price must have gone up sense I got mine. You hook it up to
an air supply and an element in the gun heats it to about 350F. It
doesn't take much air.

With some practice you can get a pretty decent weld. Especially for the
price. Just be sure the material is very clean and use the proper rod.
It has to be the same plastic as the base material.

Clamp everything really well because you have to press the filler rod
pretty hard to get it to blend with the joint and don't try to fill the
joint in one pass. Make 3 or 4 passes to slightly overfill the seam and
then trim off the excess.

Two things I don't like about it. It has no temperature control so you
have to fiddle with the air flow to get the right heat and it doesn't
come with any tips. I would love a speed tip that holds the rod in the
right position so you get more even beads but as little as I use it I
don't want to pay $250 for a better model.


--
Glenn Ashmore

I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack
there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com
Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com

You're a belt and suspenders guy right after my own heart, Glenn, so
I'm curious. You're satisfied that welded HDPE will stay together,
long term, under the dynamic loading of water tanks? How big a tank
before you run out of confidence? And where does the air compressor
come in? Tell us more.....

Jim Woodward
www.mvFintry.com

Glenn Ashmore wrote in message news:E0Slb.90613$sp2.84885@lakeread04...
If you mean that melamine coated masonite, forget it. OK for short term
exposure in a shower surround but constantly soaked in a tank the water
will get through and turn the backing to mush. You may find some solid
plastic stuff a few racks down the aisle at the Home Despot that will
not absorb water. It is usually stuck to walls with Liquid nails or
other construction adhesive but I have not found an adheasive that will
stick to it reliably in a joint.

If you can build the tank outside and install it a laid up polyester or
epoxy FRP tank with a glued on lid would work. If you have access to an
air compressor and want to learn something new for a little less money
you can get a 4x8 sheet of 1/4" HDPE from a plastics distributor for
about $65 and a plastic welder from Harbor freight for another $25.
With a little practice on some scrap you can make a really nice tank
almost any shape you want. (Curves are not easy though)

Backyard Renegade wrote:

Hey folks, Scotty here.
What I am planning is some custom water tanks and such to be made to
fit inbetween two bulkheads. They will hold water for washing hands
and such, not necessarily drinking water. Any suggestions as to what
material and what adhesive/connectors to use to keep it watertight? I
was thinking some of that bathroom wall material they sell at Home
Depot, but would I use some kind of silicone, pvc cement, or would I
have to weld it, and if so, how?
Thanks for the input, Scotty

IF you do the weld RIGHT it will be about 80% as strong as the base
HDPE. The gun heats a stream of compressed air. About 8-12 psi and
blows it into the seam. It is really welding not gluing so you have to
make sure that the base material and the filler rod all melt together.

Thus far I have welded up a 7 gallon grey water holding tank to fit
inside the keel frame and a box to shield the back side of the
watermaker control panel. I pressure tested the grey water tank to 5
psi and it held together so I am pretty confident of it. OTOH, I do not
think I would try to weld up a 40 gallon tank or a any tank that I might
not want to smell if it sprung a leak. :-)

I was assuming that Scotty was looking for 10-15 gallon capacity tanks.
When you start talking about bouncing 2-300 pounds of liquid around
though I will leave that to a rotomolded tank.

It works for HD polyethylene used in water tanks and some other
thermoplastics but NOT for cross linked polyethylene used in fuel tanks
or UHMW poly.

Jim Woodward wrote:
You're a belt and suspenders guy right after my own heart, Glenn, so
I'm curious. You're satisfied that welded HDPE will stay together,
long term, under the dynamic loading of water tanks? How big a tank
before you run out of confidence? And where does the air compressor
come in? Tell us more.....

Jim Woodward
www.mvFintry.com

Glenn Ashmore wrote in message news:E0Slb.90613$sp2.84885@lakeread04...

If you mean that melamine coated masonite, forget it. OK for short term
exposure in a shower surround but constantly soaked in a tank the water
will get through and turn the backing to mush. You may find some solid
plastic stuff a few racks down the aisle at the Home Despot that will
not absorb water. It is usually stuck to walls with Liquid nails or
other construction adhesive but I have not found an adheasive that will
stick to it reliably in a joint.

If you can build the tank outside and install it a laid up polyester or
epoxy FRP tank with a glued on lid would work. If you have access to an
air compressor and want to learn something new for a little less money
you can get a 4x8 sheet of 1/4" HDPE from a plastics distributor for
about $65 and a plastic welder from Harbor freight for another $25.
With a little practice on some scrap you can make a really nice tank
almost any shape you want. (Curves are not easy though)

Backyard Renegade wrote:


Hey folks, Scotty here.
What I am planning is some custom water tanks and such to be made to
fit inbetween two bulkheads. They will hold water for washing hands
and such, not necessarily drinking water. Any suggestions as to what
material and what adhesive/connectors to use to keep it watertight? I
was thinking some of that bathroom wall material they sell at Home
Depot, but would I use some kind of silicone, pvc cement, or would I
have to weld it, and if so, how?
Thanks for the input, Scotty

--
Glenn Ashmore

I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack
there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com
Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com