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screen top lid-curved corner


rockstarwiggle

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so I am looking to make a really tight lid for my innovative marine 30 and it has curved front corners. it is amazing how fish can squeeze through a three-quarter inch hole.

does anyone know or have experience on making a corner with a small radius curve?

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No experience, but perhaps some ideas to try. i'm guessing you need a 3/4" radius, but adjust as needed.

1. use a 3/4" hole saw to drill a piece of plywood, spare plastic, something. tape that to the top of the lid and cut to the arc against it. use a jig saw, coping saw, dremmel tool, or even a rasp. depending on the material you are cutting, the rasp may be the easiest.

2. if the radius is big enough you can tie a string to your tool and figure out a way to attach it to the lid at the center of the radius. this works great with a router, but it would require you to be able to tie your string somewhere short enough to work. it doesn't sound like you can. though.

3. if you want to do some goemetry, you can make a template that will let you run the outside edge of the router along a guide that will give you a tight radius at the bit. without thinking much about it, i think your radius would be 3/4" + the radius of your router guide. you'd probably want to have a piece of something the thickness what you are cutting that you could set the outside of the cut so the router will stay level. this may be the most precise way to do it.

4. eyeball it :).

5. cut a 3/4" chamfer into it. this would minimize the gap to a maximum of 3/4" - the lip of the tank. may be uglier than you want, but i'm a fan of easy and effective.

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No experience, but perhaps some ideas to try. i'm guessing you need a 3/4" radius, but adjust as needed.

1. use a 3/4" hole saw to drill a piece of plywood, spare plastic, something. tape that to the top of the lid and cut to the arc against it. use a jig saw, coping saw, dremmel tool, or even a rasp. depending on the material you are cutting, the rasp may be the easiest.

2. if the radius is big enough you can tie a string to your tool and figure out a way to attach it to the lid at the center of the radius. this works great with a router, but it would require you to be able to tie your string somewhere short enough to work. it doesn't sound like you can. though.

3. if you want to do some goemetry, you can make a template that will let you run the outside edge of the router along a guide that will give you a tight radius at the bit. without thinking much about it, i think your radius would be 3/4" + the radius of your router guide. you'd probably want to have a piece of something the thickness what you are cutting that you could set the outside of the cut so the router will stay level. this may be the most precise way to do it.

4. eyeball it :).

5. cut a 3/4" chamfer into it. this would minimize the gap to a maximum of 3/4" - the lip of the tank. may be uglier than you want, but i'm a fan of easy and effective.

Wow, that was impressive for no experience!
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Ha. I work for a lot of mechanics, builders, and machinists. Sometimes they complain about the hoops they have to jump through to get things made. I'm also inqusative and ask how they do some of it.

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so I am looking to make a really tight lid for my innovative marine 30 and it has curved front corners. it is amazing how fish can squeeze through a three-quarter inch hole.

does anyone know or have experience on making a corner with a small radius curve?

Are you looking to make the lid out of lumber or out of screen? I wasn't sure based on the post title versus your comment here.

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i am looking to make a screen lid. i have seen the kits etc and all are 90 degree elbows. the front end of my tank is curved. my current lid is glass with two holes and apparently fish know how to find these holes and jump! Now is a good time to move over to a screen lid, as conformed as possible to inside frame. Also, I am tired of squeeging the moisture everytime I take lid off and I also keep losing fish.

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oh...screen top? i'm not sure any of the elbows have enough meat to make a radius like that in them. perhaps you could try a pipe bender? i'm not sure how well that would work, though. you'd have to make sure that your track isn't pinched closed and may have trouble coming up with a way to put the screen and...gasket(?)...in to hold it.

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I haven't used them, but try looking at this:

http://www.apexproducts.com/Item/bendable_screeneze

or do a google search for arched windows. Your best bet will be a screening store as they have a tool called a screen bender. It runs about $1k to buy so probably not an option for most (and no, Victoly, the club will not buy one). Here are a few other links I ran across.

http://www.qualitywindowscreen.com/store/special-odd-shape-screens-half-circle-arch-screens-c-149_150.html

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