The cost of Flexiglass 3/4' thick is the same as the 3/4" thick temp. glass.
4pcs. of 1/4" 24' X 24" safety glass I can get it free.
My question is, if I can use 3 pcs. of the 1/4" temp. and put together in a frame to become 3/4" thick or if can use the 4 pcs. safety glass. Any suggestion I will appreciated, thank you.
depth of water, and length and height of pond window will determind thickness you will need of any give type of glass you end up using.
check out any diy aquarium / reef tank website / build. and most likely they will get into acrlic, regular glass plexi glass, and tempered glass
plexi glass. may not have ratings you are needing due to how much it flexis. IE you fill pond up with water and it may bulg enough out to pull away from the channel it is in.
i am personally not to keen on tempered glass. it might be wanted in vehichles. but in ponds. the abilty of a tempered glass to shatter due to how something hits it. just isn't there for me.
i prefer acylic or regular glass. both can flex some and take a blunt force impact from say a knee or a kick to it from just raising your feet while walking. and have some give. but tempered glass could shatter.
tempered glass is regular glass but the very outer layer has been strength in a sense to make it more rigid. and helps protect against sharp flying objects and can cause the glass to shatter into smaller peices. but regular glass has the flexiing in it. and will crack into large jagged pieces. in a car crash i would rather have tempered but in a pond when a fish, or kid or a knee or a dog could very likely rub against it. i rather have something that gives. there is a reason why aquariums are made out of acrylic and regular glass. and not tempered glass. why should a pond window be any different?
www.worldwidekoiclub.org -> pond building info -> construction (i want to say), but forget what next category i placed other folks pond builds in that had windows placed into them.
www.garf.org -> diy tank building calculator or something like that.
the calculator they have for diy tank building can give some rough starting idea of what thickness you will need for size of pond window you want.
any search on say google should bring back many other websites.
depth of water, and length and height of pond window will determind thickness you will need of any give type of glass you end up using.
check out any diy aquarium / reef tank website / build. and most likely they will get into acrlic, regular glass plexi glass, and tempered glass
plexi glass. .....
I would recommend plexi/acrylic. Easy to work and will not break as easily as glass when hit by an object - just bear in mind that it scratches easily (but can be "fixed/buffed" too).
I had a 100gal marine acrylic tank some years ago and despite of "kids really testing its strength (my son managed to hit it with all kinds of objects when he was running/playing)" - not a single problem.
There is tons of DIY aquarium sites out there explaining thickness requirements of material etc
depth of window i should of said. the deeper the window is. the more pressure there is from water pressing on window. and do to this, a thicker window will be needed the deeper the window is located below water.
Lexan is another option for you. The stuff cant be broke, it's easily cut and drilled for any kind of attachment, but the price can be steep at some places. It also does scratch but they can be buffed out.
Just one more addition - if one follows those DIY aquarium tank dimensioning rules it will result in plexi/acrylic window to bow (in an aquarium it will not matter, as it is a "container", thus will not leak).
So, make the window much thicker in your pond, relative to what the DIY pages suggest - otherwise there might be a leak in where window meets the frame due to "movement" ("bow" of the window under pressure) - unless you there is a way to reliably glue window into the frame (frankly I do not know whether the 3M5200 will flex that much)
just a thought....
PS If I recall correctly, in my marine aquarium the center of window was abt 1/4" or 3/8" further than sides (over 48" width of the tank) - kind of "belly" shape....
I used to have a site that builds windows for swimming pools, and they had a really cool formula...perhaps you can find it
it dealt wtih width and length of window and how deep the window was going to be placed..it graphed the choices so you knew what would barely work and what was completely safe..
But One thing it did was STRONGLY SUGGEST that you use laminated glass.
the glass for lakeluke windows is 2 ply about an inch thick.. That seems like overkill...and it is ...but As you can see the top edge does not rest against anything, and I do Dive into my pond....
"Those aren't poodles. They're Dobermans with afros."
L frame channel. with silicon. just like an aquarium. the window doesn't need to be a mechanical bond. but there needs to be a gasket sealing. and silicon does just that. and silicon flexes. vs polyurethanes that dry hard and normally not flexiable after words. ((errr ok some polyurethanes are, but more attempting to get idea across))
L channel braket or window frame
silicon
window
if you want to cover yourself. i am guessing then
add either spring loaded washers or a rubber washers between a face plate like clamp. that holds window into the frame.
though i am out of my league here. above makes sense to me *shrugs*
I just laid downa very thick bead of high grade silicone caulk and let it get Almost hard so it would act as a gasket (so the glass wouldn't get pressed onto the concrete blocks' stucco and then put another bunch of silicone on top of that and clamped the big ol piece of glass on a lip I made about four inches below the opening so it wouldn't fall straight down..
It's been three years and it don't leak..it did "moisten" every so often in one ;lace or another but for the last couple of years NOTHING.
All that talk I hear and read about adding channelling sounds illogical to me...then you have to waterproof the space between the wall and the stainless and the stainless and the window...Glass to wall is about the same as Stainless to wall
"Those aren't poodles. They're Dobermans with afros."
was thinking along the lines of placing the window in middle of the block. instead of on the backside of the block. like you have it.
other words instead of window setting inside the pond. it would set inside of the wall or cut out in the wall. much like a regular window in a house. and having the rough framing, and the rough framing basicly being the metal L channel.
and with so many different ways to build a wall for a pond. figure rough cut opening for window. and when all said and done using some trimming around window on the outside of the pond.
depth of window i should of said. the deeper the window is. the more pressure there is from water pressing on window. and do to this, a thicker window will be needed the deeper the window is located below water.
Hi boggen;
the top of window will be 4" below the water line, this is the finish viewing window.
If all you want is 2' x 2' then you could get away with a 1/2" piece of laminated, tempered (2 - 1/4" pieces). I'd go with 2 - 3/8" pieces of fully tempered glass laminated with a minimun .060 inerlayer.
There is NO problem with tempered glass and deflection. It is approx. 4 X's stronger than it was in it's un-tempered state.