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Acrylic Humidor Thoughts

Lil_mac14

Lil_mac14

New Member
Joined
Feb 15, 2011
Messages
265
So I've been thinking about building some type larger humidor for a little while now, the desktop one I have is pretty full right now. Thoughts so far were a coolidor, most likely something in the 150qt range, or to build a wooden chest style humidor lined with SC. I've been playing around in the CAD program I use and came up with a few really rough models for the wooden humidor, and then it hit me. What If i were to laser cut acrylic panels (probably 1/4" think) and assemble a box for my cigars. No seasoning needed, just like a coolidor, and I could even do custom laser etching in the acrylic.

I just have a few worries about this that I'd like to get some opinions on.

Initial thought is okay what do I actually use to assemble this box? Some type of silicone? I also have this type of plastic weld that bonds acrylic together and creates an extremely strong bond. The worries me because I don't know how the chemicals could effect the smokes. So I guess then my only other option is brackets and hardware? Any advice on this would help!

Second, being made of acrylic which is far less porous than wood, how airtight should this box be? It wouldn't be hard to make it as airtight as a wooden humidor, but is that necessary as it will be acrylic?

Thoughts for humidification would be heartfelt beads (amount depending upon final size of the box). I would most likely have cedar strips in there until there where enough boxes to level out the humidity levels on there own. Good idea?

I'm sure there will be many more questions along the road, but any other advice you guys have right now would be greatly appreciated.

_Craig_
 
Silicone would be a bad choice due to it having poor shear strength. Moving the unit could very well result in separation.

You should decide on the "acrylic" you want to use, and then talk to the manufacturers application engineer.
There are several types of materials. Rohm Haas is a good starting point.

If he can't recommend a few adhesives, call the big adhesive manufacturers, and again, talk to applications engineers. Also get Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) on whatever you consider.
 
I've seen some pretty large acrylic fish tanks, which even the smallest need more strength than what is required by cigars. Those are held together with glue, or some sort. Maybe look into fish tank manufacturing and see what it is?
 
I figured silicone would be a bad idea to just hold the panels together, but my thought was to use it to make sure the box was airtight.

This humidor most likely wont be moving, and will be sitting on the floor, or most likely some type of platform. Fishtanks do sound like a good thing to look at.

Also, thank you MM for the advise about the applications engineers and the MSDS, I'll have to look into that stuff.

Any advise on when it comes to how airtight the box should be?
 
I always thought acrylic humidors just didn't work that well. However, after taking to some manufacturers and a couple customers it seems like they can actually work quite well. The real good thing about the acrylics is that you get a good air flow through the humidor. This aids in keeping mold away, especially when you are aging cigars and not going into the humidor every day. The bad part is the additional air flow also means the humidors don't hold humidity quite as well as a standard Spanish cedar box. You have to pay a bit more attention to humidity levels, but other than that they do seem to work well.

Even though you could make it airtight I would suggest suggest not doing so. With a Spanish cedar humidor if you have any excess moisture the wood does a good job sucking it up so your cigars don't get over humidified. With an acrylic humidor there would be no place for excess moisture to go other than your cigars. If you are going to make an airtight acrylic you might want to go with beads for humidification. I'm not that familiar with the beads (perhaps someone else could say whether these would work or not) but I think that I saw someone say they will actually suck up extra moisture in the humidor.

Good luck with the build.

Eric
 
I've done a little research into contruction of fish tanks, seems that most large glass fish tanks are held together with only silicone. That being said, this isn't going to be made out of glass, but rather plexi-glass acrylic material. Researched some more and found a guy who builds custom acrylic fish tanks. These things are amazing to say the least. His suggestion for seeming the tanks is a different type of the plastic weld adhesive that I have. He said that although they're are chemicals in this adhesive, after applying and letting the tank "off-gas" for a couple weeks before filling it, there is no scent or remaing harmfull chemicals, and he's never had a problem with the fish dying because of this.

So i think that's what I'll end up using to put it together, then just let the box sit open for a few weeks to a month before preping it and filling it with cigars.

Depending upong the size of this humidor and the fact that it's acrylic, would it be smart to get some type of fan?

Now, Just gotta decide on what will be engraved in this thing :)
 
Lil_mac14 said:
I've done a little research into contruction of fish tanks, seems that most large glass fish tanks are held together with only silicone. That being said, this isn't going to be made out of glass, but rather plexi-glass acrylic material. Researched some more and found a guy who builds custom acrylic fish tanks. These things are amazing to say the least. His suggestion for seeming the tanks is a different type of the plastic weld adhesive that I have. He said that although they're are chemicals in this adhesive, after applying and letting the tank "off-gas" for a couple weeks before filling it, there is no scent or remaing harmfull chemicals, and he's never had a problem with the fish dying because of this.

So i think that's what I'll end up using to put it together, then just let the box sit open for a few weeks to a month before preping it and filling it with cigars.

Depending upong the size of this humidor and the fact that it's acrylic, would it be smart to get some type of fan?

Now, Just gotta decide on what will be engraved in this thing :)
Click to expand...


Who's doing your engraving?

Which CAD program are you using?
 
grateful1 said:
Lil_mac14 said:
I've done a little research into contruction of fish tanks, seems that most large glass fish tanks are held together with only silicone. That being said, this isn't going to be made out of glass, but rather plexi-glass acrylic material. Researched some more and found a guy who builds custom acrylic fish tanks. These things are amazing to say the least. His suggestion for seeming the tanks is a different type of the plastic weld adhesive that I have. He said that although they're are chemicals in this adhesive, after applying and letting the tank "off-gas" for a couple weeks before filling it, there is no scent or remaing harmfull chemicals, and he's never had a problem with the fish dying because of this.

So i think that's what I'll end up using to put it together, then just let the box sit open for a few weeks to a month before preping it and filling it with cigars.

Depending upong the size of this humidor and the fact that it's acrylic, would it be smart to get some type of fan?

Now, Just gotta decide on what will be engraved in this thing :)
Click to expand...


Who's doing your engraving?

Which CAD program are you using?
Click to expand...



I'm doing the engraving, well rather a Laser Cutter will be doing the engraving. Not exactly engraving, more like scoring the surface, but you can still make some damn cool designs in acrylic.

As for the CAD program, I use Rhino v4 to do all of the bulk modeling (box size, edge detail) and then I'll be using Adobe illustrator to do the graphic detail. From illustrator you can import line work directly into Rhino, and from there I use either Keyshot 2 or Vray to do renderings.
 
Make sure you use painters tape or mask off areas that aren't being bonded that are close to the weld joint. Acrylic glues usually work by melting and softening the plastic but that can lead to smudges if there is a stray drip or excess. When the solvents evaporate the plastic should harden and be bonded. A hairdryer can help speed up the evaporation if you do have a drip or run-off in a bad area, just don't try to wipe it.

A fan couldn't hurt and might help reduce condensation on the interior walls.

Good luck and post some pics of the build!
 
So it's been tough to find the time to do any personal design work lately, my co-op is getting pretty busy, and I started coaching youth hockey recently, along with playing in a mens league. But while on break and when work is slow, I've been able to get some graphic work done for the acrylic. These graphics are not meant to be exact replicas of the logos, but rather representations to an extent.

I did all of the line work in illustrator, and then I'll export it as a .dwg file so I can laser etch the acrylic. It'll be interesting to see how much detail will show up, but after doing a somewhat similar project in school, I have a really good feeling about it. :cool:

I would like to do a few more logos, so if anyone has any suggestions on either brands or other graphics to include, feel free to throw some ideas out there. Let me know what you guys think.

_craig_


gallery_12939_1465_562999.jpg
 
Nice work on the logos...!!

When you get the MSDS sheets, look for "food grade" or "approved for use with food" or "FDA approved" or something to that effect. That tells you that once the adhesive cures, it shouldn't outgas nasty chemicals forever.....
 
BlindedByScience said:
Nice work on the logos...!!

When you get the MSDS sheets, look for "food grade" or "approved for use with food" or "FDA approved" or something to that effect. That tells you that once the adhesive cures, it shouldn't outgas nasty chemicals forever.....
Click to expand...


Good to know!!! Thanks for the advice man! :cool:

_craig_
 
What, no Fuente or Crown (has a really cool logo I can send you a picture of from the basement of Tampa Sweetheart when JackImpact and I were there). Shoot me a em and I'll send you the photo. Oh heck, here, we all can look. How cool would this be in color? You might want to check about copyright infringement or getting permission from the mfg. about using theirs???

0208_0238.jpg
 
Pugman1943 said:
What, no Fuente or Crown (has a really cool logo I can send you a picture of from the basement of Tampa Sweetheart when JackImpact and I were there).
Click to expand...

What is that? You went to Tampa Sweetheart's with JackImpact? No shit. Why didn't you mention this sooner?
 
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