Acrylic Ideas Needed

[Shari Loveless]

I have been making acrylic boxes, shelves, and reloading shell holders for my hubby from from 3/16 and 1/4" clear and colored acrylic. :) Does anyone have any ideas as to other items I could make from 1/8" to 1/4" thick sheet? I'm just looking for something to do once or twice. Just for fun, not for profit. I am having waaaaay too much fun with these! I checked out some of the scroll saw sites but didn't see anything I wanted to make. Just need some input. Later this evening I am going to do a tiny box in the 1/8" and see what happens. I know you people are very talented and maybe you have done something that was fun and want to share.
Thanks,
Shari

[Keith Outten]

Shari,

Try this acrylic basket, it makes a nice business card holder for the ladies and a great gift item. Vector cut them from 1/8" clear acrylic or even wood.

Basket.zip contains basket.cdr
Right click and "save as"

[Shari Loveless]

Keith,

Oh, I'm excited to try it out. It looks really nice. Will let you know how it goes.
I haven't even tried the wood yet. Guess I should round some up and give it a try also. When I was at ACE the other day I noticed they had some plywood in 1/8" thickness. I need to use up this acrylic so I can order more! ;) I read in one of your posts that you used the broze acrylic for a box. Did you like the look or is the clear better? I sort of like the "crystal" effect from the clear. Hubby likes the colors for his stuff. (mostly green and yellow - yuk) I'm going to put in an order in a day or so for some new colors. I've been ordering from Delvies. They are very nice folks to deal with. Is there a place that has more selection of colors? I sort of had in mind some "lady" colors like lavender, teal, etc. :confused:
Shari

[Shaddy Dedmore]

If the company Delvies orders from has more colors, they can special order with just the minimun sheet size, no extra special order cost... at least they did that with the rowmark line. I had to buy a 24x48 sheet (which they cut up at no extra cost), but the cost was the same as what they stock... it just takes a bit longer to get here.

I agree, so far Delvies has been a pleasure to work with and has a fairly quick turn around time.

[Keith Outten]

Shari,

I get clear extruded acrylic free from a local frame shop, the sizes of their drops from picture framing are just right for laser engraving and cutting.

The bronze acrylic is really nice and you can drop in engraved white shapes on the box tops for a nice effect. I have a local supplier that has a rainbow of colors available including solid and translucent colors, acrylic mirror and acrylic diamond plate. I haven't seen lavender or teal but the swatch I have has lots of "Lady" colors like amber and a few others. There are also rough textured acrylics that are worth considering for certain projects. We used acrylic mirror to vector cut Christmas ornaments last year.

If you want to try something really slick try using solid black acrylic and inlay the acrylic mirror. If you cannot find a local source contact me, I can supply acrylic sheet in 12" by 24" sheets. I have black, bronze, white, blue, red, yellow, mirror, and both cast and extruded clear in stock. There are other types of materials like woodgrains and wild designs that are used for dashboards and signs that are just awesome. These have a white acrylic backing sheet. If enough of our Members are interested in sharing I would be glad to purchase sheets and part them out the same as I am doing with Corian these days. It would take me a few days to develope a price list, my supplier has almost any type of acrylic and plastic you can imagine but no price list or catalog, go figure.

[Linda Tetreault]

shari,
Go to Epilog.com, under xtras are some projects, the night lites are real cute, especially if you can come up with some new ideas. The Halloween stuff is real seasonal & I'm not sure how many small children want a night lite with a spider on it:eek:. Linda

[Jeanette Brewer]

shari,
Go to Epilog.com, under xtras are some projects, the night lites are real cute,

FYI only ... Epilog's website is www.epiloglaser.com (http://www.epiloglaser.com)

[Shari Loveless]

I finally got out the camera and took a pic of a couple of things I did the other day. Thanks again Keith for the cardholder. Had a lot of fun with it. Made a few changes just "to make it my own" :) Did the two small ring boxes for my daughter. They are so fast and easy. The clear one is from 3/16 and the blue is 1/8" acrylic. You were right when you said they go together fast. I made several as giveways. I need to find more "friends" to give these to. Off to search the web for more ideas.

[Jerry Allen]

I cleaned up the basket file a little to add some tabs to the bottom and to tighten up the slots which makes it easier to assemble.

The blue lines in the attached .cdr file (zipped) are set to not print.

[Barbara Sample]

Hi,
I tried to open the file and it told me that I had a different version of Corel and it wouldn't open. I have Corel 11 on this machine, but have 12 on another one. I thought they were so cute, that I would try and make one, but cannot do it. :confused:

Thank you,
Barbara
RGile Engravers

[Jerry Allen]

I reloaded the file as version 11. Give it a try.

[Bill Stein]

Jerry,

You are a genius. I've spent a lot of time fumbling around trying to glue the bottom with the old design, You have given us a simple solution. Thanks..

[Rodne Gold]

Buy a simple wire bender and do a little experimantation with a glue called Tensol 12 (single component capilliary action glue for pex , leaves no marks on overspills) Neither require you to be a rocket scientist to master. With those 2 tools you can make some amazing stuff with a laser and expand your markets HUGELY. A wire bender is not expensive either (you can make your own pex line bender , search for line bender diy or the like)
The cellphone holder and pen holder (glass green one) were made with a laser and bent.
http://www.tokerbros.co.za/new%20pics/promo%203.jpg
and so were most of these
http://www.tokerbros.co.za/acrylic_fabrication.htm

[Jerry Allen]

Bill,
I am not a big acrylic fan (relative to lasering) and was dismayed to find that Weldon 4 is not instantaneous. I am used to wood and CA glue. So my motivation to fix the file was out of necessity. I would still like to see the file cleaned up a little more as is was obviously a scan job. There are some real weak points near the top of the ends.

I did some searching for Tensol 12 and it seems to be an "across the pond" thing, Like Perspex. I assume that Weldon is the same or similar stuff. Dimethyl chlorine, methyl methacrylate, tolulene, xylene, bee venom and the like.
I enjoyed seeing Toker Bros. site and your great photos, Rodney.