Best source for clear cast acrylic?

[Keith Upton]

Would anyone out there be willing to share their source for 1/8 and 1/4 clear cast acrylic sheets? Preferably with paper mask. Johnston Plastic has pointed out that they have 12x24 sheets (the size I need) made by Rowmark, but it's a little more than I wanted to pay for this 1/4 inch project.

[Chad Fitzgerald]

Keith, I use Calsak plastics, out of Minn or SD. I talk with Don, he is real helpful and i have found they have very good prices. You would have to buy a full sheet but they will cut it to size for you.
651-395-4580, i hope its ok to put there number here. if not sorry

[Jonathan Bowen]

I use E&T Plastics. Best price I have found so far. 1/8" is about $75 a sheet and they cut it down for free. I have to specify cast sheets but they have both and they are the same price I think. E&T has colors as well but I only use them for stuff I need full sheets of. If I just need a bit of one color then I get it from Inventables. They sell 12" by 24" for reasonable prices.

[Paul Phillips]

Keith, the Rowmark Acrylic is pretty expensive, if you have access to a table saw or panel saw you can save yourself some money and buy a 4'x8' sheet and cut it down to the size you need, if you need it pre-cut, most places can do that for you but will usually charge you a small fee. What part of Colorado are you in? If close to Denver there should be plenty of choices if you do a search for it, I've had good luck with both Piedmont and Regal plastics, you could also try a sign supply like Denco.
Hope this helps.
Paul

[Rolf Randby]

Would anyone out there be willing to share their source for 1/8 and 1/4 clear cast acrylic sheets? Preferably with paper mask. Johnston Plastic has pointed out that they have 12x24 sheets (the size I need) made by Rowmark, but it's a little more than I wanted to pay for this 1/4 inch project.

If you are in a hurry and can do with 1/8" then the local hardware store is the place. My wife needs cutting templates, for her quilt making, all the time and I get them from the local Ace hardware. They sell it as a replacement for window glass.

[Mike Chance in Iowa]

Calsak Plastics has awesome customer service with good choice of products and pricing. TAP Plastics also has great customer service and choice of products.

[Ross Moshinsky]

This has been discussed a lot. Same response

1. Delvies
2. Call up an acrylic fabricator that is local and ask to buy some off them.
3. Open up an account with a sign/plastics supplier. Buy a 4x8 sheet. Cut it down yourself. A lot of the companies have free shipping or very cheap "local" shipping.

[Keith Upton]

Thanks everyone. I'll look into any local sources as well as those mentioned here. Most of my acrylic I get from Ridout Plastics in Cali. I buy it by the 4x8 sheet and they cut it down for me. But most of that has been extruded and in 1/8. They do have some 1/4 clear cast, but the sizes are odd and don't cut down as well (there is a little waste) and do not have a paper mask.

[Larry Bratton]

Calsak for cast. I cut sheets and sheets of it. Great price, super service. I deal with Atlanta but they are in California and Texas. Cut to size, no extra.

[Bill George]

Calsak Plastics has awesome customer service with good choice of products and pricing. TAP Plastics also has great customer service and choice of products.

Mike are you getting yours out of Minneapolis?

[greg lindsey]

A&C Plastics, best prices anywhere, they are the wholesaler to the wholesalers. 713.645.4915 ask for Chuy.

[Keith Upton]

Thanks again everyone for the info. I've now got several sources to look into.

On a related note, can anyone explain the differences between cell cast and continuous cast acrylic as it might relate to lasing? Does cell cast engrave "whiter" than continuous?

[Mike Chance in Iowa]

Mike are you getting yours out of Minneapolis?

I haven't needed any for a bit, but when I did purchase from Calsak, I have actually purchased from a few different locations over the years. They all have been fantastic. I have posted about this years before, but I have also purchased from Delvies and will never purchase from them again.

[Edward Oleen]

I too am looking for the same stuff...

/beg "For what it's worth/
Just as an aside "acrylic" is also known as Lucite, or Plexiglass, both of which are American brand names, or Perspex, which is the British brand name. The stuff is actually, generically, known as PMMA, for Poly Methyl MethAcrilate.
/end "For what it's worth.../

In my neck of the woods there used to be a place...

But anyway, all reminiscing aside... Have you tried glazing shops? I haven't yet, but I do know that the stuff is used for glazing display cases, as in stores, or exhibits (like museums), and sometimes for windows. Also possibly green houses and terrariums - especially ones for classrooms for little kids, who might knock them over.

PMMA is highly shatter resistant, unlike regular window glass.

(From what I have seen, the stuff used in the BIG windows in stores is very special: either "tempered" glass, that breaks into a gazillion little "cubical" shards, or safety glass, as in automotive windshields, etc.

I use the stuff for table saw Zero Clearance Inserts ("ZCI's"). I made one of wood.... ONCE. A beautiful job, fit like a glove, perfectly even with the table, as I said, a BEAUTIFUL job. I made it in January.

Then I was away for 4 months, on a PROJECT.

When I got back... The relative humidity had gone way up, and the wood swole up, and the blade was STUCK in the insert, and the insert was STUCK in the table, and I wept huge tears as I drrrrrillllled and chiseled and sawed my thing of beauty O U T and then I dried my tears off the table before it got rusty.

That's when I decided on a plastic ZCI.

What's your project?

[Edward Oleen]

Oh - just an afterthought: The reason that I say glazing shops is because small pieces to them are SCRAP, as opposed to plastics companies, for whom the small pieces are PRODUCT.

The BIG difference being that SCRAP is to be thrown out - it likely can begotten for free, or very little.

For the plastics companies, the little pieces are PRODUCT, which is to be sold for as much as they can get for it: after all, they went to the ENORMOUS expense of cutting just that piece JUST FOR YOU, dontchaknow...

[Keith Upton]

Just wanted to post and update to this. So far in my search Calsak Plastics has the best prices. They do have a $25 per order cut fee, but offered to wave that if I purchase 5 or more full sheets... or once I establish my self as a repeat customer. Even with the fee, they are several dollars cheaper per 12x24 sheet across the board. And compared to where I was buying before, nearly half the price :eek:

Thanks to everyone that offered up sources.

[Larry Bratton]

I buy one sheet at a time with no cut charge. However, I am a regular customer of the Atlanta branch. Probably a local branch policy your running into.

Just wanted to post and update to this. So far in my search Calsak Plastics has the best prices. They do have a $25 per order cut fee, but offered to wave that if I purchase 5 or more full sheets... or once I establish my self as a repeat customer. Even with the fee, they are several dollars cheaper per 12x24 sheet across the board. And compared to where I was buying before, nearly half the price :eek:

Thanks to everyone that offered up sources.

[Ed Maloney]

I use eStreet plastics for 1/8" cast because of their fast delivery. I use Delvies for 1/16" cast (eStreet only carries extruded in 1.5mm).

[Edward Oleen]

Update on sources of PMMA:

I went around to three glazing places, and found all three very welcoming when I explained that I was a woodworker who could use some scraps. Two places pointed me at the scrap bin.

The third said he had just sent his scrap off to the recycler/scrap dealer/junk man/garbage collector the previous day, and then offered to CREATE some "scrap" for me...

Since I had what I needed at the moment, I thanked him profusely and said I'd be back. He insisted on getting my name and phone number and details on what I was looking for, and promised to call me next week, when he'd be doing a job with PMMA...

I hate to say it, but why spend money?????

[Keith Upton]

Update on sources of PMMA:

I went around to three glazing places, and found all three very welcoming when I explained that I was a woodworker who could use some scraps. Two places pointed me at the scrap bin.

The third said he had just sent his scrap off to the recycler/scrap dealer/junk man/garbage collector the previous day, and then offered to CREATE some "scrap" for me...

Since I had what I needed at the moment, I thanked him profusely and said I'd be back. He insisted on getting my name and phone number and details on what I was looking for, and promised to call me next week, when he'd be doing a job with PMMA...

I hate to say it, but why spend money?????

Sorry, but what is PMMA?

[Guy Hilliard]

P(oly) M(ethyl) M(eth)A(crylate) is acrylic.

[Keith Upton]

Thanks. We need an acronym modification on this site. lol

[Edward Oleen]

Sorry for the jargon. PMMA is the short-hand for Poly Methyl MethAcrylate, which is the generic (chemical) name for Lucite, Plexiglas, and Acrylite. The same stuff is called Perspex in England.

Of course, nobody really calls it that in the glaziers shops.

This is opposed to polycarbonate, which goes under the trade names Lexan, Makrolon, and Macroclear, as well as several others. PC is actually a group of compounds all with very similar characteristics.