Thinking of using Plastic Sheet for next project construction, Input Please!

[Bender]

I'm thinking of using plastic sheet in various thicknesses to construct my next project
I need some info from anyone who knows about plastics
So far I'm looking at:

Acrylic
Polycarbonate(although I'm having a hard time finding this in black)
Delrin (awfully expensive)

I'm looking for a Black semigloss finish that is relatively scratch resistant, similar to the interior of a Nintendo DS
and any suggestions on how and what glue to use would also be much appreciated

[Franco B]

Howdy bud

Out of Acrylic and Polycarbonate, Acrylic is going to be your best bet. Polycarbonate is an engineering plastic. It can be machined more easily than Acrylic but it will also scratch more readily. I'm not really surprised you are having trouble finding black polycarb, I have not seen any on my travels but I also think you should avoid it for the reason above.

Have you thought about building up layers of plastics? I am making something at the moment with a solid white acrylic center with clear outer acrylic layers which should look pretty nice, I imagine something in black would look pretty hawt too. This of course would be a gloss finish and maybe not what you are after.

Another other option would be to make something and then case/laminate it in/with a plastic. I.e you could have a MDF core and then cover it in Delrin or [Acetel] etc to keep the cost down.

[HIPs] is VERY reasonably priced and I know some forum members have used it, SpacedHedgehog used it on his Vewlix cabinet. I keep meaning to get some samples to have a play with but as usual I have about a brazillion things on the go.

[mgb]

I've always thought it would be cool to build a control panel or something out of the plastic material that is commonly used for rest room toilet stalls

[Buttonbasher]

Hi,

Ive just built a cocktail cab using extruded aluminium for the framework and used blue tinted Acrylic for the 'panels', the finish looks great and a bit different from the norm

Id def say go for it and give it ago. I brought my plastic off Ebay and the guy machined it for me, cut to size and machined various diameter holes in it, which is great if you dont have access to certain tools or dont want to spend time trying to fabricate the material yourself.

[Bender]

hey franco,

ever glue acrylic or Acetel?

how and what does one use?

[Franco B]

Not Acetal but I do use a product called Extru-fix to 'glue' Acrylic. I say 'glue' because its not an adheisve as such. It softens the two pieces of material and fuses them together.

Check out [this] jukebox case that mccoy178 made from Acrylic.



He used a product called Weld-on to bond the pieces together. It is not availiable here in the UK but I found a product called Extru-fix that does the same thing. It is a fantastic product that gives very clean joints.

This is a video that shows Weld-on being used but Extru-fix is used in exactly the same way.