Acrylic and metal CPs

[SavannahLion]

When buying Acrylic, do you just buy whatever is available or do you guys (and gals, if any are here) aim for something specific? I've been looking of acrylic specs and I've been noting the different types. Does anyone go for the Acrylic FF AR for their CP's or do you just pick up whatever is cheapest, shape it, and install it?

I see a lot of people buying and working with acrylics, but I don't think I've ever seen anyone specifically mention what type they're buying.

I'm not particularly fond of acrylic on a CP because of the scratching issue. I've got a six year old and until she can take care of her "Cheetah Girls 2"* DVD, I'm going to be a little nervous when she's around plastics. My GF is the same way, used a scouring pad on the face of my convertable dishwasher. Of course, I haven't actually made any effort to actually clean the dishwasher, but the plastic was in pristine shape before she got to it. 

I see a number of people restoring metal CP's but I haven't spotted anyone building a new metal (IOW custom) CP from scratch. I thought Home Depot sold sheet metal, albeit a tad expensive in my opinion. I know wood is a lot easier to work with, but there's just something damn sexy about a screened and/or painted metal CP in my book. I'm not sure if the metal HD sells is thick or strong enough to be used as a CP though. Has anyone built a custom CP from metal without using an existing older CP as a base?


* If you have children, never EVER buy them or obtain in any fashion, The Cheetah Girls 2 DVD for your kids. There's a lot of movies I can tolerate listening to for 50+ showings, but Cheetahs is not one of them. I've tried to conveniently "lose" the damn disc about a dozen times already and she ---smurfing--- finds it within the week.

[SavannahLion]

Wow, that's some disjointed writing. 

[BobA]

Here is a recent thread of Acrylic  Vrs Polycarbonate  (Plexi vrs Lexan)

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=64745.0

As for Home Depot metal.   My HD carries mostly aluminum.  It can be formed into a CP if you use a heavy enough gauge.   Most of their stuff is pretty thin.   You need access to a minimum of a brake and a shear to do neat work. 

[NiteWalker]

Polycarbonate (the genaric name, also known as Lexan) is not very scratch resistant. I don't use it for panels anymore. I use either acrylic or abrasion resistant acrylic. As for the type I usually grab acrylite or sometimes lucite tuff. Some better acrylic to go for is acrylite GP.

My favorite is Acrylite AR.