Good source online for cast acrylic sheets to cut with CO2 laser?
I'm trying to find a reasonable cost, good quality source for cast acrylic sheets (1/8" - 1/2" width), 24" x 48".
I have bought a few sheets from Amazon, and they cut well, but took quite a while to ship to me and were fairly expensive (though possibly that's just how much cast acrylic costs).
I just tried to order from Professional Plastics (https://www.professionalplastics.com) but had a bad experience and wound up cancelling the order.
I'm considering Acme Plastics (https://www.acmeplastics.com/) now.
Can anyone share where they order their cast acrylic sheets from?
Re: Good source online for cast acrylic sheets to cut with CO2 laser?
24x48 anything is going to cost quite a bit to ship and you can save quite a bit if you buy local and pick it up. Try Googling "acrylic sheet near me" and you should get a few hits. If you happen to be in an area served by McMaster-Carr, I've had good luck with cast acrylic bought from them.
mcmaster.com
Re: Good source online for cast acrylic sheets to cut with CO2 laser?
mcmaster's prices were quite high, but I have purchased other things from them in the past and the quality is great, the shipping is fast, etc.
In this case I just purchased from Acme Plastics and it arrived quickly and the quality looks great -- the acrylic seems to cut fine.
Re: Good source online for cast acrylic sheets to cut with CO2 laser?
Find a local sign shop , not a print shop, sign shop. Ask if they would sell you blanks and they would generally be cheaper than ordering from anywhere. Ripping down 4x8 on the tablesaw takes like a minute. Also, it's thickness not width when you ask for something like that, 1/8 thick 2'x'4 acrylic extruded or cast, cast costs more but apparently extruded cuts better. That's what we prefer using on our shops laser at least. If you live in the middle of nowhere then you are kind of SOL unless you're ordering bulk to make it worth it.
We get our plastic from multiple suppliers and other sign shops would also have said suppliers but it's much easier for you as a private person to go through a sign shop because a lot of the suppliers require you to have an account with them. To give you a rough guesstimate, this is in Canadian peso prices so I will do the conversions for you. For a 4'x8' 1/8 extruded we pay about 65-100cad (50-75 USD) depending on for what it's needed for. Generally price doubles with thickness or is within 70% of 2x price so 1/4 would be 120-200 range depending on the grade and purpose again. There might be a small fee for ripping them down but it would definitely be worthwhile for your end.
Re: Good source online for cast acrylic sheets to cut with CO2 laser?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
mikemccand
mcmaster's prices were quite high, but I have purchased other things from them in the past and the quality is great, the shipping is fast, etc.
In this case I just purchased from Acme Plastics and it arrived quickly and the quality looks great -- the acrylic seems to cut fine.
I like them because they sell the 12x24 sheets that fit in my laser. No standard table saw here to cut down bigger sheets. Alroi is close enough for me to get to, but their prices are higher than McMaster's unless I'm buying dozens of sheets.
