Best place to order pre cut polycarbonate or acrylic sheets...???

[Warlick Designs]

We have a local place in town that can order these materials and cut them in house but I would like to weed out the middle man due to the fact that they take forever and often lose my orders... I don't have any way to cut this material nor do I know the best way to cut it.

So my questions are. Where can I order either of these cut to my "job specific" dimensions and/or can I order from a place and find a viable solution for cutting myself. If I cut these myself ill need to use something that takes up minimal space and can easily be stored.

Thanks in advance!

 

[TimToad]

How often do you need pieces cut and what kind of shop area do you have to work with?

I've used these things in the past for the occasional cut and they work ok once you get the hang of it. The nice part about the cutter is that it doesn't make any mess and once you score both sides of the piece, you can snap off the excess pretty easily.

http://www.tapplastics.com/product/supplies_tools/plastic_tools_supplies/tap_acrylic_knife/10

We have a nice size shop and cut our polycarbonate with either our Fletcher cutter or the worm drive circular saw with a 55 tooth non-ferrous blade, which we also use for our aluminum sheets. We've got a nice cutting guide and usually don't have much trouble.

 

[reQ]

Polycarb you can cut even with skillsaw (get blade with more teeth) or table saw, which i do from time to time if size is not to big. I would not recommend cutting acrylic with tablesaw\skillsaw. You can get specific blade to score it, if you cutting straight lines, If cutting custom shape - jigsaw might be the answer, but need to be really careful not to crack it.

As for suppliers, for example i am using EM Plastics from Winnipeg, Canada. They can cut it to specific size if i ask, but usually these will be not best cutting job, and they mention in themselves. Dunno if any supplier like that can get you perfect cuts.

 

[Warlick Designs]

How often do you need pieces cut and what kind of shop area do you have to work with?

I've used these things in the past for the occasional cut and they work ok once you get the hang of it. The nice part about the cutter is that it doesn't make any mess and once you score both sides of the piece, you can snap off the excess pretty easily.

http://www.tapplastics.com/product/supplies_tools/plastic_tools_supplies/tap_acrylic_knife/10

We have a nice size shop and cut our polycarbonate with either our Fletcher cutter or the worm drive circular saw with a 55 tooth non-ferrous blade, which we also use for our aluminum sheets. We've got a nice cutting guide and usually don't have much trouble.

4-5 times a month and Im working with a very small area designated for cutting material.. about 13' x 9'

the website you referred seems to have some great material and looks like it will work for most jobs. however, this particular job request that has made me decide to search for a place I can order direct from is a 10' x 3' polycarbonate blank and it looks like they don't make/stock anything that large :/

 

[DizzyMarkus]

We get everything from sabic polymer shapes ...I know it's just a branch..they cut everything for us

 

[Kottwitz-Graphics]

I order all my polycarb from Harbor Sales. They cut it to shape, and deliver within a couple of days.

 

[TimToad]

TAP is great for little pieces and smaller fabricated stuff but bad for sheet goods.

What about Interstate Plastics in Sacramento? Or your local sign supply company?

For just a few pieces a month, it sounds like something you could save some money by cutting these yourself, the trick is where you get your sheet goods from.

 

[Pixels Are Bad Mmmkay?]

Grimco here. They cut it to size and deliver. Sometimes if the leftover piece after cutting is large enough we will take that, too. It can come in very handy for small random projects at home or in the office.

 

[J Hill Designs]

Grimco just opened in Sac, but I still use Denco out of concord -- they should deliver up to redding weekly and have no problem cutting things down

 

[Warlick Designs]

Decision made

We went ahead with Grimco as they seemed to be very helpful and got exactly what we needed