Place to get good acrylic for cheap?

[-orb-]

Hi. I was looking for my new rig to get a custom case from Mountain Mods based off of their UFO case, but bigger, etc.

However, this was proving to be very expensive and after talking to my brother I was convinced that it would be more cost effective and badass to build my own case.

However, I do not want to build a wood case as I do not like the look or feel, and I have always loved acrylic cases, thus I am trying to stay away from metal.

So what I want is if someone knows somewhere I can buy acrylic panels (I am looking currently for 24x24" panels of acrylic of a thickness about 0.5 inches... as I want it to be durable, not have a chance of breaking, and also there is not much of a price break between 3/8" and 1/2").

Can anyone help me out with this? For a 24x24x0.5" panel the cheapest price I can find is about $52... which is way too expensive for just a panel of acrylic, especially since I'll need 6 to make a cube ( assuming I don't screw one up and have to buy another).

Thanks in advance :)

[Rickpatbrown]

I was looking into it about six months ago. I found acrylic to be more expensive than I thought. I ended up going to home depot and buying some broken pieces from them for pretty cheap (this was thinner stuff though than 1/2 inch.

You should post in the cases section. This section is for watercooling.

Good luck

[Moto7451]

I'd recommend HDPE. It's a lot easier to deal with and stronger. For HDPE 1/8"-1/4" will do just fine. I would suggest that you go no thicker than 1/4" for acrylic. 3/16" should be thick enough for your purposes. 1/8" will be fine if it's not a structural piece (side panel for example).

For good quality acrylic and HDPE for good prices, go to http://www.professionalplastics.com/.

[Jolly-Swagman]

Most Widow/Glass Outlets usually stock it too, they do here.

[voigts]

You don't need anything over 1/4" for that. 1/4" cast is used for huge aquariums. I bought my last acrylic panels from USplastics. They by far had the cheapest cost as their shipping rates were very reasonable.

[Rickpatbrown]

USplastics . . . that's what I was trying to remember. All I could think of was americanplastic, but that wasn't right.

Look in the yellow pages for fabrication shops. If your really set on it, google around. There are forums dedicated to working with acrylic. It's a pretty useful skill to aquire. I found that it was harder to work with than I thought it would be.

Learn to use composite materials and acrylic and you can build almost anything. Stinky work though.

[-orb-]

Alright thanks for the advice guys.

I didn't know exactly how strong acrylic was, and I definitely hadn't thought that a 1/4" bottom panel would hold up a heavy water cooling rig, but if it's used for aquariums I suppose it must be pretty darn strong.

1/4" is way cheaper, especially on that USPlastics site... thanks a lot guys :)

Now maybe I can actually afford it if I make a mistake hehe

[Moto7451]

Most of the Acrylic at Window shops and hardware stores will be extruded acrylic which is fine for a window pane but absolutely sucks for machining with tools at home. Cast acrylic is much nicer to work with. I've had extruded acrylic crack on me while being cut with a dremmel and with an actual acrylic knife.

USPlastics is my usual source for plastics but they don't do free custom cuts which Professional Plastics will do. Plus they have so many cool colors available ;).

[-orb-]

Hah, well it just so happens that I'm doing a 24"x24"x24" cube, so getting the 24x24" plates works fine for me without any custom cuts.

Thanks a lot for the links, this makes my project a hell of a lot cheaper.

[voigts]

Hah, well it just so happens that I'm doing a 24"x24"x24" cube, so getting the 24x24" plates works fine for me without any custom cuts.

Thanks a lot for the links, this makes my project a hell of a lot cheaper.

Glad it works for you. I must admit that you are in for a challenge however as although acrylic is a great material, it is so very hard to get it to look just right. It is so easy to scratch and yet so hard to work out the scratches from. Plus anytime you have a clear line of sight to everything you have to go the extra mile to keep your wiring from looking terrible.

[Mycobacteria]

I buy off-cuts form places that make neon signs for shops...