Acrylic Spotlight

Parts and Accessories

ABC Plastics, Inc., the innovator of the 12” piano hinge and the Deco- Hinge™ offers an extensive catalog of parts and accessories for acrylic fabricators. Featured are a wide variety of hinges, hasps, door catches, turntables, rigid vinyl pockets and display signage components in many standard sizes, custom sizes are available upon request.

New products to their line include: Deco- Hinge™2, as strong as the Deco-Hinge™ but redesigned without the chamfer corners; Deco-Pulls in three convenient sizes, which are easy to grasp and can be used as a handle or pull; Solvent Applicator Bottles; the same quality as you are accustomed to but at a lower price; 1/2” and 3/4” Z-Bars in freight desirable 49” lengths; 1/4” and 3/8” Posts and Screws are available with redesigned lengths for better fit; and a new Keyhole Hook and molded Keyhole which offers a fast and strong way to mount products to any surface.

For additional information, contact Geno Norraik, ABC Plastics, Inc., 9132 DeSoto Avenue, Chatsworth, CA 91311, 877-Mr-Hinge (674-4643)/818-775-0065, Fax: 818-775-2975, E-mail: geno@abcplastics.com, Web: www.abcplastics.com.

Neon Lights Acrylic Sheets

Acrilex, Inc., a leading producer and distributor of high-end custom-colored acrylics, announced its Acriglas® Neon Lights series of acrylic sheets. The series is ideal for use in point-of-purchase displays, store fixtures, lighting and sign or lettering applications. Acriglas Neon Lights series sheets can be used in combination with other acrylic products in applications where required.

Offered in bright, day-glow colors, the sheets are designed to “pop” when viewed, similar to the way that highlighting markers make important text leap from a page. Because the sheets are translucent, they are perfect for the design of illuminated signs, menu boards and displays as they maintain their color and visual appeal when backlit. Each sheet has a standard matte finish on one side, offering better light diffusion, anti-glare surface and a softer appearance. The reverse side has the same glossy surface as traditional acrylic sheets, providing a sleek, shiny appearance.

Neon Lights sheets are offered at a standard size of 4 x 6’ and are available in thickness ranging from 1/8 – 1/2”. Acriglas Neon Lights sheets can be drilled, routed, lasercut, glued, formed, hot stamped and silk-screened like other acrylic sheets. Acrilex can custom cut or configure sheets to meet all specifications.

For additional information, contact Dan Rustin, Acrilex, Inc., Acrilex Inc., 230 Culver Avenue, Jersey City, NJ 07305, 800-222-4680, Fax: 201-333-1237, E-mail: drustin@acrilex.com, Web: www.acrilex.com.

High-impact Hinge

Allen Company offers the Multi- Hinge in high-impact acrylic and eight other formulations. The Multi- Hinge is available in a wide variety of colors and two configurations (flush or off-set). The same hinge can actually be assembled for either flush or 3/8” off-set mounting simply by reversing one leaf. This allows the fabricator to choose the best combination to meet their needs for appearance, rigidity and heat or chemical resistance. The hinges can be fastened with either heat or solvent welding or can be mechanically fastened. These heavy-duty hinges are suitable for a variety of commercial and industrial applications.

For additional information, contact Dave Anderson, Allen Company, 7505 Washington Avenue South, Edina, MN 55439, 952-829-1831, Fax: 952-829-5721, E-mail: sales@allenplastics.com, Web: www.allenplastics.com.

Acrylic Sheet for Projection Screens

Altuglas International has introduced Plexiglas® Vision acrylic sheet, the latest innovation for overhead and rear projection screens used in retail displays, museums, showrooms and theaters. Half the weight of glass and easy to fabricate, the new superbrilliant acrylic sheet allows very light screens to be designed in uniquely creative shapes.

With a three-fold gain in image brightness and a very high contrast ratio, this high-grade acrylic sheet delivers breathtaking images that are visible from every angle: upclose, far away, one-side or both. Beyond unconventional video and graphic effects for commercial and retail environments, Plexiglas® Vision acrylic sheet also enables unique indoor architecture and spectacular murals. Four versions are available for various applications: white for holographic effects, grays for one- or two-sided viewing and colorless heavy matte finish on both sides to resist impact, scratches and fingerprints.

For additional information, contact Vince Casmirri, Altuglas International, 2000 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103, 800-647-5569/215-419-7423, Fax: 215- 419-5512, Web: www.altuglasint.com.

Reinforced Acrylic Sheet

American Acrylic Corporation manufactures LUMAsite® fiberglass- reinforced acrylic sheets. Most varieties are translucent and offer architects and designers attractive choices for lighting, partition and architectural applications. These ultra-strong panels offer a selection of elegant effects, including frosted, rice-paper and parchment varieties, several whites, delicate tints and bright colors. Other varieties, including both translucent and opaque colors, are used extensively in sign and display applications. Standard sheet sizes include 4’ x 8’ and 4’ x 10’. Some varieties are available up to 5’ wide and/or 12’ long. Available thicknesses range from 0.045 inch to 0.250 inch, depending on the specific variety.

For additional information, contact Manny Ziegler, American Acrylic Corporation, 400 Sheffield Ave., West Babylon, NY 11704, 800-627-9025, Fax: 631-422-2811, E-mail: lumasite@aol.com, Web: www.americanacrylic.com.

Benders & Polishing Machines

A.W.E.D. Corp. offers one of the most comprehensive lines of benders available in the U.S. Benders feature either wire or quartz elements housed in a patented system that will adjust the aperture of heat exposure to the sheet for the ultimate in bending of sharp or long 90° bends in thin or thicker material. This system will reduce the heating time for bending thicker material. An optional re-circulating cooling system is powered by their ICE refrigerant power unit. Benders are available with single or multiple strips in bench models and floor models. Units with both top and bottom heating can be converted to an all bottom heating system by a simple one-minute change over. All lines can be individually time-controlled and include a warning system with 10-second readiness alert.

The new line of edge polishers, designed to fit every budget and production requirement, includes five models from table-top straight and bevel units to four, full-size high production models.

A.W.E.D. has three sizes of flame polishers, single- or double-sided buffing lathes and ovens of all sizes. Also available are plastic cutting saw blades featuring triplechip grind (TCG) tooth design from 10” – 16” diameter.

The air tool, referred to as a die grinder or HS hand air router, can round the edge of acrylic material. The tool is capable of speeds up to 23,000 rpm and features an adjustable reference fence set at 45°. By changing the profile of the router bit, half round of different radius or inverted half-round edges can be made. The special fence can get into the smallest of curves in material up to its diameter of 1/2”. For additional information, contact Victor Miranda, A.W.E.D. Corp., 1175 Buford Hwy., Suite 101, Suwanee, GA 30024, 770-831-9800, Fax: 770-831-7404, E-mail: victor@awedmachine.com, Web: www.awed-machine.com.

Cubes, Disks, Cabachons and More

Chelsea Plastics Corp. uses unique tumblers to polish acrylic pieces. They are able to cut sheet, rod and tubes to custom sizes and have them polished to perfection. They stock discs, cubes, cabachons (half balls) in sizes from1/4 to 4 inches.

This enables them to ship in one or two days on stock items and usually within five working days on custom orders.

They specialize in custom small component parts completely polished, to use in your production.

For additional information, contact George Frechter, Chelsea Plastics, 514 West 24th Street, New York, NY 10011, 800-524-2435/212-924-4530, Fax: 212-924-3508.

Plastic Fabrication Components

Craftics Inc . has a great selection of acrylic fabrication components for any project, including cleaner and polish, adhesives, hinges, camlocks, acrylic shapes, extrusions and much more. They now stock Novus #1, #2 and #3 in 8 ounce bottles and introduce their new style knobs and pulls. All are molded in clear acrylic and are very cost-effective. Craftics offers two sizes of the knob: standard and large, and two sizes of the pulls: small and medium. Samples are available.

For additional information, contact Tracy Pineda, Craftics Inc., P.O. Box 91930, Albuquerque, NM 87199, 866-296-2130, Fax: 800-289-2020, E-mail: sales@craftics.com, Web: www.craftics.com.

Cast Acrylic Rod & Tubing

Cast acrylic is highly regarded for its optical clarity and outstanding light transmission properties. Cast acrylic rod and tubing are unaffected by sunlight or fluorescent lights, resists aging and maintains stability under a wide range of conditions. They are used in many applications in place of extruded or molded acrylic because of better machining properties, greater clarity, better resistance to heat distortion and higher tensile strength.

Typical applications include furniture frames and knobs, electrical/electronic components, sight gauges, outdoor lighting lenses, clear fluid movement, pneumatic conveyor tubes, signs/displays, food canisters and pressure vessels.

CS Hyde Company cast acrylic rod and tubing is available exclusively through a national network of Plastics Distributors.

For additional information, contact Leah Skurski, CS Hyde Company, 1351 N. Milwaukee Ave., Lake Villa, IL 60046, 800-461-4161/847-395-0325, Fax: 847-395-0535, E-mail: lskurski@cshyde.com, Web: www.cshyde.com.

Bending & Polishing Equipment

Edge Finisher Company manufactures and supplies a wide range of edge finishing, edge polishing and flame polishing equipment and linear heat tables for plastics fabrication.

Their EF-200 Diamond Edge Polisher Machine (shown at right) removes saw marks and produces a clear, polished edge on acrylic parts up to 3/4” thick in a single pass through the machine. Their EF-2000 model is capable of polishing up to 2” thick material.

The HRK-125 Linear Heat Table for bending plastic sheet is a compact, easy to operate, semi-automatic machine for making multiple bends in acrylic, styrene, polycarbonate, foamed PVC and PET sheet materials. It has six nichrome wire heating elements with four separate temperature controls that can be positioned over and under the plastic sheets. The wire temperature and heating cycle time can be precisely controlled and the top heating elements automatically lift up away from the workpiece when the heating cycle is complete.

Edge Finisher also represents Bermaq diamond polishers which have a maximum thickness capacity of 100mm (approx. 4”), and the tilt head option for polishing angled edges is available on the AMI model.

For additional information, contact Darrell Bishop, Edge Finisher Company, 16 Stony Hill Road, Bethel, CT 06801, 800-625-5863, Fax: 203-796-7924, E-mail: info@edgefinisher.com, Web: www.edgefinisher.com.

Fabrication Tools & Accessories

FTM is The Fabricator’s Source. They carry acrylic hinges, hasps, pulls, knobs, keyhole attachments, optical nose piece holders, peg hooks, door catches and wall hangers. In addition they sell the largest line of tools and equipment specifically designed for working with acrylic. Their line includes saw blades, solvent applicators, router bits, drill bits (they have the largest selection of plexi-point drill bits available), flame polishing equipment, vacuum clamping and a complete line acrylic cleaners, polishes and microfiber products, all aimed at making the handling and care of acrylic products easier.

FTM, Inc. has a wide range of straight line bending equipment and power controls. Just released is the New AEC-15 Power Control with sophisticated Advanced Electronic Controller technology. This power control, designed for FTM’s equipment, is now more user-friendly with NiChrome wire.

For additional information, contact David Geer, FTM, Inc., 6160 Cobblestone Road, Placerville, CA. 95667, 530-626-1986, Fax: 530-642-2602, E-mail: info@123ftm.com, Web: www.123ftm.com.

Rods, Tubes & Profiles

Futurplast Extrusions is a distributor- committed, leading manufacturer of fine extruded acrylic rods, tubes and profiles, as well as polycarbonate tubes. Stock products include tubes up to 12” in diameter, round rods up to 3” in diameter, square rods, square tubes, and one the largest selections of colored acrylic products in North America. They also feature a stock line of frosted “P95” acrylic tubes and custom products are available on request.

Futurplast Extrusions has 9 distribution centers: Los Angeles, Chicago, Tampa, Seattle, Houston, Albuquerque, New Jersey, Columbus, and Montreal. Futurplast’s extensive warehouse inventory permits them to supply customers quickly and at less cost. No one in North America stocks more acrylic rod, tube and profile in more sizes and colors than Futurplast.

For additional information, contact Joseph Sorella or Lisa Houle, Futurplast Extrusions, 3435 Pitfield Blvd., St- Laurent, QC, H4S-1H7 Canada, 888- 812-9075, Fax: 866-388-2955, E-mail: info@futurplast.ca, Web: www.futurplast.ca.

Adhesives

Weld-On® Industrial Assembly Adhesives are the right choice for all your plastic fabrication needs. Manufactured based on the most stringent quality standards, IPS’s products are versatile: able to bond acrylic to itself, other plastic and nonplastic materials (e.g. ABS, PVC, polycarbonate, styrene, vinyl, aluminum, glass, wood, leather and steel); durable: high bonding strength ensures that materials stay strongly affixed together; optically clear: ideal for applications requiring clear, seamless finish; weather and water resistant: suitable for outdoor applications and easy to handle and use: conveniently packaged in tubes, dispensing guns and cans. Simply apply their adhesives to the substrates and bond.

Use Weld-On #3, #4, #16, #40 and/or #42 for acrylic fabrication, refer to their website for a complete list of adhesives for other plastics. Weld-On Industrial Assembly Adhesives are manufactured by IPS® Corporation, a pioneer in plastic solvent cements and adhesives for the plastic fabrication and pipe fitting industries.

For additional information, contact Sophia Ma, IPS® Corporation, 455 W. Victoria Street, Compton, CA 90220, 800-421-2677/310-898-3300, Fax: 310-898- 3392, Web: www.ipscorp.com.

Displays & Components

Jule-Art, Inc. is a volume manufacturer of acrylic displays and components. Their business direction is to support the reseller in the store fixture industry and the custom acrylic fabricator who is seeking to increase manufacturing capacity, without increasing the overhead. Their warehouse is centrally located in the United States to maximize shipping coverage with minimal transit time. They consistently maintain a stock inventory on hand to support over 6,000 items represented in their catalog.

Items that are not available as a stock item in the catalog can be easily produced by their custom project department. Along with their volume manufacturing capabilities, they also injection mold their own acrylic accessories, components and economy display items. Jule-Art, Inc. is a leader and innovator in the acrylic display industry.

For additional information, contact David Dougherty, Jule-Art Inc., P.O. Box 91748, Albuquerque, NM 87199, 505-344-8433, Fax: 505-344-6306, E-mail: info@jule-art.com, Web: www.jule-art.com.

Plastic Bending Bars

Laramy Products offers an inexpensive, precision tool that heats thermoplastic sheet for forming bends. It handles materials up to 1/2” thick. The combination of a variable temperature controller plus two heating surfaces results in adaptability to a wide range of materials, sizes and thicknesses.

The exclusive Laramy replaceable heating element allows inexpensive repairs without the need to purchase the entire bar.

The units are available in two sizes to heat 4 foot and 8 foot sheet. The entire unit consists of two heating bars, two base supports and a stepless heat controller.

The Laramy Sword is an optional attachment to the bending bars allowing a sharp, non-radius bend to be made on polypropylene and polyethylene. The result is a sharp attractive bend with a reinforced inner joint.

For additional information, contact Sherry Stahler, Laramy Products LLC, P.O. Box 1168, Lyndonville, VT 05851, 802-626-9328, Fax: 802-626-5529, E-mail: laramy@ together.net, Web: www.laramyplasticwelders.com.

Plastic Polishes

Three plastic polishes from NOVUS Inc., the Minneapolis, Minnesota-based plastics care specialists, are helping millions win the war against fading, scratching and dulling of plastics that all too often cause the best products to grow old before their time.

NOVUS Plastic Polishes, which have been used and recommended by manufacturers for over 30 years, have an enviable record of rejuvenating the plastic surfaces in many industrial settings, as well as in the home. NOVUS Plastic Polish No. 1 is a cleaner, shiner and protector for all plastics. In one easy application, this highly concentrated formula polishes quickly to an even finish. It leaves a glaze that resists finger marking and dust buildup. It is anti-static and anti-fogging. NOVUS Plastic Polish No. 2 removes fine scratches and haziness from most plastics. It is not just a surface cover-up, but a polishing compound that restores and protects damaged plastics. NOVUS Plastic Polish No. 3 was formulated to remove heavy scratches after years of research and development. After using No. 3, follow up with No. 2 to remove any fine scratches. Always remember, No. 2 polish must be used with NOVUS No. 3 for desired results.

For additional information, contact David Osland, Novus Inc., 12800 Highway 13 South, Suite 500, Savage, MN 55379, 952-946-0450, Fax: 952-946-0435, Web: www.novuspolish.com.

Acrylic Profiles

Acrylic profiles from Petro Extrusion Technologies, Inc., are available in 6 stock shapes, in both GP and Impact Modified acrylic grades (except for channels, only available in DR grade).

Available off-the shelf in 6’ lengths, Petro offers availability for 3 different Zbars, 1 W-bar, and 2 channels, also suitable for slatwall installations.

Petro also offers availability of large diameter acrylic tubing, in 5”, 6”, 7” and 8” outside diameters, from stock in 6’ lengths.

In addition to several stock tubing and profile lines available, Petro also offers full custom extrusion capability. If your part is not in stock, Petro can make it for you on a custom basis.

In GP, Medium and DR-Grades, as well as frosted finish, Petro has the material and the experience to deliver to your specific product requirement.

For additional information, contact Robert Petrozziello, Petro Extrusion Technologies, Inc., P.O. Box 99, Garwood, NJ 07027, 800-229-3338/908-789-3338, Fax: 908- 789-0434, E-mail: robert.petro@verizon.net, Web: www.petroextrusions.com.