Happy New Year

I know it’s already February and by now the Bears have won the Super Bowl. (At least I hope they have since I wrote this before the big game.) This is an exciting and very busy time of year. The first quarter is off to a running start. New budgets and new plans have been set in motion and some initial results should be coming in. To be successful in business today companies must stay sharp. Rising costs and competition continue to challenge even the largest companies (see “GE Plastics For Sale” in Late Breaking News).

Acrylic is everywhere. It has many uses and its multiple formulations make it an ideal material for a wide variety of applications. It is easily fabricated by routing, sawing and bending and can be finished and assembled into almost any shape imaginable. In this issue you will find all of these topics addressed in detail plus a variety of new materials, accessories, equipment, tooling, adhesives and polish for working with acrylics.

See, “Routing Acrylic”, by Van Niser, to learn how you can achieve a premium finished edge on acrylic. You may virtually eliminate the need for post-routing finishing operations.

In “Cutting Acrylics”, Phil Bryant, Business Manager, Plastics Division for the SCM Group, discusses how to cut accurate acrylic parts leaving a quality edge finish that will meet the visual requirements for your end application.

When it comes to “Finishing What You Start”, Darrell Bishop, Operations Manager for Edge Finisher Company, has some suggestions for how you can increase production and quality when bending and polishing your acrylic parts and assemblies. And to hold it all together, read “Adhesive Usage in Plastic Fabrication”, from IPS Corporation.

Finally, don’t miss the myriad of products in our “Acrylic Spotlight”. We feature a wide variety of materials, machinery and accessories from leading manufacturers and suppliers for acrylic fabricators.

If that’s not enough, you can also find more products and information for acrylic fabricators in our 2006 Buyer’s Guide and search a nine year article archive.

Enjoy the issue,