736 answers to the questions acrylic buyers actually ask

Cast, for anything machined, polished, bent or solvent bonded. Cast sheet has a higher molecular weight, so it cuts cleanly, polishes to a glass-like edge and resists stress cracking around holes. Extruded is cheaper and fine for flat, unpolished, unprinted parts. If you are unsure, cast is the safer default and we will tell you when the job genuinely does not need it.

Read next: Material comparison · Cast vs extruded acrylic

Three quick tests. Extruded sheet carries a fine longitudinal line where the die lip marks it; cast does not. Cast usually has paper masking, extruded often has film. And a solvent wipe on an offcut: extruded crazes within seconds, cast stays clear. The label on the protective film states the grade, but labels get swapped in a workshop.

Read next: Material comparison · Cast vs extruded acrylic

Chemically yes — all are polymethyl methacrylate. Plexiglas, Perspex and Lucite are brand names from different regions, and “organic glass” is the literal translation of the Chinese term for the same material. What varies is not the chemistry but the grade: cast or extruded, UV-stabilised or not, optical or general purpose.

When the part has to absorb impact — machine guards near a tool breakage, barriers in public spaces, covers on vibrating equipment. Polycarbonate takes roughly 200 times the impact energy of acrylic. It also yellows faster, scratches more easily and is harder to bond and polish. If nothing hits the part, acrylic gives better clarity for longer.

A copolymer or a blend with rubber particles that raises impact strength, typically to three or five times standard acrylic, at some cost in clarity and UV life. It sits between acrylic and polycarbonate. For machine guards where full polycarbonate is overkill, it is often the sensible middle. We will say when the gain is not worth the price.

Yes, in cast sheet with low haze and good homogeneity, but we are a fabricator rather than a lens moulder. For a light guide or a lens we machine and diamond-polish the faces and anneal the part to remove machining stress. If your requirement is on transmitted wavefront rather than dimensions, say so early — that is a different acceptance test.

UV-stabilised sheet resists yellowing itself, because an additive absorbs UV before it damages the polymer. UV-filtering sheet blocks UV from passing through to whatever is behind it — used in front of artwork or a display object that must not fade. One protects the sheet, the other protects the contents. They are specified differently.

Standard acrylic blocks most UV below about 380 nm but not all of it. For light-sensitive works you want a grade specified as UV-filtering, which typically blocks above 98% below 400 nm, and you still need to control the light source. We can quote the filtering grade, but the conservation decision should come from your conservator.

UV-stabilised cast acrylic, at a thickness that resists bowing across the span, with a light colour rather than a dark one. Dark colours absorb heat, and a dark panel in direct sun can reach 80 °C, close to the point where acrylic softens. If summer temperatures are extreme, polycarbonate with a UV coat is worth considering for large unsupported panels.

70–80 °C for cast, 65–75 °C for extruded, measured as continuous service. It softens rather than melting abruptly, so the practical limit is where it starts to deflect under its own load. Anything near a lamp, a heater or an engine bay needs a heat check or a different material.

The base polymer is inert and many cast acrylic grades are used in food display. The caveat is the full assembly: adhesives, edge paints, print inks and cleaning chemicals all matter. For direct food contact we will quote a grade with a food-contact declaration and use a compliant adhesive, or advise using the acrylic as a barrier rather than a contact surface.

No. Acrylic chips and scratches under a blade, and the scratches then harbour bacteria. Polyethylene or polypropylene is the right material for a cutting surface. Acrylic is a display and guarding material, not a working board, and we would rather lose the order than sell the wrong sheet.

Clear is the general-purpose grade, with a slight green or grey cast on thick sections. Super clear reduces that cast by lowering iron content. Optical clear is specified by haze and transmission values and is normally a cast optical grade. On a 3 mm panel the difference is subtle; on a 20 mm block edge it is obvious.

Light transmission is about 92% for 3 mm cast acrylic against 90–91% for soda-lime glass, but acrylic transmits more in the UV range and less in the far IR. Practically, acrylic looks slightly warmer and is lighter in weight. It also scratches more easily than glass, which matters for a surface that is cleaned daily.

Yes, gradually, under UV. Standard sheet in direct sun shows measurable yellowing in two to three years; UV-stabilised extends that to four to six. The change is cumulative rather than reversible. Indoors, away from windows, a display part can stay clear for a decade. Nobody can honestly promise permanent clarity outdoors.

About 1.19 g/cm³, so 1 mm of thickness weighs 1.19 kg per square metre. A 1,220 × 2,440 mm sheet of 5 mm cast weighs roughly 18 kg. Freight is charged on volume for anything bulky, so the practical cost driver is usually carton dimensions rather than weight — which is why nesting and knock-down design change the freight bill.

Yes, as a modified grade classified to a flame-spread standard, but it is a special order with a minimum quantity and a longer lead time. Be clear about which standard you need — a Euroclass rating and a UL94 rating are not interchangeable. Standard acrylic is combustible and we will not describe it otherwise.

No — acrylic is brittle and cracks under a sharp impact. Polycarbonate is the shatter-resistant transparent sheet. What acrylic can do is break without sharp flying splinters in thin grades, which is why it is used where glass fragments would be dangerous. If the requirement is “must not break”, the material is polycarbonate, not acrylic.

A cast acrylic sheet with a reflective metal coating on the back and a protective paint layer over it. It gives a mirror at roughly half the weight of glass and can be cut and drilled. The coating is soft, so the back must not be abraded, and cutting must be done from the face side to avoid chipping the reflective layer.

Yes, three routes: a factory matte grade, chemical etching of a clear sheet, or sandblasting. Factory matte is the most consistent; etching gives a finer, more even frost; blasting is coarser and cheaper. For backlit panels, the frosted face diffuses the light and hiding power matters more than the texture.

Cast sheet comes in a standard range of about forty colours plus opals and pastels. For a brand colour we either find the nearest standard or have sheet cast to a custom colour, which needs a minimum quantity and four to six weeks. A Pantone match on printed graphics is a different process and can be much closer than a pigmented sheet.

At 3 mm and above, standard black is effectively opaque. Very thin black sheet can transmit a faint glow under strong backlight, which matters for a light-box face. If total opacity is critical, specify a thickness and ask for a transmission check, or use a black/white dual-layer sheet where the white layer guarantees blocking.

Engraving. A cap layer of one colour over a core of another, so a laser or router cuts through the cap and exposes the second colour. It gives permanent, high-contrast lettering without ink — control panels, machine labels, signage. It costs more than plain sheet and the engraving depth has to be controlled within the cap thickness.

Yes for fresh water and salt spray, with two caveats: avoid continuous immersion, and do not bond it with a moisture-sensitive adhesive. Acrylic absorbs a small amount of water over months, which can fog a bonded joint. For portholes and marine windows, cast sheet with mechanically clamped edges rather than adhesive is the reliable detail.

It resists dilute acids, alcohols and most detergents, and is attacked by acetone, MEK, chloroform, strong alkalis and aromatic solvents. Stress plus solvent is the dangerous combination: a part with internal stress can craze from a solvent it would otherwise tolerate. Always tell us what the part will be cleaned with.

Flat, on a clean support, out of direct sun and away from heat. Cast sheet stored flat under its own weight for months will bow, which is why we rack sheet vertically. Keep the masking film on until installation, and never stack heavy items on a covered panel — the film hides scratches until the day you peel it.

Cast sheet is normally supplied to a thickness tolerance of roughly ±10% for thin sheet and ±5% for thicker, and the sheet is not perfectly flat. That is a material tolerance, not a machining tolerance. If a 10 mm nominal panel must measure 10.00 mm, it has to be machined, because the sheet as delivered will not hold it.

Yes, and it shows up in three places: optical clarity on thick sections, how cleanly the sheet machines, and how consistent the thickness is from batch to batch. We buy from named suppliers and can tell you which brand a job is running on. Switching brand mid-project is not something we do silently.

Cast acrylic can include regrind, and some suppliers offer a recycled-content grade. Clarity and colour consistency are lower, and the grade is usually limited to opaque or dark colours. If you need a recycled-content declaration for a sustainability file, tell us at enquiry stage — the paperwork is easier to obtain before the sheet is bought.

Acrylic is lighter, so transport emissions per part are lower, and it can be chemically recycled back to monomer, though the infrastructure is limited. Glass is inert and effectively infinitely recyclable but far heavier and more energy-intensive to melt. For a display part that is thrown away in two years, neither is a clean answer; for a twenty-year installation, glass usually wins.

Yes, where the properties suit. PETG is tougher than acrylic and bends rather than cracking, but it does not polish to a clear edge and solvent bonding is less reliable. Polystyrene is cheap and bonds well but yellows quickly and crazes. We usually recommend acrylic and will only quote an alternative when there is a functional reason.

Yes, for chemically aggressive environments where acrylic would be attacked, such as fume hoods and plating lines. It is slightly less clear, softer, and cannot be heat bent as sharply. Cutting generates a fine dust that needs extraction. We machine it on the same equipment with different tooling and slower feeds.

Polycarbonate for anything that could be hit — grinding sparks, a broken tool, a burst hose. Cast acrylic for guards that are only a barrier to access and where visibility matters. A hybrid is common: polycarbonate where the risk is, acrylic elsewhere. Tell us the hazard and we will match the material to it rather than defaulting.

Cast acrylic for most aqueous work, because it is clear, rigid and easy to clean. Switch to polycarbonate where impact is possible, and to PVC where the splash is a strong acid or an aromatic solvent. The frame and hinges matter as much as the panel — a shield that cannot be moved with one gloved hand does not get used.

It tolerates ethylene oxide and most cold disinfectants. It does not survive autoclave steam at 121 °C and it crazes under some strong disinfectants. This is why medical devices are usually polycarbonate, polysulfone or a single-use moulded part. We fabricate acrylic guards, covers and trays, not sterile invasive devices.

Acrylic is clearer, harder, cheaper and more dimensionally stable; polycarbonate is tougher and tolerates repeated disinfection better. For a bench shield cleaned several times a day with alcohol, polycarbonate lasts longer. For a one-off protective cover that is wiped occasionally, cast acrylic looks better and costs less.

Only with the span and load sized properly, and never as a substitute for a structural material. Acrylic creeps under sustained load — a shelf that holds at installation can bow a year later. As a rule of thumb for a light retail shelf, thickness in millimetres should be at least span in millimetres divided by 60, and any real load needs a support.

For a display-grade panel with light load, roughly 60 times the thickness as a starting point: 6 mm over about 360 mm, 10 mm over about 600 mm. Deflection, not strength, usually governs. Edge support changes the answer by a factor of two or more, so send the actual frame detail rather than the panel size.

Yes, as bought-in stock that we then machine, cut and polish. Tube is available in cast and extruded, in metric and imperial outside diameters. Bending tube to a radius is a different process from bending sheet and needs a filled-bend technique to avoid ovality. Tell us the radius and wall thickness and we will confirm feasibility.

Usually, from a sample. We can identify cast versus extruded, measure thickness and colour, and test solvent response on an offcut. What we cannot do is name the exact additive package. If the part is a legacy item with a compliance file, send that file — it is faster and more reliable than reverse engineering.

Standard clear cast sheet is in stock from 2 to 50 mm and adds nothing to lead time. Colours, mirror, matte, dual-layer, flame-retardant and optical grades are bought in, which adds three to ten days depending on the grade and the supplier's stock. Ordering a special grade is the single most common cause of an unexpected delay.

We hold standard clear cast from 2 to 50 mm plus the common opal white and black, which is what allows a 3–7 business day sample turnaround. Colours and special grades are ordered against the job. If you have a recurring part in a special colour, we can hold stock for you under a call-off arrangement.

Yes, and it is cheaper than asking afterwards. Send the function, the environment, the cleaning regime and any impact risk, and we will say which of the seven transparent sheet materials we would use and why. That conversation usually takes one exchange and occasionally saves an entire tooling cycle.

Standard acrylic for anything above a modest pressure differential. Acrylic is used for viewports in low-pressure and vacuum applications with a correctly designed seat and a thickness calculated for the load, but that is engineering work with a safety factor, not fabrication. We would decline unless the calculation is signed by an engineer.

Yes, as a laminated panel made by bonding a decorative interlayer between two acrylic sheets, usually with a clear resin. It is a decorative product for retail and hospitality, not a stock item, so it is quoted per project and made to order. The lamination line is visible on edge, which is part of the effect.

Acrylic looks better and stays clear longer; polycarbonate survives being knocked over. For a counter unit that is handled daily by staff, acrylic with 5 mm walls and rounded edges is normal. For a floor display in a busy aisle where a trolley may hit it, polycarbonate is worth the extra cost and the faster yellowing.

Cast sheet from 2 mm to 50 mm, in the standard increments of 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 15, 20, 25, 30, 40 and 50 mm. Between those, we machine down from the next size up, which is normal practice. Anything above 50 mm is a block, cast to order, with a much longer lead time.

Read next: Thickness and span · Panel design guide

The common cast sheet is 1,220 × 2,440 mm and 2,050 × 3,050 mm; extruded is usually 1,220 × 1,830 mm or 2,050 × 2,500 mm. Other sizes exist, especially for imported brands. Sheet size matters because it sets the nesting efficiency, and a part that is 30 mm too long for an efficient nest can cost noticeably more.

Read next: Thickness and span · Panel design guide

Multiply area in square metres by thickness in millimetres by 1.19. So a 1,220 × 2,440 mm sheet of 5 mm weighs about 17.7 kg, and the same sheet in 10 mm weighs about 35 kg. For freight, volume usually governs rather than weight, but for manual handling and pallet limits weight is what matters.

Because cast acrylic sheet is supplied to a thickness tolerance, typically around ±10% on thin sheet and ±5% on thicker, and the sheet is not machined. Nominal 10 mm is a trade designation, not a measured value. If your drawing calls for 10.00 mm, the part has to be machined from 12 mm stock and that is priced accordingly.

Yes, by fly-cutting or surface milling on a CNC bed, to about ±0.1 mm on a part up to 20 mm thick. It removes the factory surface, which on cast sheet is the flattest and clearest part of the material, so the cosmetic result is usually slightly worse than the original surface. Do this only where the thickness is functionally critical.

Cast sheet is flatter than extruded, but neither is flat to a machined standard. A 10 mm cast sheet can show 2–4 mm of bow across a full 2,440 mm length when stood on edge, and it relaxes over time. If an assembly needs a flat reference, design a machined or framed edge rather than relying on the sheet face.

For a light retail shelf with front and back support, 8 mm over 600 mm span, 10 mm over 900 mm, 12 mm over 1,200 mm. Supported on four edges, you can drop one step. Under sustained load acrylic creeps, so a shelf sized to “just hold” at installation will bow visibly within a year or two.

Send span, support condition on each edge, load per square metre and the deflection you can accept. Deflection usually governs, not breakage. As a first estimate, allowable load rises with the cube of thickness and falls with the cube of span — doubling thickness makes a panel eight times stiffer, doubling span makes it eight times more flexible.

Up to 25 mm on our heat benders with a controlled strip element, and thicker sections are usually made by bonding two pieces rather than bending one. Beyond 20 mm the bend radius becomes large, the outer surface is prone to crazing, and annealing becomes mandatory rather than advisable.

Not in the way buyers expect. Stiffness rises with the cube of thickness, so thickness is the most efficient way to make a panel rigid — but impact resistance falls, because a thicker section is more brittle and the mass is higher. And cost rises almost linearly. The right question is the deflection you can accept, not the thickness you can afford.

Extruded sheet is available from 1 mm and even 0.8 mm; cast generally starts at 2 mm. Thin sheet is difficult to keep flat, scratches through the film easily and cannot be polished on edge without distortion. For a thin transparent face on a frame, 1.5–2 mm extruded is usually the practical choice.

A single sheet up to about 2,050 × 3,050 mm, which is the largest cast format we stock. Beyond that, parts are bonded from panels with a joint designed to be invisible or deliberately expressed. A 4 m long panel with a visible splice is a design decision, not a defect — but it must be decided before the drawing is released.

Yes, with a solvent-bonded butt joint, a machined tongue-and-groove, or a mechanical splice behind a cover strip. A well-made solvent joint in clear acrylic is close to invisible from the face side at normal viewing distance, but it is visible in raking light. For architectural work, an expressed joint is usually the better detail.

Material cost scales almost linearly with thickness, and machining time rises with the number of passes. Going from 5 mm to 10 mm on a flat part typically adds 35–60% to the material line and a smaller share to the machining line, so the finished part might rise 25–40%. Going to 20 mm more than doubles it.

Yes. A laser cuts 3 mm at roughly three times the speed it cuts 10 mm, and above 12 mm the cut edge quality falls off enough that polishing or a CNC route is the better process. On a router, thick sheet needs more passes and slower feed, and the tool wear per part is higher.

Bonding two sheets face to face to reach a thickness the mill does not stock, for example two 25 mm sheets to make 50 mm. It is done with a solvent cement or a polymerisable adhesive, and the joint line is visible on edge. It is much cheaper than casting a block, but the edge will always show the lamination.

Yes, by CNC profiling followed by hand or machine polishing, up to a radius of about half the thickness without special tooling. A full radius on 20 mm sheet gives a soft, handleable edge and is standard for furniture and retail fixtures. It costs more than a chamfer because the polishing is slower.

We work to 20 kg per carton as a default because that is the limit most couriers and manual handlers accept. Above that, a two-person lift or a pallet is needed. If your marketplace or fulfilment centre specifies a different limit, send the requirement and we will pack to it.

With a digital micrometer at fixed points around the sheet, and the readings are recorded on the inspection sheet for parts where thickness is a specified dimension. We measure at the part, not on the parent sheet, because machining and polishing change the local thickness by a few tenths.

Because edge polishing and surface flattening remove material. A flame-polished edge loses nothing measurable, but a diamond-polished edge on a small part, or any fly-cut face, can take 0.1–0.3 mm off. If thickness is critical after finishing, specify the finished dimension and we will start from thicker stock.

Slightly, yes — a cast sheet can vary by a few tenths of a millimetre from centre to edge, and extruded sheet varies across the width more than along the length. This is why a tight thickness callout on a large part is difficult to meet and why we usually ask which dimension actually matters.

Sized from the water height, not the tank length: the pressure at the base governs. A 600 mm water depth in a 1,200 mm window needs roughly 15–20 mm cast acrylic with a safety factor and a properly relieved edge. This is engineering with a real failure consequence, so we require a calculated thickness before quoting.

Yes, when the frame supports all four edges and nothing presses on it. 2 mm is common for cheap frames but shows distortion in reflected light; 3 mm is the usual retail standard; 4–5 mm is used where the face is large or the frame is open at the edges.

For a polycarbonate guard with impact risk, 5–8 mm depending on the hazard and the span; for an acrylic access barrier, 4–5 mm is usually enough. Thicker is not automatically safer: a thicker brittle panel stores more energy and can crack more violently. The mounting detail matters more than the extra millimetre.

Cutting a standard sheet down is almost always cheaper than ordering a special size, because special sizes carry a mill minimum and a lead time. The exception is a very large quantity of one size, where a mill run becomes economic. We will tell you when the volume justifies it.

Yes — cut, edged and filmed, shipped flat on a pallet with corner protection. This is common for overseas customers who install locally. We will cut to your site dimensions, but we ask you to verify the opening yourself, because site tolerances are usually looser than our cutting tolerance and a 2 mm error in the frame is a 2 mm error in the panel.

Waste is built into the quoted price through the nesting calculation, not added as a separate line. If a job leaves a large usable offcut, it stays with us. For a repeat part where the offcut is reusable, we will say so and price the second run accordingly.

About 5 mm across, with the practical limit set by handling and polishing rather than cutting. Below 20 mm, parts are usually made as a nested array on a carrier tab and snapped apart, because picking and packing individual small parts costs more than the parts themselves.

Within about 1 mm across 500 mm, and evenly supported behind, or the illumination will show as bands. A thin panel over a wide span will bow toward the light source as it warms, which is why light box faces are usually 5–8 mm and are held on all four edges with a mid-span support.

It expands about 0.07 mm per metre per degree Celsius — roughly seven times steel. A 2 m panel moving through a 30 °C swing changes length by about 4 mm. This is why panels are fixed in oversized holes or slotted, never bolted tight at both ends.

About 3 mm per metre of length in a typical indoor installation, and more where the panel faces a window. Fix one point, slot the rest. A panel restrained at every fixing will bow, craze around the holes, or crack from a corner — the failure usually appears in the first hot season.

Sometimes, for a stiffened panel: two 5 mm faces with a bonded spacer give more stiffness per kilogram than a solid 15 mm sheet. It is more work and more joints, so it wins on large architectural panels and loses on small parts. We will price both if the geometry is open.

3 mm for a simple flat holder, 5 mm for a freestanding tent card, 8–10 mm for a base-weighted floor stand. The thickness is mostly about stability and perceived quality rather than strength, and going one step thicker is often the cheapest way to make a product feel expensive.

Yes, by machine on a diamond polisher followed by hand finishing, and the result is a deep glass-like edge. It takes considerably longer than thin sheet and the risk of a visible polish wave is higher, so we quote it as a separate operation rather than folding it into the cutting price.

On an edge-standing pallet with a plywood A-frame, interleaved with foam, strapped and shrink-wrapped, with corner boards. Thin sheet shipped flat will bow under its own weight in a container that heats and cools. We photograph the pack before it leaves, and that photograph is part of the shipment record.

No for cast sheet above 2 mm — it takes a permanent set. Thin extruded sheet down to 1 mm can be shipped in a large-radius roll, but it will retain a curl. If you need rollable transparent material for a temporary application, that is a film product, not acrylic sheet.

About 25% more stiffness, 25% more weight and 20–30% more material cost. On a 600 mm panel held on four edges the difference is visible in deflection under a hand press. Buyers specify 4 mm to hit a price point and 5 mm when the panel has to feel solid; both are legitimate choices.

Not as stock — we hold metric sheet. Imperial sizes such as 1/8 in, 3/16 in and 1/4 in are matched to the nearest metric equivalent, which is 3 mm, 5 mm and 6 mm. If a part must match an imperial dimension exactly, it is machined to that dimension from the next thickness up rather than supplied as nominal sheet.

For acrylic, most suppliers quote thickness in millimetres or in inches; “gauge” is a metal and film term and is not reliable for sheet. A 1/8 in sheet is 3.18 mm nominal and usually supplied as 3 mm. If a specification quotes gauge, ask for the millimetre figure in writing before ordering.

Both, and the choice is made per part. Laser gives a fine kerf and intricate outlines but leaves a slightly frosted, non-parallel edge and a faint smell; the router gives a machined edge that polishes better and holds tighter tolerance. Up to about 10 mm, laser is faster and cheaper for outlines; above that, routing wins on edge quality.

Read next: Tolerance and cutting · Precision machining

The router, because a cut edge can then be diamond polished to glass clarity. A laser-cut edge is vapour-polished by the beam but is slightly tapered and has a heat-affected zone that polishes unevenly. For a visible edge, route and polish; for a hidden edge or a fast prototype, laser is fine and cheaper.

Read next: Tolerance and cutting · Precision machining

Yes, a faint acrid smell on the cut edge, which fades over a few days but can be noticeable in a sealed box or a display case. It can be washed off with a mild detergent. For food display, medical covers or enclosed cases, we route instead, because the smell is a real objection rather than a cosmetic one.

About 25 mm on our machine, but quality falls off above 12 mm and the cut becomes visibly tapered with a rougher edge. Above 12 mm we usually route, which gives a square edge and a better finish. Laser on 20 mm is possible when the part is an outline with no visual edge requirement.

About ±0.1 mm on a well-nested part in sheet up to 5 mm, widening to ±0.2 mm on thicker sheet because of the taper. The beam kerf is roughly 0.2–0.3 mm and is compensated in the toolpath. Accuracy across a large sheet also depends on how flat the material lies.

About ±0.1 mm on a 3-axis router for profiles and holes, and better on repeated features within one setup. Accuracy across a 2,400 mm part is limited more by thermal expansion of the sheet than by the machine — a 2 °C change moves a 2 m part by about 0.3 mm.

About 1 mm, and reliably from 2 mm upward. Small holes in acrylic need a slow, controlled feed and a sharp bit with a shallow point angle, or the material melts and grabs. Below 3 mm, laser-cut holes are often better than drilled ones because there is no mechanical stress around the edge.

Because of stress. Drilling generates local stress, and if the hole is too close to an edge, or the fastener is driven tight, or a solvent touches the area, the stress releases as a crack — often days later, at room temperature. We drill with plastics-specific geometry and keep at least 1.5× the hole diameter from an edge.

Yes, with a machine tap and a thread form designed for plastics, which has a slightly larger minor diameter to reduce hoop stress. Threads are fine for light duty. For anything that will be assembled and disassembled repeatedly, a metal insert or a through-bolt is better, because acrylic threads wear and strip.

Machine screws into a tapped hole for anything that is opened more than twice; self-tapping screws only for a one-time assembly in thick sheet, and never near an edge. A self-tapping screw in thin acrylic will craze the hole. The safe detail is a clearance hole in the acrylic and a nut or insert behind it.

At least one and a half times the hole diameter, and more for a load-bearing fixing. Acrylic has no yield, so an over-tight fastener or a hole too close to an edge fails suddenly rather than deforming. If the design is tight, use a slot or a larger washer to spread the load.

Yes, and it is the correct detail for any panel over about 600 mm. A slot allows the sheet to move with temperature and takes up site tolerance. Slots are routed or laser cut in the same operation as the outline at no extra setup cost.

With a 3-axis router, a pocket depth of about five times the tool diameter is comfortable; deeper needs a longer tool, which deflects and leaves marks. Deep pockets in clear acrylic also trap coolant and swarf, so we usually machine dry with air extraction and accept slower feeds.

Yes, on the 5-axis router, up to about 300 mm of depth in one setup. Curved surfaces polish well if the toolpath is fine enough — coarse stepover shows as visible scallops in clear material even after polishing. Tight radii in concave areas are the usual limit.

Both are around ±0.1 mm on thin sheet, but the laser edge is tapered by roughly 0.05–0.1 mm over the thickness, so a hole measures slightly smaller on the exit face. For a press fit, that taper matters. Routed edges are square and measure the same on both faces.

A DXF, DWG or STEP file is best because it removes ambiguity. A dimensioned PDF is acceptable and we will redraw it, which we charge as a small setup item. A photograph or a sample is enough for a simple part but not for anything with a tolerance or a hole pattern.

1:1 in millimetres, with the units stated in the file. If your file is in inches, say so — most of our software reads unitless geometry and a 25.4× error is not always obvious on a small part. DXF layers are ignored, so put everything you want cut on one layer.

Yes, and for anything with bends and bonded joints it is better than 2D, because it lets us check the flat pattern, the bend allowance and the fit before cutting. We will send back a flat-pattern DXF for your approval when the part is bent, so the drawing you approve is the one we cut.

Kerf is the width of material removed by the cut — about 0.2 mm for laser, and the tool diameter for a router. We offset the toolpath by half the kerf so the finished part matches the drawing. It becomes your problem only if you are designing an interlocking fit; give us the fit and we will allow for kerf.

Within limits. We can hold ±0.1 mm on the hole and the insert, which gives a controlled interference of 0.1–0.2 mm for a 5 mm pin. A true press fit in acrylic risks crazing at the hole, so we usually recommend a light interference plus an adhesive, or a snap detail with a relief slot.

Not in acrylic. Acrylic has almost no elastic range, so a snap feature either does not engage or breaks on the third cycle. Snap fits belong in polypropylene, nylon or polycarbonate. In acrylic, use a screw, a magnetic catch, or a sliding dovetail with a retaining screw.

Yes, both cut-out letters and letters applied to a face. Cutting a script or a serif face thinner than about 3 mm loses the fine strokes, so very light typefaces need a thicker material or a different construction. We will tell you which strokes will not survive before cutting.

On the router with a circle jig or interpolated toolpath, or on the laser for thin sheet. A radius over 500 mm in 10 mm sheet is normally routed. Circles up to 2,400 mm diameter fit our bed; larger is cut in segments and bonded, with the joint placed away from the viewing angle.

It works but is rarely the right choice: it is slower, leaves a matte edge, and the abrasive slurry can stain. Waterjet is used when the part mixes materials, for example an acrylic window in a metal frame, because one process cuts both. For acrylic alone, laser or router is faster and cleaner.

Only thin extruded sheet, up to about 2 mm, and it leaves a slightly bevelled edge. It is used for high-volume flat parts where edge quality does not matter. Cast sheet above 2 mm is cut by laser, router or saw. We do not use a knife for anything with a visible edge.

A CNC panel saw with a triple-chip blade for accuracy and a clean edge, or a scoring saw for laminated and mirrored sheet to avoid chipping the coating. Straight saw cuts are the cheapest per metre and are used for rectangular parts before any machining.

Micro-chipping from the tool, or heat from a laser. On a router it usually means the feed was too fast for the spindle speed, or the tool was blunt. It is a process symptom, not a material fault, and it is removed by a finishing pass or by polishing. If the edge must be clear as cut, specify polishing.

Yes, on the router with a chamfer or V-bit, and it is a good way to break a sharp edge and catch light on a thick panel. A 1 mm chamfer at 45° is enough to prevent chipping in handling. A large decorative bevel needs a profiling cutter and is priced as a separate setup.

Cut-to-size is a rectangular blank with a sawn edge, held to about ±0.5 mm. Machined-to-drawing has the outline, holes and cut-outs routed from a CAD file, held to ±0.1 mm, with a finished edge. Most display and industrial parts are the second; most glazing panels are the first.

Yes, every machined part gets a manual edge break unless the drawing explicitly says a sharp edge is required. For clear material we also inspect the edge visually against a light, because a chip that is invisible in the workshop shows up immediately once the part is installed in front of a window.

Yes, with a countersink tool matched to your screw angle — 90° for metric flat head, 82° for imperial. In thin acrylic a countersink leaves very little material under the head, so for sheet under 5 mm we usually specify a countersunk washer or a decorative screw cap instead.

Vacuum table for flat parts, with a sacrificial MDF or foam spoil board; for smaller parts, a tab-and-carrier strategy so the part stays attached to the sheet until the last operation. We never clamp directly onto a visible face — that leaves a mark that cannot be polished out.

Yes, and we prefer it — the film protects the face during handling. We cut through the film, which leaves a slight burr at the cut line, and then remove or trim the film at packing. For a part that will be polished, the film comes off before polishing and is replaced afterwards.

The radius of the tool, so 1.5 mm with a 3 mm cutter, and 3 mm with a 6 mm cutter. A sharp internal corner is impossible with a rotating tool. Design a relief radius or state the corner as “sharp” and accept that we will use the smallest tool available, which is slower and more expensive.

Yes, routinely, with the aperture routed and the edge polished, plus a recess for the display module if needed. Send the module's mechanical drawing, not just its screen size — the bezel and the flex-cable exit are what actually determine whether the part fits.

We vapour polish only where a solvent-smooth edge is needed on a complex profile that cannot be mechanically polished. It is a solvent process with strict controls, it rounds the edge slightly, and it cannot be used on parts with bonded joints. Diamond polishing is the default for clear edges.

The nesting software flags it, and we send a marked-up file back rather than guess. Open contours are the most common issue in customer DXFs, usually from an export rather than from a design error. It costs one exchange to fix and prevents cutting a wrong part.

A photo can be scaled if there is a known dimension in it — a ruler or a coin — but accuracy is limited to a few millimetres. That is acceptable for a decorative panel and not acceptable for anything with a fixing pattern. Paper templates are fine for architectural site work if they arrive flat and undisorted.

Roughly US$0.6–1.5 per metre for 3 mm, rising to US$2–4 for 10 mm, plus a setup and programming charge per file. The metre rate is indicative: nesting efficiency, number of pierces and tolerance all move the number. We quote per part, not per metre, so you can compare like with like.

Usually yes, because the setup and the sheet handling are shared. This is why a kit of parts for one assembly is cheaper than the sum of the parts quoted separately. If you have a family of parts, send them together and we will nest them as one job.

Yes — on request we cut one part, photograph and measure it, and wait for your approval before running the batch. This is standard for parts with a cosmetic requirement or an assembly fit. It adds two or three days and occasionally saves a whole run.

For most parts we leave the film on and trim it back from the edge so you can see the finish and still protect the face until installation. For parts that are polished or printed, the film is replaced with a fresh one after the operation, in a clean area.

Yes, by cutting in sections with a designed joint, or by routing in two setups with a re-registration feature that is machined away afterwards. Both need to be agreed at drawing stage, because a joint placed after the fact lands where the customer can see it.

Yes, on the inspection sheet: outline, hole positions and any dimension marked as critical on the drawing, measured with a caliper or a height gauge and recorded. If nothing is marked critical, we check the outline and the hole pattern. Tell us which dimensions matter and we will measure those.

No. A living hinge needs a material with a large elastic range — polypropylene is the standard. Acrylic has almost none, so a thinned hinge section will crack within a few cycles. If a part needs to fold repeatedly, the material change is the answer, not a thinner cut.

Four: as-cut (sawn or routed, matte), sanded (a uniform fine matte), flame polished (bright and glossy but with slight rounding), and diamond polished (flat, square and glass clear). A fifth is hand polished for complex profiles. The choice changes both the look and the price, and we quote the finish explicitly rather than assuming.

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Flame polishing melts the edge surface, which gives a bright gloss quickly but slightly rounds the corner and can leave a faint wave. Diamond polishing grinds and buffs the edge mechanically, keeping it square and flat with a deeper, glassier clarity. Flame is cheaper; diamond looks more expensive, because it is.

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With diamond polishing, close to the clarity of the face, with only a faint line at the transition. It reads as a solid block of glass rather than a sheet with an edge. Under raking light or against a dark background you can still see the polish direction if the operator was careless, which is why we finish along the length.

No. Internal cut-outs smaller than about 30 mm, deep narrow slots, and tight concave radii cannot be reached by the polishing head, so those get hand polishing or a matte finish. On a part where the visible edges are polished and the internal ones are matte, we will show you the difference before running the batch.

Usually solvent or chemical attack from a cleaning product, or fine crazing from stress. A freshly polished edge is more chemically active than the face for a short period. If an edge is going to be cleaned aggressively, a matte or flame finish is actually more durable, and we say so when we know the application.

The terms are used loosely in the trade, but fire polish usually means a hotter, faster pass that produces a very glossy edge with visible rounding, sometimes used on small parts in bulk. It is quicker and cheaper than diamond polishing and less dimensionally accurate, because the edge melts back slightly.

Flame polishing changes them by a few hundredths of a millimetre; diamond polishing removes 0.1–0.2 mm depending on how much material has to come off to flatten the edge. On a part where the polished edge is also a datum, we machine oversize and polish to the finished dimension.

Yes, and it is a sensible economy. Most parts have edges that are hidden in a groove, against a wall or behind another part. Mark the visible edges on the drawing — a coloured line or a note is enough — and we will quote polishing only for those. It often halves the finishing cost.

A 45° cut on the edge, typically 0.5–2 mm, that removes the sharp arris. Specify it on any part that will be handled, because a sharp acrylic edge chips and cuts fingers. It also catches light and makes a thick panel look intentional rather than unfinished.

A full round on the edge, radius equal to half the thickness, giving a soft, handleable profile. It is standard on furniture, retail fixtures and any part a customer will touch. It is machined with a radius cutter and then polished, so it costs more than a chamfer but transforms how a thick panel reads.

Yes — ogee, cove, step and custom profiles, cut with a shaped cutter or on the 5-axis router. A custom profile needs a cutter made, which is a one-off cost with a lead time of about two weeks. For a single piece, a stepped profile built from two bonded sheets is often cheaper.

Polishing is done on a dedicated machine with the face protected by film, and the part is handled on the edges rather than the face. Between operations it stands in a rack, never stacked. The scratch a customer sees is almost always from handling after polishing, not from the polishing itself.

Light scratches yes, by hand or machine buffing with a fine compound, and we do it as a refurbishment service. Deep scratches that you can feel with a fingernail cannot be removed without leaving a visible dip or a change in flatness. On a large panel, spot repair is usually more visible than the scratch.

Yes. Standard is a low-tack polyethylene film on both faces, or paper masking on cast sheet. For parts that will be cut or routed on site, we can supply a heavier film that resists tearing. The film should come off within six months of delivery, because the adhesive migrates and leaves a residue in heat.

There are hard-coated grades that roughly triple the surface hardness, mainly for touch surfaces and signage. They cost significantly more and the coating can be damaged by solvent. For most parts, the answer is better handling and a soft cloth rather than a harder surface.

A soft cloth with mild soap and water, wiped along the edge rather than across it. Avoid paper towels, which are abrasive enough to dull a polished edge over time, and avoid glass cleaner with ammonia. This one instruction prevents most of the cosmetic complaints we see after installation.

Yes, if the joint is designed for it — a butt joint with the same material on both sides can be machined and polished flush so the seam becomes a faint hairline. A joint between two different thicknesses or a joint with a visible cement line cannot be polished away. Design the joint to be expressed or hidden, not sanded out.

On 3 mm, the polished edge is a thin bright line and the effect is subtle. On 10 mm and above, the edge behaves like a lens: it gathers light, shows the depth of the material and becomes a design feature. This is why thick polished acrylic is used for premium retail and awards.

Only if the drawing says so. A sharp 90° corner in thin acrylic is a chip risk and a cut risk, so we recommend a 2–5 mm radius on anything handled. It costs nothing when cut in the same operation, and it is the single cheapest improvement to a part's durability.

It can be polished, but the heat-affected zone polishes unevenly and the taper remains, so the result is slightly inferior to a routed and polished edge. If the edge is visible, route it. If the edge is hidden, the laser edge is good enough and saves money.

A uniform matte surface, produced by chemical etching, sandblasting or a factory matte grade. Etching is the finest and most even; blasting is coarser and cheaper. Frosted faces hide fingerprints and diffuse light, which makes them common on backlit panels and menuboards.

Yes, by masking and etching, or by blasting through a resist. The boundary is reasonably sharp but not a machined edge — expect a soft transition of about a millimetre. For patterns and logos, printing a frosted-look ink is cheaper than selective etching, though the texture differs.

Matte means a matte sheet or a blasted surface with a visible texture; frosted means an etched surface with a fine, silky diffusion. Both reduce glare and hide marks. On a backlit panel, etched frost diffuses more evenly; on a decorative face, matte looks more like glass.

By polishing the edge of black cast sheet to a high gloss, which reads as a deep, wet black line. Some suppliers paint the edge instead, which is cheaper but shows a film thickness under close inspection. On premium parts we polish; on high-volume decorative parts we will quote both.

Yes, with a suitable primer and a two-part paint, and it is common on opaque coloured parts where a uniform edge colour matters more than depth. Paint chips, though, and a chipped edge on a black panel is more visible than an unpolished one. We would use paint only where polishing cannot reach.

Uneven pressure or speed during polishing, or a polishing head that is not parallel to the edge. It shows as a slow undulation in reflected light. It is a workmanship issue, and we will re-polish a part where it is visible at normal viewing distance rather than argue about it.

Generally not — the geometry is difficult and the result inconsistent. Holes are usually left with a clean machined finish and a light edge break. For a hole that is a design feature, such as a handle or a porthole, we can hand polish it and will quote it separately.

8 mm is the practical threshold. Below that, the polished edge is a line rather than a surface and the material depth does not read. If the design intent is a thick, glassy edge, going from 6 mm to 10 mm does more for the look than any other single change.

A small chip can be re-machined and re-polished if there is material to remove; the part becomes slightly smaller. A chip on a corner can be rounded out. A chip that runs into the face usually cannot be repaired invisibly, which is why handling protection and edge radius matter more than repair.

Taking as-cut as the baseline: sanded adds roughly 15%, flame polished 30–40%, diamond polished 80–150% depending on edge length and thickness. On a small part with a long perimeter, polishing can exceed the cost of the material, which is why we quote finish as its own line.

A flame pass on a simple rectangular part takes seconds. Diamond polishing runs at roughly 0.3–0.6 m per minute per edge depending on thickness, so a 1,000 mm perimeter in 10 mm sheet takes several minutes of machine time plus handling. It is the slowest operation in most jobs.

The film comes off before polishing because it would burn or smear, and a fresh film goes back on afterwards in a clean area. This is one reason we prefer to run polishing as the last operation before packing, so the part is not unprotected in the workshop for long.

From a sample, yes — we can match gloss level and profile closely. Matching an aged part exactly is harder, because old acrylic has micro-scratches and slight yellowing that new material does not. For a repair in a visible position, replacing the whole panel often looks better than a perfect match on one piece.

A flame or diamond polished edge looks bright and conducts light along the panel, which can be attractive or can create a glowing frame you did not want. For even illumination with no edge glow, a matte or sanded edge with an opaque frame is the safer detail.

We machine the pocket, the channel and the cable exit, and we can bond a light guide, but we do not supply or wire electrical components. Send the LED module drawing and we will design the pocket around it. Electrical compliance and certification in your market remain your responsibility.

On a clean, soft surface, with the film left on until the part is in position. Peel the film slowly at a shallow angle, not straight back, and never use a knife against the face. Most site damage happens in the last two minutes of an installation, not in transit.

Yes — laser engraving gives a frosted white mark on clear or coloured sheet without ink, permanent and fine. On cast sheet it engraves to a brighter white than on extruded. It is used for serial numbers, fine text, logos and decorative patterns, and it can be combined with cut-out shapes.

Engraving removes material to a controlled depth with a cutter or a laser, leaving a visible groove. Chemical etching attacks the surface without a groove, giving a shallow matte area. Engraving is more durable and readable; etching is better for large frosted areas and for hiding fingerprints.

No — ink will not adhere reliably to a polished edge, and the result looks like a painted line. If the edge needs a colour, the options are a coloured sheet, a painted and primed matte edge, or a bonded edge strip in another material.

Viewed from 500 mm under normal lighting, no visible polish wave, no chip longer than 1 mm, no scratch on the face, and a square edge within 0.2 mm. We will agree a written standard on request; disputes almost always come from an unstated expectation rather than a real defect.

Sometimes, if the assembly can be handled and the joint is far from the polishing area. Usually not, because the polishing load and the water coolant can damage the joint. The reliable sequence is: machine, polish, clean, bond, pack — and the drawing should be built around that order.

Yes, for parts shipped to us: re-polishing edges, removing light face scratches and replacing hardware. It is usually worth it for large fixtures and rarely worth it for small flat parts, where the freight exceeds the value. Send photographs and we will say which it is.

They are polished in the same batch on the same machine with the same compound, and inspected side by side. Gloss varies slightly between operators and between polishing wheels, so mixing batches is the usual cause of a mismatch. For a visible pair, tell us they must match and we will run them together.

Only by hand, and the result is a small radius rather than a sharp corner. A rotating polishing head cannot reach into a true internal corner, so the corner either gets a relief radius at the machining stage or stays matte. This is worth deciding at design stage, because it cannot be fixed afterwards.

About one to one and a half times the thickness for a decorative bend, and two to three times for a bend that must not craze. A 5 mm sheet wants an inner radius of 5–8 mm at minimum and 10–15 mm for a safe bend. A sharper radius thins the outside wall and shows a bright stress line.

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The forming window is roughly 150–170 °C for cast acrylic. Below about 140 °C the sheet is rubbery and will spring back or tear; above about 180 °C it degrades and turns the edge white. The window is narrow compared with metal, which is why heat bending is a skilled operation rather than a press cycle.

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Two causes: the radius was too tight, or the sheet was too cold when it was bent. Both over-stress the outer surface, which goes white through micro-crazing. It is not recoverable by polishing. If a bend must be tight, we anneal the part afterwards, which reduces but does not eliminate the mark.

Moisture. Thick cast acrylic absorbs water from the air, and when it is heated quickly that water turns to steam inside the sheet. Prevention is drying the sheet before forming — typically several hours in a warm oven for material above 10 mm. A bubbled part is scrap, not reworkable.

When a sheet is bent, the neutral axis stays the same length but the outside stretches and the inside compresses. Bend allowance is the length of the flat pattern that corresponds to the finished bend. If it is ignored, the finished part is short by a millimetre or two per bend, which is enough to fail an assembly.

Yes, as a box or a tray, with the corners either overlapping, mitred or open. Overlapping corners look bulky, a mitre needs a precise saw cut and bonding, and an open corner is cheapest but shows a gap. Which one is right depends on whether the corner is seen and whether it carries load.

Up to about 2,400 mm on our large bender, with a controlled strip element and a matching cooling jig. Longer than that, the bend is made in sections with a visible transition, or the part is bonded from two pieces. Long bends are also where the sheet's own bow shows up.

Because the sheet was not flat to begin with, or the heat was uneven along the length. Cast sheet has some natural bow, and a bender heats a strip — if the strip runs across a bowed area, the bend follows the bow. For a critical long bend we flatten the blank first or machine it from thicker stock.

Not to a permanent shape. Cold bending leaves the material under continuous stress, which later shows as crazing or cracking, often at a fixing hole. A slight cold curve held in a frame is acceptable; a cold-formed 90° angle is not, and we will not make one.

Yes, but it is much less forgiving than acrylic. It must be dried thoroughly first, bent at a higher temperature (around 150–160 °C) and cooled slowly, or it stress-cracks. For a one-off guard, machining the shape from solid is often more reliable than bending.

Line bending heats a narrow strip and folds the sheet along a straight line — cheap, accurate, limited to straight bends. Drape forming heats a whole area and pulls it over a mould, which gives curves and compound shapes but is slower and needs a mould. Most display work is line bending.

Yes, by drape forming over a male mould or by rolling on a curved jig, from about 200 mm radius upward. Below that, the material has to be thinner or the curve has to be machined. We ask for the chord, the rise and the thickness, not just the radius, because the blank size follows from those.

Only in limited cases, and usually by vacuum forming rather than by bending. Acrylic does not stretch evenly, so a compound curve tends to thin unpredictably. If the shape is a dome or a bubble, it is a vacuum-forming job with a mould, which we quote separately from fabrication.

Annealing is a controlled heat-and-cool cycle that relaxes the internal stress left by machining and forming. Without it, a bent part can craze or crack weeks later, especially after solvent contact or a cold night. For thick or highly stressed parts it is not optional; we build it into the process.

Roughly one hour per millimetre of thickness for the heat-up, hold and cool-down combined, so a 10 mm part takes most of a day. It is done in a temperature-controlled oven at about 80 °C for cast acrylic, cooling at no more than 10 °C per hour. It is the reason precision parts have a longer lead time.

You can, but the risk is distortion — the part relaxes and may not return to the same shape. If a part needs annealing, it should be annealed at the end of our process, in a fixture that holds the geometry. Tell us the requirement rather than planning to do it on site.

Stress plus a stress raiser. The hole was drilled into a bent area with no annealing, the fastener was tight, and either a temperature cycle or a cleaning solvent finished the job. The fix is to move the hole away from the bend, use an oversized hole, and anneal the part.

A single line bend can go to about 90°, and a little beyond with a radius. Folding a sheet back on itself (a 180° hem) is not practical in acrylic — it needs a large radius and usually cracks. If you need a return edge, it is normally bonded rather than folded.

Yes, but holes near the bend line distort. The safe rule is to keep holes at least two thicknesses plus the bend radius away from the bend line. Holes inside the heated strip will ovalise, and a hole on the bend centreline will almost always crack.

Yes, if the print is on the outside of the bend or is a ink system that tolerates the forming temperature. Standard UV ink will craze if bent after printing, so the sequence matters: print first, then form, only with a formable ink; otherwise form first and print afterwards on the flat.

It is removed along the bend line before heating, because the film would melt and bond to the surface. The rest stays on. On a part that is both bent and polished, the film is removed before polishing and a new one applied afterwards.

Yes, with separate heating and forming operations, or with a stepped jig. Each bend is a separate setup, so the price rises per bend rather than per part. For a part with many bends, a machined and bonded construction is sometimes cheaper and geometrically tighter.

A bend is generally stronger than a bonded joint because there is no adhesive line, but it introduces residual stress at the bend. For a load-bearing corner, a bend plus a gusset or a mechanical bracket is the robust answer. A bonded mitre looks cleaner and carries less load.

Roughly US$8–20 per bend for a small part, more for long bends, thick sheet or a non-standard radius, plus the jig if one has to be made. A part with four bends often costs twice the same outline flat. This is why knock-down designs with bonded or screwed corners are common in export work.

A crack that appears without any obvious load, usually at a bend or a hole, days or weeks after manufacture. It comes from residual stress releasing, often triggered by a temperature drop or a solvent. Annealing and a generous radius are the prevention; once it starts, the part is scrap.

A full closed tube is made by bending two halves and bonding, or by buying extruded tube. Rolling a sheet into a closed cylinder with one seam is possible up to about 3 mm thickness, and the seam is bonded and polished. For a clear cylinder, cast tube is usually better and cheaper.

Practically unlimited — a very large radius is a gentle curve, formed over a jig or by rolling. The limit becomes the size of the oven or the bender. Above about 1,500 mm radius the curve is often achieved by cold-forming in a frame, which is acceptable because the stress is low.

Only with a thicker-walled approach: machine a relief groove on the inside of the bend, or make the corner from two pieces bonded. A true sharp corner in 10 mm acrylic cannot be bent — the outside surface will craze. The detail has to change, and we will propose one.

With a jig set to the finished angle plus a spring-back allowance, and by cooling the part in the jig rather than free. We hold about ±1° on a standard bend and ±0.5° on a jigged part. Angle is one of the dimensions we check on the inspection sheet when it is called out.

Yes. The outside of the bend thins by roughly 10–20% depending on the radius, and the inside thickens slightly. On a tight radius in thick sheet this is visible as a thinner wall. If the bend is structural, the design should allow for the reduced section.

They are nested rather than stacked flat, with foam between, because a bend makes the part a 3D object and point loads on the bend can crack it. Nesting also uses more carton volume, which is a real freight cost on large quantities. Knock-down flat parts ship far more efficiently.

A heat bend is a forming operation with a jig and a cooling cycle. A cold bend is just a curve held by the frame, with no operation at all — the sheet is supplied flat and curves when installed. If a gentle curve is acceptable, a cold bend removes an operation and its cost.

Sometimes, by reheating, but the material has already been through one heat cycle and the risk of bubbles or a white mark rises. A mis-bent part is usually remade. This is why we make a jig and check the first part before running the batch.

Yes, where the part has a visible face we keep the film on the unheated side and strip the bend line. The film is a handling protection, not a heat shield, and it must never be left in the heated zone.

About 3 mm for a bend that carries any load, and 5 mm upward for a bend that will be handled or that forms a corner of an enclosure. Below 3 mm the bend is a fold rather than a structural feature and will deform under load.

Over-bend by the measured spring-back, and cool the part while it is still held in the jig. Spring-back for cast acrylic is typically 1–3° depending on thickness and radius. Free-cooled parts spring back more and vary from part to part, which is why jig cooling is standard for repeat work.

Yes, by vacuum forming with a mould, up to a draw depth of roughly half the sheet width, with corner radii of at least the material thickness. Deep draws thin the walls significantly. If the tray needs uniform wall thickness, it should be fabricated and bonded instead of formed.

Yes, in two separate operations with a re-set between them, provided the two bend lines do not intersect. Where they do intersect, the corner is usually made by bonding rather than bending, because the material at the intersection is stretched in both directions and will craze. We will propose a corner detail that works.

With two bends at the same angle, on a jig that sets the internal width, and with the second bend made after the first has cooled in the jig. Parallelism of about ±0.5 mm over 300 mm is achievable. Trying to make both bends hot at once is what produces a channel that is wide at one end.

Three ways: solvent cement, which softens the surfaces and fuses them into one material; a two-part adhesive, which is stronger on dissimilar materials; and mechanical fixings. For acrylic to acrylic, solvent gives the cleanest and most durable joint, because there is no adhesive layer to discolour.

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A solvent such as dichloromethane or a proprietary acrylic cement is drawn by capillary action into the gap between two parts, softening the surfaces. The polymer chains interdiffuse and, as the solvent evaporates, the two pieces become effectively one. It is not glue — the joint has no adhesive layer of its own.

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Typically 60–80% of the parent material's strength when the joint is properly made with a close fit and full penetration. A poor joint — a wide gap, too little solvent, or solvent applied after the parts have mated — can be 20% or less. Joint design matters more than the brand of cement.

From the face side, yes, if the parts are the same material, the edges are machined square, the fit is tight and the joint is fully penetrated. On edge, a faint line remains and always will. In clear acrylic under raking light you can usually find the joint if you look for it. Nobody can make it disappear entirely.

Moisture, stress, or too much solvent. Water in the joint area turns the softened surface white; stress crazing around a tight fit does the same; excess solvent dissolves too much material and leaves a porous line. The joint area must be dry, machined flat, and cleaned with a compatible solvent before bonding.

Handling strength in about 30 minutes, 80% strength in 24 hours, and full strength in 48–72 hours. The joint should not be machined, polished or packed inside that window. Humidity and temperature both matter — a cold workshop slows the process and raises the risk of a white joint.

Yes, with a two-part epoxy, polyurethane or a structural acrylic adhesive, and with surface preparation — abrasion and a primer on the metal. The joint should be designed so the adhesive is in shear rather than peel, and the different thermal expansion of the two materials has to be allowed for or the joint will fail.

Yes, with a two-part adhesive or a flexible polyurethane, but acrylic expands about seven times more than wood per degree, so a rigid bond over a long length will crack the acrylic. Use a compliant adhesive and mechanical fixings at intervals rather than a continuous rigid bond.

Yes, with a UV-curing adhesive, which is the standard for glass-to-acrylic in display and aquarium work because it cures clear. The acrylic side must be UV-transparent, which rules out black or heavily pigmented sheet. Cure depth through thick acrylic is limited.

Solvent for acrylic to acrylic, because the joint disappears. Adhesive is used where the parts are too large to jig, where one part is a different material, or where disassembly may be needed. A display case bonded with solvent cannot be taken apart — that decision should be made before the first joint is made.

Not if it is solvent welded — that is the point of the process. Adhesive joints can sometimes be separated with heat or a saw, which destroys the parts. If you need to ship flat and assemble on site, design a knock-down joint with fixings instead, and we will build to that.

With a machined jig or a set of squares and spacers, and by bonding in a sequence that lets each joint set before the next is loaded. Trying to bond a large box in one pass usually produces a twisted assembly. On a 2 m case, we expect to spend a full day on jigs and sequencing.

A close sliding fit of 0.05–0.15 mm. Too tight and the solvent cannot penetrate; too loose and the joint is starved and visible. This is why joint faces are machined rather than sawn — a sawn edge varies by more than the whole tolerance of a good joint.

Three usual reasons: the joint was not fully penetrated, so only the edges were fused; the assembly was stressed and not annealed, so it crazed from the joint outward; or the part was cleaned with a solvent that attacked the joint. Failures are almost always traceable to one of those, not to bad cement.

Yes, if the joint is a butt joint in the same material and thickness. The assembly is machined and polished after curing, leaving a hairline. This is the technique behind seamless-looking thick acrylic blocks. It requires 48 hours of cure before machining, so plan for the time.

Where the geometry allows light to reach the joint — glass to acrylic, or a thin acrylic to acrylic lap. UV adhesive cures in seconds, which is a huge advantage for positioning, but it needs access for the lamp and it does not work through opaque or thick material.

A capillary bond applies solvent at the joint after the parts are assembled and lets it wick in — clean and fast, used for small parts. A dip bond wets one edge in solvent before assembly — stronger penetration but more risk of squeeze-out and surface marking. We choose per geometry.

Yes, any angle, with a machined mitre and a jig. A 45° joint in clear material is the hardest to make invisible because the joint plane is large and any imperfection shows as a bright line. A 45° joint on a coloured or frosted part is far more forgiving.

Typically 20–60% over the same parts unassembled, depending on joint count and cure time. A case with twelve joints and a jig can double the price. The dominant cost is often the jig and the waiting, not the labour — which is why a knock-down design with screws is materially cheaper.

Yes, with numbered parts, a simple drawing, solvent in a applicator bottle and a jig if needed. This is common for export because flat parts ship at a fraction of the volume. The caveat is that the joint quality then depends on the assembler, so we only offer it where the joint is not visually critical.

Machined flat, degreased, dry and handled only on the edges. Fingerprints are a contaminant — the oils stop the solvent from wetting the surface and leave a visible mark in the joint. In our workshop, joint faces are wiped with a clean solvent and handled with gloves.

No. Moisture is the main cause of white joints, and a humid room will ruin a clear bond. Bonding is done in a controlled area with low humidity and a stable temperature. This is also why a bonded part should not be stored in a damp container after curing.

A properly made solvent joint is watertight and is used for aquariums and outdoor signage. The joint itself is solid material, so water cannot pass through it. What fails is the edge seal where water sits against an unpainted joint face, which is why aquarium joints are usually capped or the whole assembly is annealed.

Only with difficulty, because the coating is between the two surfaces and prevents polymer interdiffusion. Mirror acrylic is normally bonded back to back with an adhesive that grips the backing paint, or fixed mechanically with a frame. A solvent bond on the coated face will not hold.

A butt joint puts two edges face to face and relies on the bond line alone — clean look, less strength. A lap joint overlaps the two parts, giving more bonded area and much higher strength, at the cost of a visible step. For load-bearing assemblies, a lap or a rebate is the right detail.

Yes, and it is the best way to get both alignment and strength: a rebate locates the parts during bonding and multiplies the bonded area. It costs an extra machining operation but reduces jig time, so on repeat work it is often cost-neutral and always more accurate.

By masking, by applying solvent with a controlled needle, and by keeping the part tilted so any excess runs away from the face. A solvent run on a polished face cannot be polished out without leaving a dip, so prevention is the only real option.

No — 24 hours minimum, and 48 for anything under load or to be machined after bonding. Packing a freshly bonded assembly traps solvent vapour, which can fog the inside faces of a closed box. We build the cure time into the quoted lead time rather than shipping early.

Yes, with a step machined so the bond line is not at a corner where it would be visible. A joint between 5 mm and 10 mm sheet has a 5 mm ledge that either becomes a design feature or has to be hidden. On clear material, that ledge will catch light, so plan for it.

Limited by handling and transport rather than by the process. We have bonded cases over 2 m, but they need a crane, a jig the size of the part and a crate that costs as much as the acrylic. Above a certain size, on-site assembly is the economic answer and we design for it.

Yes, but the joint must be in shear, fully penetrated and annealed, and the design should include a mechanical backup. Acrylic creeps, so a joint loaded in peel will open over months even if it tested well. If a joint is structural, tell us the load and we will design the detail.

Because the parts were forced together, putting the material around the joint into tension, and the solvent then attacks the stressed polymer. A press fit into a rebate is the classic cause. The joint should be a sliding fit, and the assembly should be annealed after curing.

We do not use vacuum bagging for acrylic; it is not necessary and it can crush thin parts. Light uniform pressure during cure is used on some lap joints to control bond-line thickness. Clamping force on a solvent joint should be minimal — the joint needs solvent, not pressure.

A double-sided acrylic foam tape for a semi-permanent joint, or a silicone for a joint that may need cutting apart. Both are weaker than a solvent bond and both are visible as a line. If a part must come off for servicing, design a mechanical fixing rather than relying on an adhesive.

Only with an adhesive that grips the coating, and the bond is then only as strong as the coating's adhesion. In practice, print is applied after bonding, or the bond is made to a masked area. We plan the process sequence so that no adhesive ever sits on a printed surface.

Visually against a light for bubbles, voids and white areas; a tap test for a dull sound that indicates a void; and on critical parts a destructive test on a coupon made with the same batch. For aquarium work, a water test before shipping is standard.

A structural bond carries load and must be designed, annealed and often tested; a non-structural bond holds a trim piece or a divider in place. Most acrylic joints are non-structural, and treating them as structural without the engineering is how failures happen. Tell us which one you need.

Yes, with a machined pocket and a structural adhesive, or better with a mechanical through-fixing and a backing plate. A hinge bonded to a 5 mm panel will eventually pull the surface layer off, because the load is in peel. For doors and lids, a metal frame or a thicker panel is the durable answer.

We can supply a small applicator bottle of the same cement with instructions, for a joint that failed in transit or a part that needs a site repair. It will not make an invisible repair on a polished face, but it will restore a structural joint. Ask for it at order stage rather than after the crate is opened.

We bond in a temperature-controlled area, because a cold joint cures slowly and turns white. If your own site assembly happens in winter, plan for a longer cure and keep the parts at room temperature for 24 hours before bonding. A solvent joint made at 5 °C will look bad and hold badly.

UV flatbed printing for full-colour and short runs, and screen printing for solid colours and long runs. UV print handles photographs, gradients and white ink; screen print gives a denser, more durable layer and a lower unit cost above a few hundred pieces. We quote whichever fits the job rather than defaulting to one.

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Printing on the back of a clear panel, mirrored, so the graphic is viewed through the acrylic. The ink is protected by the sheet, which makes it far more durable against scratching and cleaning. It requires the artwork to be reversed, which we handle, and the panel then cannot be backlit from behind.

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Printing directly on the front face, which gives a sharp image and allows backlighting, but leaves the ink exposed. First-surface print needs a protective clear coat or a laminate for anything that will be handled. For a menu board behind a counter, first surface is normal; for a table card, second surface is better.

Indoors, five to ten years with a clear coat, less on a surface that is cleaned daily with aggressive chemicals. Outdoors, two to four years in strong sun. UV ink is not the same as UV-resistant; if the part faces a window all day, say so and we will add a clear coat or recommend a different process.

Yes, with a white ink layer under the colour. On clear material the white has to be printed first and then backed with colour, which is a two-pass process and costs more. Without a white base, colours on clear acrylic look transparent and washed out.

Not by UV flatbed, which needs a flat surface. Edge colour is achieved by using a coloured sheet, by polishing a coloured edge, or by bonding an edge strip. Pad printing can mark a small area of an edge but it is not a production process for long edges.

Within about 2–3 ΔE on a solid area, which is visually very close but rarely a perfect match, because ink on acrylic behaves differently from ink on paper. For a brand colour used across several parts, we print a physical sample and get your approval before the run. Nothing beats an approved physical sample.

A vector PDF or AI file with fonts converted to outlines, at 1:1, with colours specified as CMYK or Pantone references. Photographic content at 150 dpi at final size is enough for UV print. A JPEG scaled up from a web image will look soft, and we will say so before printing rather than after.

Yes, UV print handles both, with a fine dot pattern that is invisible at normal viewing distance. Gradients print cleanly, but a subtle gradient on clear acrylic needs a white backing or the background shows through and changes the colour. Send the intended background colour as well as the artwork.

One piece for UV print, because there is no screen to make. Screen printing needs a screen per colour, so it becomes economic from about 50–100 pieces depending on size. For a single prototype with a brand colour, UV print is the only sensible route.

UV flatbed printing is done on the flat before bending, if the ink tolerates the forming temperature. Standard UV ink will craze at a bend, so we either keep the print away from the bend line or form first and print with a conformable process. Tell us the geometry before we quote the print.

Standard UV ink will, at a tight radius. Formable inks exist for membrane pressing and vacuum forming, and we can specify them for a draw. For a line bend in 5 mm sheet, keeping the print at least 15 mm away from the bend line is the reliable answer.

The frost diffuses the ink slightly, so fine text loses crispness. For crisp graphics on frosted material, print on the back face, which is usually smoother and gives the ink a clean surface to sit on. On a heavily blasted face, expect a softer, more matte result.

Yes, second-surface printing is standard for backlit panels: print mirrored on the back, add a diffusion layer, and light from behind. The white ink layer becomes the diffuser, so the density has to be tuned — too thin and the LEDs show as hot spots.

Print gives colour, gradients and fine detail. Engraving gives a permanent frosted mark with no ink to wear off, and it is the right choice for a small logo on a part that will be cleaned hard. Engraving cannot do colour, and on clear material it reads as white rather than as a graphic.

Yes, in separate passes with a flip and registration, or by printing one side and then second-surface printing the other. Registration between the two sides is about ±0.2 mm, which is fine for graphics and not fine for a precise see-through alignment. For precise front-back registration, tell us the tolerance needed.

A clear coat, a laminated film, or second-surface printing. For hospitality and retail where staff wipe surfaces with whatever is on the shelf, second surface is the only reliable answer. We will also supply a written cleaning note to put in the maintenance file.

UV print can be removed with a solvent on a flat panel and reprinted, but the polished face may show a faint ghost. Screen print is harder to remove. If a graphic is likely to change, design the part as a panel in a frame so the printed piece can be swapped rather than stripped.

Yes, and we check them with a scanner before shipping. A QR code printed at less than about 15 mm square, or on frosted material, or in a low-contrast colour, often fails to scan. We will tell you the minimum size for the material rather than print something that does not work.

Roughly 720 to 1,440 dpi on the UV flatbed, which resolves 2 mm text cleanly and holds a fine line down to about 0.15 mm. Below that, ink spread closes the gap. If your design has hairline rules or 4 pt text, we will print a test piece before the run.

Yes, with metallic ink or a metallic-look print, though it does not match real metal. For a genuine metallic finish the option is metallised sheet or a metal laminate, which costs more. On a premium part, a real metallised film reads far better than a printed imitation.

Yes, by fading the white base layer out, which is the standard way to make a graphic dissolve into clear acrylic. It is one of the effects UV print does well and screen print cannot. It needs a test piece, because the fade shows banding if the white layer is built too coarsely.

UV print is usually US$4–15 per part for a small panel, plus a setup charge per file; screen print is US$1–4 per part above 100 pieces plus a screen charge of about US$60–120 per colour. A multi-colour screen job has a high setup and a low unit cost, which is why volume changes the answer entirely.

From a physical sample, yes, to within a few ΔE. From a photograph, no — screen colour, white balance and the material all shift the result. Send the part or a Pantone reference. Matching a five-year-old faded print exactly is not possible, and we will say which parts should be replaced together.

The acrylic sheet can be, but most UV inks are not intended for direct food contact. For a food display, we print on the second surface so the ink is behind the sheet, or use a food-contact-compliant ink and a barrier. Tell us if the print will touch food and we will quote the compliant route.

Yes, but colours print differently on a dark base: light colours need a white underlayer or they disappear. On black sheet, a white base plus colour gives a crisp result; without it, you get a subtle, dark-on-dark effect that some designs want. We will show you a test piece if it matters.

About 2,000 × 3,000 mm on the flatbed, which covers the largest sheet we stock. Larger panels are printed in tiles with a registration mark, and the join is visible under close inspection. On a large graphic, we would rather print one piece than tile it.

Two to four working days for UV print including a test piece where needed, and three to five days for screen print because of screen making and drying. On a schedule where printing is the last operation, this is the step that usually determines the ship date, so raise it early.

Under. The film comes off before printing and a fresh film goes back on after curing, in a clean area. Printing onto film would give a graphic that peels off with the film — a mistake that has been made by other suppliers and is worth asking about.

Yes, with a white or translucent ink at low density, which imitates a frost without the etching process. It costs less than selective etching and allows a graphic plus a frosted field in one operation. The texture differs: printed frost is smooth, etched frost has a fine grain.

Edge lighting needs an unprinted edge to admit light, so a fully printed edge kills the effect. The usual construction is a clear polished edge, a printed back face, and a frame that hides the LED strip. We will design the light path with you rather than print over it.

On a part with a cut-out and a printed border, registration between print and cut is ±0.3 mm. If the design has a tight border around an aperture, that tolerance will show. The fix is to cut first and print to the cut edge, or to design a border wide enough to absorb the variation.

Yes, UV print handles variable data such as serial numbers, QR codes and names, at no extra setup beyond the data file. This is common for awards, membership cards and asset tags. Send the data as a spreadsheet with one row per part and we will map it.

For solid colour and fine text, yes — screen print lays down a denser, better-defined layer, which is why it is used for instrument panels and control legends. For photographs and gradients, UV print wins. The choice is really about the content, not about quality in the abstract.

We can print with some functional inks, but we are not an electronics manufacturer and we do not test electrical performance. For a membrane switch or a capacitive touch overlay, the print is one part of a qualified assembly. We will fabricate the acrylic and print the graphics; the functional layer should come from a specialist.

Mild soap and water with a soft cloth, wiped gently, no solvent, no abrasive. Alcohol is acceptable on a clear-coated print but will attack uncoated UV ink over time. For commercial cleaning crews, we supply a one-page instruction card — it prevents most of the print damage we are asked to fix.

If the panel can be returned to us, yes — strip, clean and reprint. Freight usually makes this worthwhile only for large or thick parts. For flat panels under 5 mm, a new panel is normally cheaper than return freight plus stripping, and we will tell you which is the better deal.

Artwork extended past the cut line so that a small registration error does not leave a white sliver at the edge. For acrylic we ask for 3 mm of bleed on any graphic that reaches an edge. Without it, a 0.3 mm cut variation becomes a visible white line.

Yes, by controlling ink density and using a diffusion white. The target is even illumination rather than a specific colour on a swatch, because the backlight changes the perceived colour. Send the LED specification and we will tune the density to it instead of guessing.

About 2 mm cap height for legible text, and 3 mm for comfortable reading at arm's length. Below 2 mm, ink spread fills the counters and the text becomes a smudge. If a design needs micro-text, laser engraving holds it better than ink.

Yes — white ink on the second surface with a clear window for the light. The white area blocks light and the clear area transmits, which is how illuminated legends are made. The contrast depends on ink density, so we print a test piece for anything critical.

Yes, with a primer, because ink adhesion on polycarbonate is poorer than on acrylic. Polycarbonate also outgasses, which can affect a UV print in the first days. For a printed guard that will be cleaned often, we would discuss whether acrylic is acceptable before committing to print on PC.

Indoors, in the dark, several years. In a hot warehouse or in direct sun, the ink and the sheet both age faster. If stock will be held for a long time before installation, keep it flat, filmed and away from heat, and expect the print to have a shorter service life once installed.

Not over a sharp edge — the ink cannot turn a corner without a gap. A radius of 3 mm or more can be printed with a wrap in some cases, but the coverage at the radius is thin. For a graphic that must wrap, a printed and bonded edge strip or a different material is the reliable answer.

We send a photograph of the first piece, or a physical sample by courier for colour-critical work. Approval is against that sample, not against a screen image. Once approved, the run is produced to it, and the approved sample is retained as the reference if there is a dispute later.

±0.3 mm for general fabrication, ±0.2 mm for standard production parts, ±0.1 mm on CNC-routed and laser-cut features. On a small part measured at a controlled temperature we can reach ±0.05 mm. Anything tighter is a measurement argument rather than a machining capability, because the material moves more than that with temperature.

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Because acrylic expands about 0.07 mm per metre per degree Celsius. A 1,000 mm part measured 2 °C warmer than the reference is 0.14 mm longer, which already exceeds the tolerance. On parts above 500 mm we ask for a reference temperature of 20 °C, or we agree a tolerance that reflects the material.

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First-off inspection against the drawing before the run continues, in-process checks on the dimensions marked critical, and a final dimensional and visual inspection before packing. The measured values go on an inspection sheet that ships with the batch. On request we photograph the part on the gauge.

Part number, batch, material and thickness, the dimensions checked with their nominal and measured values, the gauge used, the result, and the inspector's initials and date. It is a record, not a certificate. If your quality system needs a specific format, send it and we will fill it in.

Yes, on request, with dimensions ballooned from your drawing and measured values recorded. It adds one to two days to the schedule and is charged as a separate item if the drawing has many dimensions. For a new part going into a regulated assembly, it is worth doing before the batch.

It is quarantined, marked, and the cause is identified before anything is remade — was it the drawing, the program, the tool or the material. Then the part is reworked if that is possible without compromising the function, or scrapped. Scrapped parts are never shipped as a “close enough” substitute.

Around one in a thousand parts across production, excluding cosmetic rejects caught at final inspection and reworked before shipment. That number has held for three years. We would rather give you a real figure than claim zero, which no factory can honestly report.

Yes, on every batch. We film the part being measured with the gauge reading visible, the edge finish close up, the hole positions and fit demonstrated, and the packed cartons as they are closed. The video goes to you and the shipment is held on our floor until you confirm it.

A key dimension measured on camera, the edge finish in raking light, the part in the fixture or against a mating part if fit matters, the quantity counted, and the carton sealed and labelled. It is filmed in one take where possible, because an edited video proves less.

We stop and fix it in the factory. That is the entire point of filming before dispatch: a defect found on our floor costs a rework, a defect found at your dock costs freight, a claim and a week of schedule. We would rather send you an honest video of a problem than a clean video of the wrong part.

Yes. SGS, Bureau Veritas, Intertek and TÜV are all welcome, and so is your own QC staff or a local agent. Give us a few days' notice so the parts are staged and the paperwork is ready. We do not charge for the visit; the inspection company charges you directly.

Before assembly, and the value is recorded on the sheet. For a bonded assembly, critical dimensions are checked at the sub-part stage and the assembly is checked for overall envelope. If a dimension is only measurable in the finished assembly, tell us and we will design an inspection step for it.

Viewed from 500 mm under normal lighting: no scratch longer than 2 mm on a visible face, no chip longer than 1 mm on an edge, no bubble or inclusion visible in the viewing area. On a clear part in a bright retail environment we work to a tighter standard. If you have a written standard, send it.

On a granite surface plate with a dial indicator, or with a straight edge and feeler gauge across the specified span. Acrylic flatness is affected by its own weight, so the measurement is taken in the supported condition, which should be the same condition as the installation.

Yes, and we convert to millimetres for machining. The risk is rounding: a 0.005 in tolerance becomes 0.127 mm, which is not the same as 0.1 mm. Where a drawing is in inches we keep the converted values at full precision rather than rounding to a convenient metric number.

A dimension you have marked as affecting function or fit — a bore, a hole pitch, an overall height that has to match an existing part. Those are measured 100%, not sampled. Dimensions not marked critical are checked to the drawing but on a sampling basis.

For repeat production parts we track measured values run to run, which is enough to see a drift before it becomes a reject. We do not run formal Cpk studies on one-off fabrication, because there is no process distribution to study. For a long-run part we can agree a sampling plan.

A digital caliper for general work, a height gauge on a surface plate for hole patterns, and pin gauges for bore diameter. For a pattern with many holes we check the extremes and the pitch rather than every hole, unless the drawing calls for a full check.

By buying from named suppliers with mill certificates, checking thickness and visual quality on receipt, and keeping the batch label with the job. If a material problem appears later, the label is what lets us trace it back. We do not buy unbranded sheet to save a few percent.

Yes, mill certificates for the sheet, at no cost, with the batch number matched to your order. The certificate covers the sheet as supplied by the mill, not the finished part. If your file needs a certificate on the finished part, that is a different document and usually a different test.

No visible polish wave from 500 mm under normal lighting, a square edge within 0.2 mm, no chip over 1 mm, and consistent gloss along the length. Disputes about edges almost always come from an unstated expectation, so we will agree a written standard on a repeat part.

One sheet batch per order where possible, and all parts for one visible assembly polished and printed together. Between sheets, a slight tint difference exists even in the same grade; it is visible when two large panels sit side by side. For a matched set, order the material for the whole set at once.

Yes, visually under a light and with a solvent wipe on a sample area where the part allows. Crazing is fine micro-cracking that appears as a silvery haze, usually around holes and bends. It is a stress symptom, so finding it means the process needs annealing rather than the part needing a polish.

A defect is something we caused or failed to remove: a chip, a scratch, a wrong dimension. A characteristic is inherent: cast sheet has a slight thickness variation, a faint flow line, a minimal bow. We will tell you which is which, and we will not use “characteristic” to excuse a defect.

Yes: drawing revision, material batch, program, inspection sheet, photographs and the pre-shipment video, retained for three years. That is what allows us to answer “was this part in tolerance when it left” a year later. Ask for the record set if your audit needs it.

We tell you, with the measured value and what it affects, and let you decide. Shipping a non-conforming part as conforming is not an option, and quietly reworking it without telling you removes your ability to judge the risk. The decision belongs to the person who owns the assembly.

Foam interleaving, corner protection, no direct film-to-film contact on polished faces, and a carton rated for the weight. Large or thin panels ship on an edge-standing A-frame. We photograph the pack because a damage claim is won or lost on evidence of how it was packed.

We can pack to a standard such as ISTA 2A and have a third-party lab run the trial, quoted separately. For a new export route or a fragile assembly, one trial is cheaper than a container of broken parts. We will recommend it when the part value justifies the cost.

Acknowledge within one business day, ask for photographs and the batch number, and give a position within three days. If we are wrong, we remake or credit. If the cause is transit or installation, we will still help with the evidence, because the customer's problem is the same either way.

Yes, under ISO 9001:2015, certificate CN24-33502A, scope “manufacture and sale of acrylic (organic glass) products”. The manual covers document control, inspection, non-conforming product, calibration and corrective action. We can send the relevant procedures for a supplier questionnaire.

No. ISO 9001 certifies the management system, not that a particular part meets a particular specification. The inspection sheet is what certifies the part. We make that distinction explicitly because an over-claimed certificate fails audit, and buyers' compliance teams notice.

Annually, against traceable standards, with the calibration labels on the equipment and the certificates on file. A caliper that has been dropped is checked immediately rather than waiting for the annual date. Calibration records are available on request.

Around 4% on new parts at first-off, mostly programmer or drawing issues rather than machine error, and near zero on repeat parts. We treat a first-off reject as information: it usually reveals an ambiguity in the drawing that would otherwise have produced a whole batch of the wrong thing.

We can measure key features and compare them to the model, but we do not have a CMM with full surface scanning. For a complex curved part, the practical inspection is a check on the critical features plus a fit trial against a mating part. Tell us which features govern and we will measure those.

We stop, confirm which revision is current in writing, and re-quote if the change affects material or process. No revision is applied without a written instruction from you, because a verbal change has no traceability and the wrong parts get made. The drawing revision is recorded on the inspection sheet.

About 0.5 mm with a toolmaker's microscope, and 0.1 mm with a vision system on a printed feature. Below that, we are inspecting the measurement rather than the part. If a feature is smaller than the tolerance on it, the drawing needs to change before the part does.

Yes, on receipt: quantity, dimensions on a sample, finish, and function on a test fit. A hinge that binds will make an otherwise perfect door assembly fail, and it is cheaper to find that at goods-in than at packing.

Yes, and that is the default: photographs of your batch with the batch label visible. Stock images are worthless as evidence. If a specific angle or a specific dimension matters, ask and we will include it in the photo set or the video.

We say so before quoting, with the reason and the achievable figure. A 0.02 mm flatness callout on a 10 mm cast sheet cannot be met by any fabricator without machining both faces, and even then it will move. Quoting it and failing later wastes everyone's schedule.

A machined finish is inspected for dimensional accuracy and tool marks; a polished finish adds a cosmetic criterion that is judged visually. That is why a cosmetic standard has to be written down. Two people can look at the same edge and disagree unless the standard says what “acceptable” means.

Production runs Monday to Friday 09:00–18:00 China time. Weekend inspection is possible for a shipment that has to sail, arranged in advance and charged as overtime. The pre-shipment video is normally filmed during the working week, so plan approval time into the schedule.

We stop and ask, with photographs of both. It happens more often than buyers expect, usually when a sample is an older revision. The written instruction that resolves it is filed with the job, and the drawing is updated so the same question does not come back on the next order.

Yes, a one-page CoC stating that the parts were manufactured and inspected to the drawing revision stated, with the inspection sheet attached. It is not a material certificate and not a test report, and we will not describe it as either.

Within one business day with an initial position, and within three days with a root cause and a corrective action. If parts are needed urgently, we ship replacements from stock material before the investigation is closed, and sort out the accounting afterwards.

Yes. Each pallet and the loaded container are photographed, and the images are kept with the shipment record. It is the single most useful evidence in a damage claim, and it costs a few minutes per shipment.

If a batch is suspected of containing a mix of good and bad parts, we would rather sort it at our factory than have you sort it at yours. Send photographs and the quantity affected, and we will either send a replacement batch or arrange a local sort, whichever gets you running sooner.

One piece for a prototype, because there is no tooling to amortise. The practical minimum is set by economics: laser-cut flat parts are viable from one, CNC-routed parts from five to ten, bent or bonded assemblies from ten to twenty because a jig is needed. Printing has its own minimums, from one for UV print.

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Because of setup, not capability. A bend needs a jig; a screen print needs a screen; a bonded assembly needs a fixture and a cure cycle. Those costs are the same for one piece or one thousand, so at low quantities they dominate the unit price. A minimum is a way of saying the setup has to be paid for.

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No — a sample is one piece, and we expect to make one. The sample is charged at cost plus setup, and the charge is credited against the production order if one follows. What we cannot do is make a free sample of a complex assembly, because the jig cost is real.

Only where tooling exists: a bend jig, a bonding fixture, a screen, a custom profile cutter, or a print setup. Simple laser and router work has no tooling at all, just a programming charge. We show tooling as its own line so you can see what is one-off and what is per-part.

About US$60–200 depending on size and complexity, and it is yours to keep if you want it. Once made, it is reused on repeat orders at no cost. A jig is what makes a bend repeatable within a degree, which is why parts without one vary from batch to batch.

About US$60–120 per colour, covering the screen and the setup. On a four-colour job that is a few hundred dollars of one-off cost, which is why screen print only beats UV print above a few hundred pieces. Screens are retained for repeat orders, so the second run does not pay again.

A first article is one part from the production setup, measured and documented against the drawing before the batch runs. You need one if the part has a cosmetic requirement, a fit with another component, or a compliance file. It adds two to three days and occasionally saves an entire run.

3–7 business days after drawing sign-off for most parts. Bent and bonded assemblies sit at the upper end because the adhesive cure cannot be accelerated; optical parts can add a day or two for annealing. The sample date is confirmed in writing on the quotation, before the drawing is signed off.

A sample proves the production process — same material, same program, same finish. A prototype proves the design, and may be made by a different method, for example machined instead of moulded. Buyers sometimes ask for a “sample” when they need a prototype, and the acceptance criteria are different.

For a simple flat part, sometimes. For anything with a finish, a colour or a fit, no — a video compresses colour and hides surface. What we do offer is a video of the first article being measured, which shortens the loop while the physical sample is in transit.

For a flat laser-cut part, typically US$30–80 including material and setup. A bonded or bent assembly with a jig is US$150–400. Optical parts and multi-colour prints are higher. The figure is on the quotation, itemised, so there is no surprise at invoice.

It is credited against the production order if one follows. It is not refunded for projects that do not proceed, because the work was done either way. Freight on samples is at cost and is never credited, since we do not control the courier.

Yes, a written approval referencing the sample number and any deviations is enough. It is better to state the deviations explicitly — “approved with the 0.3 mm edge step noted” — than a bare “ok”, because the record then shows what was accepted. We keep the approved sample as the reference.

Photograph it before opening the inner packing and send us the images within seven days. If it was our packing, we remake at our cost; if it was the courier, the claim is theirs and our photographs support it. Either way we will not leave you waiting for a replacement.

Yes, and it is the sensible sequence for a new design. A 20–50 piece pilot batch reveals the handling, packing and finishing issues that a single sample does not. We price the pilot at small-batch rates and credit the tooling against the production order.

Around 10–20 pieces for a CNC part, 50 for a screen-printed part, and 20 for a bonded assembly. Below those, the setup dominates and the unit price climbs steeply. We will show you the price curve so you can see where the knee is rather than guessing.

Yes, in steps that follow the process: 1, 10, 50, 100, 500, 1,000. The biggest drop is usually between 1 and 10, because setup stops dominating. Above 500 the curve flattens, because material and machine time take over. We quote the steps rather than a single number.

Yes, if they are the same material and thickness, because setup and sheet handling are shared. A kit of parts for one assembly is cheaper as a set than as separate orders. Send the whole family and we will nest it as one job.

We accept it with conditions: the material must be identified, in good condition, and sufficient for the order plus a margin for setup and rejects. We do not warrant the material, and a failure caused by the sheet is not a fabrication defect. Most customers find it simpler to let us buy.

Yes, for a repeat part in a standard material, under an agreed call-off with a minimum release quantity. It keeps your lead time short without you carrying a year of inventory. It works best for a part with stable demand and a long tooling life.

A change is a new revision with a new sample unless the change is trivially cosmetic. We will tell you when a change is big enough to need re-approval. Skipping that step is how a batch gets made to a design nobody signed off.

Yes, indefinitely, with the drawing revision. A repeat order then has no programming charge and a shorter lead time. If a drawing is revised, the old program is archived rather than overwritten, so we can still make the old part if you need a spare.

A drawing in DXF, DWG, STEP or a dimensioned PDF; the quantity; the destination country. That gives a first price. To make it accurate we also need the function, which dimensions are critical, the cleaning or operating environment, and any compliance documents required.

For a simple part, with a known dimension in the frame. For anything with a tolerance or a hole pattern, no — a photograph cannot carry the information and a guessed dimension becomes a rejected part. Send a sketch with dimensions; a hand-drawn sketch with numbers is enough to quote.

Within 12 business hours for a straightforward part, one to two days for a complex assembly with several processes. If a drawing is ambiguous we will ask rather than assume, because an assumed tolerance is the most expensive kind of error.

Yes, and it is free at quotation stage. We will point out a radius that will chip, a hole too close to an edge, a bend that needs a relief, or a wall that will be too thin. Most of these changes make the part cheaper as well as better, which is a rare combination.

No, for a normal review against a drawing. If you need a full design service — modelling a part from a concept, or producing production drawings — that is engineering work and is quoted separately. The boundary is clear: comments are free, drawings are not.

We make to the drawing and the drawing is the contract. If the drawing was incomplete, the part will be correct to the drawing and still wrong for the application. That is why we ask about function, and why we recommend a first article on anything with a fit or a cosmetic requirement.

Yes, material swatches in the thickness and colour you are considering, usually at no charge beyond freight. For a colour decision, a swatch beats a screen image by a wide margin. We keep offcuts of the standard colours for exactly this.

In a foam-lined carton with corner protection and the film left on, plus the inspection sheet and a label identifying the sample and revision. A sample that arrives scratched is worse than no sample, because it makes the customer doubt the production quality.

Frequently. We will explain the Incoterms, what documents you will receive, how the deposit works and what to expect at customs. There is no advantage to us in a buyer who does not understand the transaction, because the problems arrive later and cost more.

Yes, with neutral packing, your logo on the part and no supplier marks on the carton or the documents that go to your customer. Branding has to be specified at order stage because cartons are printed weeks before the goods are ready.

A sample you approve, a first article you can measure, a pre-shipment video before dispatch, and a batch that matches the approved sample. If any of those four is missing, the order is not finished, regardless of what the invoice says.

Yes — we can measure the printed part, model it, and machine the acrylic version. 3D printing is a fast way to check a shape, but the surface and the strength are not comparable, so the acrylic part still needs its own approval. Send the STL as well as the physical part.

For prototype housings and jigs, through a partner, with the print quality stated honestly. It is a service we offer to support a project rather than a core capability. The acrylic fabrication is ours; the printing is bought in and marked up as a separate line.

Usually shorter than the first: 7–15 business days for production, less the programming and sampling steps. If the material is in stock and the finish is standard, a repeat order can run in a week. We will confirm the date rather than assume the first order's schedule still applies.

Yes, with a call-off schedule and a minimum release per shipment. This keeps your inventory low and your shelf full. It requires the material to be reserved at order stage, because sheet prices move and a schedule agreed in January is not free in June.

Send a drawing and the quantity. We will quote, answer the technical questions, and if you proceed, send a proforma invoice with the drawing revision and the lead time stated. The order starts when the deposit arrives and the drawing is signed — both, not either.

Yes, labelled and racked, for as long as you need it. There is no storage charge for a jig we made for your part. If you want it shipped to you, we will send it at cost — some customers prefer to hold their own tooling, and that is a reasonable position.

Four lines: material (grade, thickness, nesting waste), machining (cut length, operations, tolerance, fixturing), finishing (polish, print, anneal) and packing and freight. We show them separately rather than folding them into one figure, so you can see where the cost sits and what to change to move it.

Read next: Get a quote · Export terms

A laser-cut panel around 200 × 300 mm in 3 mm sheet is typically US$3–8. A polished display riser is US$12–30. A bent and drilled guard 600 × 400 × 5 mm is US$25–60. A bonded display cabinet is US$120–350. These are planning ranges; the drawing decides the actual number.

Read next: Get a quote · Export terms

Usually tolerance, finish or handling. A part with twelve critical dimensions costs twice one with two, because every dimension is a setup and an inspection. A diamond-polished edge can cost more than the material. And a part that needs a jig carries the jig.

Reducing the number of processes. A part that is cut, polished, bent, printed and bonded has five setups. Moving one operation to a different detail — a matte edge instead of polished, a printed legend instead of engraved — can cut 10–25% without changing the function.

Yes, because we do not have to model the part. A clean CAD file removes a drafting charge of about US$30–120 depending on complexity. A dimensioned sketch is enough for a quote but there is still modelling work before cutting, and that work appears on the invoice unless it is quoted in.

A programming charge per file, typically US$20–60 for laser or router work, and it is one-off. On a repeat order it is not charged again. Screen printing and custom profiles have their own tooling costs, which are itemised separately.

Because everything except material is setup. Cutting a one-off part means loading a sheet, running a program, polishing an edge and packing it — the handling is the same as for a hundred parts. The unit price falls steeply to about ten pieces and then follows material and machine time.

The knee of the curve is usually 20–50 pieces for machined parts and 100–300 for screen-printed ones. Below that you are paying for setup; above it you are paying for material. We quote several quantity steps so you can see where the price flattens.

Yes, and it is a useful conversation. If you say the part must land at US$4, we will say which combination of material, thickness and finish can reach it and which cannot. What we will not do is quote a price we know the process cannot deliver and then negotiate at shipment.

USD, EUR or CNY, whichever you ask for. Quotes are valid 30 days. If the exchange rate moves more than 3% before the order is placed, we re-quote rather than hold a number that no longer reflects the material cost.

Standard is 30% deposit by T/T with the balance against the bill of lading copy. Letter of credit at sight is accepted above US$30,000. For samples and orders under US$3,000 we usually ask for payment in full, because bank charges on both sides would exceed the deposit.

For samples and small orders, yes, with the processor's fee added because it is around 3–4%. For production orders, bank transfer is better for both sides. We will show the fee rather than hide it in the unit price.

Four: bank charges on international transfers, freight and insurance when the Incoterm is not DDP, import duty and VAT at destination, and any third-party testing you request. All four appear as separate lines on the quotation. None is folded into the unit price.

For 30 days, yes. Beyond that, acrylic sheet price follows petrochemical feedstock and moves. If you expect regular orders, we can agree a formula tied to the sheet index instead of a fixed number that will be wrong within two quarters.

Almost always the sheet price, which is a commodity. Secondary causes are a change in quantity, a change in finish, or a grade that has become scarce. We will show the material line movement rather than just a new total, so you can see it is not a negotiating position.

The quoted steps are the discount. Below the break quantity the unit price is what it is, because the setup has to be paid. If you can commit to an annual volume with scheduled releases, that is a different conversation and usually a better price than a one-off large order.

At cost, from the forwarder's quote, with the option of using your own forwarder. We do not mark up freight, because a marked-up freight line destroys trust faster than any unit price. For DDP we quote a delivered price that includes duty and clearance.

Courier express for anything under about 30 kg, air freight for 30–150 kg, and sea freight above that unless the schedule is urgent. For samples, courier is almost always right. We will show two options with transit times rather than defaulting to the cheapest.

Yes, at the exchange rate on the invoice date, stated on the invoice. If you need a fixed currency amount for a letter of credit, tell us before the LC is opened so the documents match exactly. An LC that does not match the invoice is a rejected document set.

Yes, and before the drawing is signed off as well. Both, not either. Production starts when the deposit arrives and the drawing revision is confirmed in writing. Starting on a verbal go-ahead is how a factory makes the wrong revision at speed.

Material already cut and work already done are chargeable, and the position depends on how far the job has gone. We will tell you the actual cost rather than a penalty percentage. Cancelling early costs little; cancelling after bonding costs most of the order.

The first 14 days after the agreed ready date are free. Beyond that we charge a small weekly storage fee, because the parts occupy floor space and the film starts to age. We would rather agree a new ship date than let storage accumulate silently.

US$300, because below that the bank charges and the paperwork exceed the margin. For a genuine one-off sample we will still proceed, but we will say that the freight is a large share of the total and it may be better to combine it with a future order.

Yes, with the drawing revision, quantity, unit price, Incoterm, lead time, payment terms and bank details. It is the document your finance team needs and the one we work to. Nothing starts until it is countersigned or the deposit arrives.

Yes, with a commercial invoice per shipment, each matching its packing list. This matters at customs: an invoice that covers goods in two containers invites a query. Split invoices also make a partial payment straightforward.

Cast is typically 20–40% more per kilogram. On a small part the difference can vanish into the machining cost, but on a large panel it is visible. The right question is not which is cheaper but whether the part needs cast's machinability, polish and solvent resistance.

Because it is labour and machine time, priced by edge length and thickness. A 1,000 mm perimeter in 10 mm sheet takes several minutes of machine time plus handling, and it is the slowest operation in the job. Limiting polishing to visible edges often halves the finishing cost.

An indicative range, yes, from a sketch and a description. A firm price needs geometry, because a 5 mm difference in a bend position changes the flat pattern and the material yield. We will label an indicative price as indicative rather than let it become an expectation.

The first small change is normally absorbed. Repeated revisions, or a change that requires re-programming and a new sample, are charged. We will tell you which is which before doing the work, not after.

Larger orders get a better unit price and a longer standard lead time, because they queue behind the sheet purchase and the line schedule. A US$700 order might run in 7–10 business days; a US$28,000 order in 15–25. Rush is available with a surcharge when stock allows.

15–50% depending on how much of the schedule has to move, and only when the sheet is in stock and the process is not already a bottleneck. We will refuse rather than accept a rush we cannot meet — a late rush order is the worst of both outcomes.

Yes, always, so you can see what is one-off. Tooling is quoted once and reused; the part price excludes it after the first order. Mixing tooling into the unit price is how buyers end up paying for the same jig three times.

Sometimes, and we will say when we cannot. If a quote is far below ours, the difference is usually material grade, polishing standard, wall thickness or freight — one of which will matter later. We would rather explain the gap than win the order and disappoint on quality.

Material, machining, the specified finish, standard packing and the inspection sheet. Not included: freight, insurance, duty, third-party testing, tooling, and any finish not specified on the drawing. That list is on every quotation so the comparison is honest.

After three completed orders and a credit check, we can discuss 30-day terms. Before that, deposit and balance. It is not distrust — it is that a factory's cash flow is tied up in sheet stock, and open terms on a first order is a risk neither side needs.

With the quotation, the drawing revision and the inspection sheet in front of us. If we quoted one thing and shipped another, we adjust. If the difference is a specification that was never stated, we will show where the price came from. Either way, the conversation starts with documents, not opinions.

Yes, for an agreed annual volume with scheduled releases and a stable design. The discount reflects the planning certainty, not charity. It is usually expressed as a fixed price for twelve months with a sheet-index adjustment band, not as a percentage off list.

Only on agreed open account terms. The standard balance is against the bill of lading copy, before the original documents are released. That is normal for export and protects both sides — the goods are on the water and the documents transfer against payment.

Check five things: material grade and thickness, polishing standard, tolerance, packing, and Incoterm. Two quotes for “5 mm acrylic display” can differ by 40% on those five alone. Send both to us and we will tell you where the difference is, even if it is not in our favour.

No for the standard inspection sheet, which ships with every batch. A full first article inspection report with every dimension ballooned is charged, because it is a day of measuring and typing. A certificate of conformance is free. We will tell you which category a request falls into before doing it.

3–7 business days after drawing sign-off. Bent and bonded assemblies sit at the upper end because the adhesive cure cannot be accelerated; optical and precision parts add a day or two for annealing. The sample date is written on the quotation before you sign the drawing.

Read next: Lead time and shipping · Export case study

7–15 business days for most orders, measured from deposit and drawing sign-off, not from the enquiry. Simple flat parts in stock material run at the lower end; assemblies with bonding, printing and annealing at the upper end. Large orders above US$28,000 take 15–25 business days.

Read next: Lead time and shipping · Export case study

Four things, in order of frequency: a special sheet grade that has to be bought in, a drawing revision after release, a finish added late, and a bonded assembly needing a full cure. All four are avoidable if they are known at quotation stage, which is why we ask early.

Working days, Monday to Friday, excluding Chinese public holidays. Chinese New Year is the one to plan around — production stops for two to three weeks and the weeks before it are congested. If your schedule is tight in January or February, talk to us in November.

The factory closes for the Spring Festival, typically two to three weeks depending on the year, and the exact dates shift with the lunar calendar. Shipments planned for that window need to be finished before it or scheduled after it. We will give you the dates in writing in the autumn.

Sea freight from Shenzhen: to Los Angeles about 14–18 days, Rotterdam 28–32 days, Sydney 16–20 days, Jebel Ali 18–22 days. These are port-to-port and exclude clearance. Air freight is 3–5 days door to door. Add 2–3 days for a less-than-container consolidation.

EXW, FOB Shenzhen (Yantian or Shekou), CIF to your destination port, and DDP for most European and North American addresses on request. FOB is the most common because it lets your forwarder control the ocean leg. With DDP we will tell you honestly when a destination makes it slow or expensive.

Yantian and Shekou, both in Shenzhen. Yantian handles most Europe and US West Coast sailings; Shekou is often better for Southeast Asia and for smaller consolidations. We quote the port that gives the better sailing rather than defaulting to one.

Yes, for samples, urgent spares and high-value low-volume parts. Air is roughly five to eight times the cost of sea per kilogram but twenty days faster to Europe. For an acrylic part, the volumetric weight usually governs, so a bulky light carton is expensive by air.

Commercial invoice, packing list and a certificate of origin issued through the CCPIT channel. The bill of lading is issued by the forwarder after loading and we check the draft against the invoice before release. Mill certificates and the raw-material RoHS report are available at no cost.

Your forwarder or broker, unless the terms are DDP. We provide the documents and will answer the broker's questions directly, which is usually faster than routing everything through the buyer. If you have no forwarder we can recommend ones we have worked with, but the contract remains yours.

Yes. Neutral packing is a standard option: your cartons, no factory labels, no Chinese markings, no supplier name on customer-facing documents. It must be specified when cartons are ordered, weeks before the goods are ready, so raise it at order stage.

Foam interleaving, corner protection, film left on polished faces, no film-to-film contact, and a carton rated for the weight. Large or thin panels travel on an edge-standing plywood A-frame. Every pack is photographed before it leaves, and that photograph is part of the shipment record.

Because volume protects. A part that can flex needs space and foam so it cannot take a point load. If the freight is disproportionate, we can re-design the packing — nested, knock-down or with a heavier carton — but the protection has to stay. Tell us the freight budget and we will find the compromise.

20 kg as a default, because that is what couriers and manual handlers accept. Above that, a two-person lift or a pallet. If your marketplace or fulfilment centre specifies a different limit, send the requirement and we will pack to it.

Yes, if you send the actual specification rather than a description: barcode format, label placement, carton weight limit, pallet configuration. Those details cause most rejections at a fulfilment centre and they have to be applied exactly. We pack to a written spec.

Yes, with neutral documents and your branding, provided the destination and the consignee details are exact. Drop-shipping removes your chance to inspect, so we photograph and video the batch before dispatch. That is the substitute for your own eyes.

Yes, at our factory or at a forwarder's warehouse in Shenzhen. Consolidation saves freight on small shipments but complicates a damage claim, because responsibility is harder to establish. For low-value goods, the saving usually wins.

We tell you as soon as we know, with the reason and a new date, rather than letting the promised date pass in silence. If the delay is ours and it costs you money, we will discuss a commercial remedy. What we will not do is invent a reason.

We can arrange insurance at cost when we book the freight, and we recommend it for anything above a few thousand dollars. Under FOB the risk transfers at loading, so insurance is normally the buyer's arrangement. Either way, the packing photographs support a claim.

Photograph the carton and the contents before unpacking further and send the images within seven days. If the damage came from our packing, we replace at our cost. If it is transit damage, the claim goes to the carrier and our photographs support it.

Yes, for full-container orders: a plan showing pallet positions, weights and the sequence, with photographs of the loaded container before the doors close. It matters for a mixed order and it is the evidence you need if a pallet is missing on arrival.

Yes. Parts are cleaned, filmed and double-packed, and we can supply in a sealed inner bag if the receiving protocol requires it. Tell us the cleaning or entry requirement rather than assuming standard packing is acceptable — unpacking in a clean room is a different problem.

Yes, for 14 days free, then a small weekly storage fee. This is common when a customer's own warehouse is full. We will not ship to a date you have not confirmed, because an unaccepted delivery costs more than the storage.

Under FOB you nominate the forwarder and pay the ocean freight; we deliver to the port and load. Under CIF we book and pay the freight and insurance to your port, and you take over from there. CIF is easier to budget; FOB gives you control of the routing and usually a better rate.

For most European and North American addresses, yes. DDP means we handle freight, duty and clearance to your door. It is convenient and it can be slow in countries where clearance is unpredictable, and we will say so rather than quote a delivery date we cannot hold.

Usually no — the sample is approved before production starts, which is the point of the sample. If the schedule is tight we can send the sample by courier and start production on the drawing at the same time, accepting the risk. That is your call, in writing.

Send the destination city and we will give the current sailing and transit for that lane, including any known congestion. Generic tables are misleading: a port strike or a canal restriction can add two weeks, and a quote that ignores it is not useful.

No. We ship direct from Shenzhen. That keeps the price honest and the lead time predictable, but it means you carry the inventory or use a local fulfilment partner. For a European customer with a fast-moving product, a local 3PL is usually the right answer.

Yes, but assembled parts occupy far more volume. A display case that ships flat in 60 mm of carton can take 400 mm assembled. We will quote both and show the freight difference, because it is often larger than the assembly labour.

One week for a sea shipment to a new destination and three days for a repeat lane. Book the vessel before the goods are ready rather than after, because a missed sailing costs a week, not a day. We will give you a ready date and a sailing date separately.

Yes — courier tracking for samples and parcels, and container and bill of lading numbers with the vessel name and ETA for sea freight. For a full container we also send the loading photographs. You should never have to ask where a shipment is.

Yes, on EXW or FOB terms. Send the account number and the collection address, and we will have the cartons ready with the documents. Note that collection is on your account and at your risk from the moment the courier signs.

We answer the broker directly, usually within a day, and supply the missing document or the classification explanation. A query is almost always about the description or the value, both of which are on the invoice we issued — so the answer is traceable rather than improvised.

Generally 3926.90 for fabricated acrylic articles, and 3920.51 for acrylic sheet. The correct code depends on the product and the destination's tariff schedule, and the final decision rests with the importer's broker. We will state the code we use and why.

No, but the packing standard changes with the mode: a courier parcel is foamed and boxed, an LCL shipment needs a pallet and edge protection, and an FCL shipment needs a braced A-frame. We pack to the mode, not to a single house standard.

We do not ship solvent cement by air, and by sea only as a properly declared dangerous good through a specialist forwarder. For site assembly we normally supply cement from a local distributor instead. This is not a corner worth cutting.

Send the part dimensions, the quantity, the packed volume if you know it, and the destination postcode. We will come back with a courier rate, an air rate and a sea rate with transit times. For a first enquiry, an approximate volume is enough to be useful.

Around 94% of orders ship on or before the date we confirmed, measured over the last two years. The misses are mostly special sheet grades arriving late. We quote the date we can hold rather than the date that wins the order, which is why the figure is not 99%.

Yes. The plant is 25 minutes by car from Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport. Visits need a day's notice, and a video walkthrough can usually be arranged the same week. We will show you the machines running, the sheet stock and a part mid-process.

Three levers: use a standard sheet grade that is in stock, approve the drawing on the day it arrives, and accept a standard finish. Those three account for most of the schedule difference between a fast order and a slow one. A rush surcharge buys capacity, not miracles.

ISO 9001:2015, certificate CN24-33502A, issued by AXE REGISTER Ltd, valid 2025-01-03 to 2028-01-02, scope “manufacture and sale of acrylic (organic glass) products”. And an SGS test report, CANEC26018787801, showing all ten restricted substances under EU RoHS 2015/863 not detected in cast acrylic sheet.

Read next: Quality system · Material comparison

It covers the cast acrylic sheet we buy, tested as a raw material. It does not certify every finished part, because a part can include adhesive, print ink or a coating that was not in the sample. If your file requires a finished-part report, that is separate testing and we will quote it as a separate line.

Read next: Quality system · Material comparison

No. It certifies the quality management system — how drawings, inspection, non-conforming product, calibration and corrective action are controlled. It does not certify that a specific part meets a specific specification. The inspection sheet is the document that does that.

Yes, before receiving any drawings. We will sign yours or provide a one-page mutual agreement. Drawings are visible only to the engineering and production staff who need them for that job, and no process is subcontracted, so there is no third party to disclose to.

You own your drawings and any tooling you have paid for, including bend jigs and screens. On request we will ship the tooling to you at cost. What we retain is the right to keep a copy of the program for a repeat order, unless you ask us in writing to delete it.

Not a customer's proprietary part from their drawings, and not a tool you paid for. Generic parts — a standard riser, a plain cover — are made for many customers, and we will say which category a part falls into rather than leave it ambiguous.

Yes, with written authorisation from the rights holder. For licensed characters we expect a licence reference before production, and we will decline a job that has none. This is a legal exposure for the importer as much as for us, and it is not worth the order.

Yes — drawings, contact details and project information are kept on a controlled server, accessible only to staff who need them, and are not shared with third parties. We do not use customer projects in marketing without written permission. The policy is published on the site.

Twelve months against defects in material and workmanship under normal use, which covers delamination, joint failure under design load, and dimensional non-conformance. It does not cover scratches from cleaning, damage in transit, or a part used outside the environment it was specified for.

Cosmetic wear, chemical attack from a cleaner we did not approve, damage from over-tightened fixings, and failure caused by a design we flagged in writing. We note design concerns on the quotation, so the record shows what was advised. That protects both sides.

Photographs and the batch number first, then a position within three days. If we are wrong, we remake or credit. If the cause is transit or installation, we still help with the evidence and often with the replacement at cost. A claim is a problem to solve, not a negotiation to win.

Yes. Repeat parts are made from the retained program at short lead time, and for a bonded assembly we can supply individual components so a damaged panel does not scrap the whole unit. Ask for a spares kit at order stage if the installation is remote.

Usually yes, from the archived program and drawing revision. The risk is the material: a colour or a grade may no longer be produced, and the new batch may not match the old one exactly. We will tell you before making a part that will visibly differ from the original.

Send photographs, the batch number and a description of the load and environment. If it is our fault we replace it. If it is a design or application issue we will say so, and propose the change that would prevent a repeat — even when the answer is a more expensive part.

We hold cover for product liability in our own market. For export markets, insurance is normally arranged by the importer under the sales contract, and we will provide the documentation your insurer asks for. Tell us the requirement at quotation stage if your contract mandates a specific cover.

Yes. We can complete a standard questionnaire, supply the ISO certificate, the SGS report, the calibration list and the quality manual procedures. If a question relates to a standard we do not hold, we will leave it blank rather than answer it creatively.

No. We fabricate acrylic guards, covers, trays and shields for medical and laboratory environments, but we are not certified to ISO 13485 and we do not make sterile or implantable devices. If your audit is against that framework, we are not the right tier of supplier and we will say so.

The cast acrylic sheet we buy is supplied against EU REACH and we can request the SVHC declaration from the mill for a specific order. We are a fabricator, not a chemical manufacturer, so the declaration comes from the sheet producer. Ask at quotation stage if your file needs it.

For the sheet, yes, from the mill, for grades intended for food contact. The full assembly also involves adhesive and ink, which have their own declarations. If the part will touch food directly, tell us and we will quote a compliant combination rather than a compliant sheet with a non-compliant joint.

Cast acrylic can be chemically recycled back to monomer and mechanically reground, and offcuts are collected and sold for regrinding. The infrastructure is limited and clear material is easier to recycle than bonded or printed assemblies. We will give an honest answer about the local reality rather than a green claim.

Standard acrylic is combustible and we will not describe it otherwise. Flame-retardant grades are available to order, classified to a specific standard such as a Euroclass or UL94 rating, at a higher cost and with a minimum quantity. Tell us which standard your authority requires.

Yes, a CCPIT-issued certificate of origin, which is what most destination customs authorities and trade agreements require. For a preferential rate under an FTA, the specific form matters — tell us the agreement and we will confirm which document to apply for.

Yes: drawing revision, material batch, inspection sheet, packing photographs and the pre-shipment video, retained for three years. That is what lets us answer “was this in tolerance when it left” long after the invoice is paid.

We print what you approve and we do not police copyright. If the artwork looks like a known brand and you have no authorisation, we will ask, and we may decline. The liability sits with the party who instructed the print, but a factory that prints without asking is not doing anyone a favour.

Yes, by a scheduled video walkthrough covering the machines, the sheet stock, a part in process, the inspection area and the records. We will not stage it — the point of a remote audit is to see the real state, including the parts that are not perfect.

Yes, the export team works in English for quotations, drawings, quality documents and shipping. Technical conversations are handled by someone who can also walk to the machine, which matters when a question is about a burr rather than a document.

Monday to Friday, 09:00–18:00 China Standard Time (GMT+8), which is eight hours ahead of London and sixteen ahead of Los Angeles. Quotations are answered within 12 business hours; a technical question usually the same or next business day.

One named contact for the life of the project, with direct access to the production floor. You will not be passed between a salesperson, an account manager and a factory coordinator. When you ask why a part is late, the person answering can go and look.

WeChat is available and works well if you already use it. A dedicated WhatsApp Business number is being set up for overseas enquiries; until it is live, email and the contact form reach the same inbox and are answered in the same 12-hour window.

Yes, under NDA, including sample parts made under a code name and shipped in neutral packing with no product name on any document. If the launch date is fixed, tell us at enquiry stage — a launch schedule is the one thing a factory cannot compress at the end.

We do not pay facilitation payments and we do not accept or offer inducements for orders. If an agent asks for an unusual payment, tell us. It is a short conversation that protects the price you are being charged and the legality of the shipment.

No. Every process — cutting, machining, forming, polishing, printing, bonding, packing — runs in our own plant in Bao'an, Shenzhen. That is why we can promise a lead time without a supplier's schedule inside it, and why a quality problem has one owner.

Yes: identify the affected batch from the records, remake to the corrected drawing, and ship with the same documentation. For an installed retrofit we can supply a kit with instructions and, where the fit matters, a drilling template. Speed matters more than price in that situation, and we schedule it that way.

We will hand over cleanly: drawings, the flat pattern, the material grade and supplier, the finish specification and any jig details that belong to you. It costs us an order and it is the right thing to do — a supplier who holds your project hostage is not one you want to depend on.

Email or the contact form with the batch number and photographs. Technical questions are answered whether or not they lead to an order, and the answer comes from someone who can look at the part. If the answer is “that should not have happened”, we will say so.

We can review and sign a reasonable supplier code covering legal employment, health and safety and environmental compliance, and we will tell you if a clause is something we cannot meet. What we will not do is sign a document we have not read, which is common practice and worth nothing to either side.

Yes, and it is the default on most cells that do not need impact resistance. Polycarbonate (PC) is used where chips or a dropped part could strike the panel; acrylic is used where the hazard is reach and contamination rather than flying mass. For a standard cobot cell, 5 mm acrylic at 600 mm bay spacing is the ordinary specification. Where a panel could be hit by ejected stock, we quote PC instead and say so on the drawing.

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Choose by the energy that could hit the panel. Acrylic is harder, clearer and about 60 percent cheaper per square metre; it cracks rather than deforms. Polycarbonate absorbs impact but scratches easily and yellows under UV. A common compromise: polycarbonate on the lower 800 mm where tooling and parts move, acrylic above eye level where optical clarity matters and nothing can strike the panel.

Read next: Robotics and automation · Industrial and machinery

8 mm for a window up to 600 × 600 mm with no support across it, 10 mm up to 900 mm, 12 mm beyond that. The limit is deflection under the pressure difference of a ventilated cell and under hand pressure during a teach session, not the robot. A 6 mm pane at 1,200 mm span visibly bows and distorts the camera image at the edges, which is why vision windows are usually thicker than the surrounding guard.

Yes, if the panel is not parallel and flat. Acrylic has a refractive index near 1.49, so any bow changes the apparent position of the feature the camera is measuring. For a vision window we hold thickness tolerance to ±0.2 mm, keep the pane flat to within 0.3 mm across the aperture, and specify cast sheet because extruded sheet has more thickness variation and more optical birefringence.

Yes. Standard PMMA is an insulator and will hold a charge of several kilovolts, which is not acceptable near exposed boards. We quote ESD acrylic with a surface resistivity in the 10^6 to 10^9 ohm per square range, supplied with the sheet manufacturer's test certificate. It costs roughly 2.5 to 3 times standard acrylic and should be cleaned only with an ESD-safe cleaner, because ordinary glass cleaner leaves an insulating film.

Use a clearance hole, not a tapped thread in the sheet, and never bottom a screw in a countersink. Our standard detail is a hole 1.5 to 2 mm larger than the fastener, with a nylon or EPDM washer under the head, and the fastener tightened to just over finger-tight. Where the panel spans a frame, one hole per side is slotted 3 mm to allow thermal movement. Most cracked guard panels we are asked to replace were bolted rigid on all four sides.

About 0.07 mm per metre per degree Celsius. A 2,000 mm panel that swings 20 degrees between a cold start and a running cell moves about 2.8 mm, which is enough to crack a rigidly fixed pane or pop a bonded joint. That is why long guard panels get slotted holes or a compressible gasket at one edge, and why we ask for the operating temperature range on the drawing.

Yes, to a radius of about 40 mm minimum for 5 mm sheet, and we advise a larger radius on thicker sheet. Bending a guard panel is often cheaper than machining a frame around a flat one, but a bend creates locked-in stress, so a bent guard should be annealed if it will see solvent or cleaning chemicals. We mark bent panels that need annealing on the packing list.

Rule of thumb: 8 times the sheet thickness. So 3 mm sheet bends to about 24 mm radius, 5 mm to 40 mm, 8 mm to 64 mm, 10 mm to 80 mm. Tighter than that and the outside surface crazes or the wall thins visibly at the bend. If the design needs a tighter corner, we machine it from solid or bond two pieces instead of bending.

Often not. Isopropyl alcohol is generally safe in short contact, but acetone, MEK, toluene, xylene and most brake cleaners will craze acrylic within seconds — a network of fine cracks that turns the panel white and destroys it. If the cell is wiped down with a solvent, we need the product name at the quoting stage; the answer is usually polycarbonate, or acrylic with a hard coat that tolerates the specific chemical.

Three different causes with three different fixes. Surface haze from abrasive cleaning is polishable. Internal crazing from solvent contact or from stress plus chemical exposure cannot be reversed and the panel must be replaced. A white, milky band along a drilled hole or a bend is stress crazing, which means the part was over-stressed at installation rather than in service.

The material does not; the guard design does. We supply the panel to the drawing and can supply material certificates, thickness measurements and flatness data, but the risk assessment, the interlock logic and the declaration of conformity belong to the machine builder. We will happily work to a builder's guard drawing and flag details that are known to fail, such as rigid fixing or an unsupported span.

About 2,000 × 3,000 mm from standard cast sheet, and larger by bonding two panels with a vertical joint. A bonded joint in a guard is visible and it is a stress point, so above roughly 2 metres we usually design a frame with two panels rather than one. For very large cells, panelled construction is also easier to ship and to replace one damaged piece.

Both faces masked with PE film, the panel in a foam-lined plywood crate with the pane vertical and no load on its face, and corner protection on all four corners. Masking stays on until the machine is installed. We do not ship a bare panel in cardboard for any dimension over 600 mm, because the film will scuff against the carton in transit.

Yes — the panel is machined for the hinge and latch pattern you specify, and we can supply the hinge and latch as part of the assembly. Hinge screws must go into a metal or a thicker plastic insert rather than directly into 5 mm sheet, because a door takes repeated load at exactly the point where acrylic is weakest. Tell us the door weight and cycles per shift and we will size the fixing.

Plus or minus 0.5 mm on an outline up to 1,000 mm, plus or minus 1 mm beyond that, measured at 20 degrees Celsius. Hole positions are held to plus or minus 0.2 mm within one setup. If a panel must drop into a frame with a fixed gasket groove, tighter than 0.5 mm is rarely useful because the sheet itself moves with temperature more than the tolerance allows.

Routed, for anything a person will touch. A laser edge is slightly tapered and has a heat-affected zone that shows as a faint frosted band; on a guard where the edge is visible and gets wiped down, it looks unfinished within a month. Routed and polished edges cost more per metre but the panel reads as a finished part rather than a cut sheet.

With limits. Mineral oil and water-based coolant are generally compatible with acrylic in splash contact, but continuous mist will deposit and gradually cloud the inner face. We specify a removable inner pane on heavy-mist cells so the dirty surface can be replaced without dismantling the guard. Solvent-based coolants and chlorinated cutting fluids are not compatible and move the job to polycarbonate.

Yes, typically small machined and bonded boxes in 3 to 5 mm sheet holding cameras, lighting or sensors on the arm. Weight matters here: a 100 × 150 × 80 mm bonded box in 3 mm acrylic weighs around 250 g, which is often less than an equivalent aluminium fabrication and does not block radio or camera light.

3 mm up to about 200 mm cube, 5 mm up to 400 mm, 8 mm beyond that or when the box has to carry any load. A bonded joint strength scales with the joint area rather than the wall, so a 3 mm wall with a 3 mm bond face is fine for a small box and marginal for a large one. We add an internal fillet strip on any box over 300 mm.

Yes, either reverse-printed on the inside face so the ink cannot be scratched or attacked by cleaning, or surface-printed with a protective clear coat. Reverse printing is the better choice for a guard that gets wiped daily. We can print the machine's warning symbols, the builder's logo and a wiring reference on the same panel in one pass.

Cast acrylic transmits about 92 percent of visible light, ordinary float glass about 91 percent, so they are visually equivalent when new. The difference appears in weight, impact behaviour and in how each ages: glass keeps its clarity indefinitely, acrylic slowly accumulates micro-scratches unless hard-coated, and polycarbonate yellows under UV where acrylic does not.

Yes, and it is a common request. Send the old panel, or a photo with a ruler in frame plus the thickness and hole spacing measured with a caliper. We reverse-engineer the outline, check whether the original was acrylic or polycarbonate by the way it broke, and quote a replacement that also fixes the detail that caused the failure — usually rigid fixing or too small a hole.

Sampling 3 to 7 business days for a first-off panel, production 7 to 15 business days for a batch, both counted in business days from drawing approval. A single urgent replacement panel can often be cut within 3 to 5 business days if the drawing already exists, and we will say honestly at quoting whether that is achievable rather than promising it.

Yes. We send a material sample with the actual finish on it — polished edge, printed face or ESD sheet — so the finish can be checked on the machine before the batch is released. The sample is charged and the cost is credited against the order. What a sample cannot tell you is fit, so for a first-off guard we recommend one full panel before the batch.

Cast acrylic, 5 mm, with a hard coat if the panel will be wiped with alcohol daily, and an antistatic grade if bare boards are handled nearby. Cast sheet is preferred over extruded for a cleanroom because it has lower residual stress, machines more predictably and does not release the same level of volatiles when first installed.

Slightly, and it matters in high-vacuum work. Standard PMMA has a low but non-zero outgassing rate and will fog a nearby optical surface in a sealed enclosure over time. For vacuum chambers we quote a low-outgassing grade or recommend a different material. For an ISO Class 7 or 8 assembly cell under positive pressure, standard cast acrylic is normally accepted.

Yes, and it is a good use of the material. Edge-lit acrylic with an engraved or laser-dotted face spreads light evenly across a panel with no visible LED points, which is what most machine illumination panels and backlit status indicators use. We can engrave the dot pattern to a specified density and supply the panel polished on all four edges for edge entry.

A through-bolt with a nylon washer, a wave washer and a thread-locking nut, or a screw into a threaded insert in the frame rather than into the sheet. Vibration does not usually loosen an acrylic joint directly; it loosens the fastener, which then hammers the hole and cracks it. A slotted hole with a shoulder washer solves both the movement and the loosening.

Yes — an anti-glare or non-reflective finish on one face, typically a fine matte etch that scatters specular reflection while keeping about 88 percent transmission. It is the right choice where an operator looks through the panel against a bright overhead light, and it hides fingerprints. The trade-off is that the surface is harder to clean than polished acrylic.

Thickness at four points, outline dimensions against the drawing, hole positions with a pin gauge, flatness on a surface plate, a visual check under raking light for scratches and crazing with the masking removed on a sample basis, and a trial fit on the frame if the frame is supplied. The results go on the inspection sheet with the shipment, and we photograph the part before packing.

Yes for surface scratches: a polishing compound removes scratches down to about 0.2 mm deep and restores optical clarity locally, though a large area will show a slight lens effect if polished by hand. Deep scratches, crazing and cracks cannot be repaired. We supply a small polishing kit with guard orders on request so the customer can handle light scuffs without ordering a replacement.

Roughly 55 to 130 US dollars per square metre for 5 to 8 mm cast acrylic cut to outline with polished edges, depending on thickness, edge finish, hole count and printing. A vision-grade panel with tight flatness and thickness tolerance sits at the top of that range. Freight and crating are quoted separately because guard panels ship in oversize crates.

Yes, and small cells are usually where acrylic wins outright. Under about 300 mm reach the moving mass is low, the enclosure is small, and a 3 to 4 mm bent and bonded acrylic shell is lighter and cheaper than a welded frame with polycarbonate. We can supply the enclosure as a bonded assembly with the mounting flanges included.

Yes, STEP, IGES, DXF and native SolidWorks or Fusion files all work. For a flat panel DXF is best because it carries the outline and hole centres without ambiguity. If the panel is bent or bonded, send STEP so the bend line and joint faces are explicit. Files over 20 MB should go by link rather than email.

We raise it before cutting, not after. On every guard order we check the panel outline against the hole pattern and flag any dimension that contradicts another with a marked-up drawing. If the customer cannot confirm, we cut a first-off panel and ask for a fit check before releasing the batch, which costs one panel and saves a whole batch.

No, we are an acrylic fabricator and do not weld frames. We will machine the panel to the frame drawing, supply the gasket and the fixings, and work with the customer's frame supplier if there is one. Many customers buy the extrusion locally and send us the profile section so the panel groove depth is right.

Only with the right hardware. A hinged acrylic door needs metal hinges into inserts, a latch that does not load the sheet, and a stop so the door cannot swing past 90 degrees. Plain 5 mm acrylic on two screws will crack at the hinge within months. Where the door is large or heavily used, polycarbonate is the safer material.

Yes, in translucent or opaque tinted cast acrylic. Send a RAL or Pantone reference or a physical swatch and we will press a colour chip for approval before running the batch. Note that translucent tints read differently depending on the light behind them, so the chip is checked against the actual lighting on the machine where possible.

Seven to fifteen business days for production once the drawing is approved, assuming one material and one thickness. A cell with mixed acrylic and polycarbonate panels, printing and a bonded sub-assembly typically runs at the upper end. Sampling of one panel takes 3 to 7 business days, which is the step that catches frame errors before the batch.

Yes, we ship to the builder, to the end user's plant, or to a freight forwarder, on the incoterm agreed at quotation. For multi-panel sets we pack in the assembly sequence and label each crate with the panel reference so the fitter does not have to open every crate to find one part.

The switch mounts to the frame, not to the acrylic. The acrylic door carries only the actuator or the striker plate, and that plate should be fixed through a metal or thick plastic backing rather than into thin sheet. We machine the cut-out and mounting holes for the switch and plate to the switch manufacturer's drawing.

A compressible gasket in the frame groove, one slotted fixing per side, and a slight preload rather than a hard clamp. Rattle in an acrylic guard is almost always the panel moving in an oversized groove, and the same movement is what eventually cracks the corners. A 2 mm EPDM gasket solves the noise and the fatigue at once.

Yes, a flame-retardant PMMA grade to UL 94 V-0 or V-2 depending on thickness, supplied with the sheet certificate. It is noticeably more expensive and slightly less clear than standard acrylic, and it is normally only specified where a fire risk assessment demands it. Where the requirement is a national standard rather than a customer preference, send the clause and we will quote against it.

For a few years, with caveats. Acrylic resists UV far better than polycarbonate and will not yellow, but it does become brittle with long UV exposure and thermal cycling, and impact strength falls. For an outdoor machine guard we recommend a UV-stabilised cast grade, a slotted fixing for thermal movement, and a realistic expectation of 5 to 8 years before replacement.

Cast acrylic is normally plus or minus 10 percent of nominal; we can select to plus or minus 5 percent for vision windows and mark it on the certificate. Extruded sheet is typically tighter on thickness, around plus or minus 5 percent, but has more residual stress. The choice between the two is a trade between flatness and thickness consistency.

Yes, with a vertical or horizontal joint, using a solvent bond followed by annealing. A bonded joint in clear acrylic is visible at certain angles and is a point where stress concentrates, so on a guard we prefer to design a frame break rather than a joint. Where bonding is unavoidable we specify a thicker joint face and a support behind it.

About 1.4 to 1.8 times standard cast acrylic of the same thickness, because the sheet is selected for thickness tolerance and freedom from internal stress, then checked for flatness. That premium is small next to the cost of a camera recalibration on the line, which is why vision windows are almost never specified as standard sheet.

Yes, the mill certificate for the sheet batch, the thickness measurements, and where relevant the ESD or flame-retardant test report. We keep the batch reference on file so a replacement panel ordered a year later can be matched to the same sheet specification. Certificates ship as a PDF with the packing list.

Partially — the transparent sash and the side panels, in chemically resistant acrylic where the fumes are compatible. For strong solvents, hot acids or hydrofluoric acid, acrylic is the wrong material and we will say so rather than quote. A sash is a safety-critical part, so we ask for the chemical list and the operating temperature before quoting.

Very little, and it should never be loaded in bending. A 10 mm acrylic bracket projecting 200 mm will sag visibly under a 2 kg load at room temperature and creep further over months. Acrylic is for panels held on four edges, not for cantilevered structural elements. If a guard needs a shelf, the shelf is metal and the acrylic is a cover.

Yes. For vision applications we measure flatness on a granite plate with a dial indicator and record the maximum deviation across the aperture, typically holding 0.3 mm for a 600 mm window on 10 mm sheet. The measurement is on the inspection sheet, and we can hold 0.2 mm with a selected sheet at additional cost.

Specify cast acrylic, polished on both faces, with no print or etch in the optical path, and mount it so it is not stressed — a stressed panel becomes birefringent and will show colour fringes between crossed polarisers, which matters in polarisation imaging. We can check a sample under crossed polarisers before shipping.

Yes, PMMA is one of the more recyclable plastics because it can be depolymerised back to monomer. Clean, unmixed acrylic offcuts are collected and sold into the recycling stream; printed, bonded or contaminated panels are harder to recycle and usually go to energy recovery. Our offcuts go to a local recycler rather than to general waste.

Outline dimensions, thickness and material grade, hole positions and diameters, edge finish, the fixing detail, the operating temperature range, any print or etch, and the quantity with a delivery date. A DXF plus a PDF with notes is ideal. Missing from most drawings we receive: the temperature range, which decides the fixing detail, and the cleaning chemical, which decides the material.

Yes, on request. An FAI report covers the dimensions on the drawing with measured values, material and batch, finish and any deviations with their approval status, in the format the builder supplies or our standard form. It adds 2 to 3 business days to the schedule because every part is measured rather than sampled.

The panel can be a compliant component of a compliant assembly, but CE marking is declared by the machine builder for the machine. What we provide is a component that meets the dimensional and material specification, with certificates. We do not issue a declaration of conformity for a guard panel, and any supplier who does is misrepresenting what the panel is.

Cracking at a fixing hole or at a corner, almost always from a combination of rigid fixing, thermal movement and a hole that is too small or too close to the edge. The second most common is crazing from solvent cleaning. Neither is a material failure in the usual sense: both are installation and maintenance details that can be designed out.

Yes, and it is free. Send the frame layout, the cell drawing and the hazard you are guarding against, and we will comment on panel thickness, span, fixing and material choice. This is a fabrication review, not a risk assessment, and we say so — the safety case stays with the machine builder, but the details that crack panels are ours to know.

Yes: 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 15, 20 and 25 mm cast sheet in clear, plus ESD, flame-retardant and tinted grades on order. Stock thickness means the sampling step does not wait for material, which is usually where a schedule slips. Unusual thicknesses or colours add 5 to 10 days for the sheet to arrive.

Particle shedding and outgassing rather than strength. A cleanroom window has to be cast sheet (lower residual stress, cleaner edges), machined rather than laser-cut where the edge will be inside the classified area, cleaned and bagged before it enters the gowning room, and documented for the sheet batch. A standard guard panel that would pass in a machine shop is rejected at the airlock.

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As a window or an equipment panel, yes, with preparation. The panel must be a cast grade, machined with a clean edge, washed, dried and double-bagged, and it should be specified with a low-outgassing grade if the room is also chemically controlled. Bare, unbagged acrylic carried through a Class 5 airlock will fail a particle count on the spot.

Read next: All application lines · Case studies

With a gasket compatible with the cleaning agents used in the room — typically silicone or EPDM, not foam — in a frame groove that compresses the gasket without clamping the acrylic hard. The panel should float on the gasket, fixed with slotted holes on one axis, because a rigidly bolted window in a cleanroom wall cracks when the wall and the panel expand differently.

Cast acrylic, 8 to 12 mm, selected for flatness and low birefringence if there is any inspection through it, with ESD grade if wafers are exposed nearby. Where the window also has to block a specific wavelength, a tinted or coated grade is added. Send the wavelength and the transmission target and we will quote the tint or coating rather than guess.

Yes, in 5 to 8 mm sheet with the edge finish and the chemical compatibility checked against the bath chemistry. Hot acid baths, HF and strong oxidisers are not compatible with acrylic and we will decline rather than quote; cold dilute acids, most bases and DI water splash are fine. The bath list decides the material, so send it first.

Optical grade cast acrylic, usually 3 to 5 mm, with a polished edge and a printed or engraved scale. The gauge has to be dimensionally stable, so we machine it from cast sheet, anneal after machining and measure at 20 degrees Celsius. A gauge cut from extruded sheet will read differently after a summer in a parked car.

Not at continuous temperatures above about 80 degrees Celsius, and the deflection temperature under load is around 95 degrees for standard PMMA. Under-bonnet is usually polycarbonate, PPS or metal. Acrylic is the right choice for cabin parts, display surfaces and inspection tooling, not for a component that sits next to an engine.

Usually a flame-retardant grade with a UL 94 rating at the specified thickness, machined and bonded to the pack housing with a gasket, and often with a pressure-relief function designed by the pack engineer rather than the fabricator. We quote the panel and the bonding, and we ask for the UL requirement, the wall thickness and the temperature class before quoting.

Yes, machined and polished single pieces for lamp and cluster prototypes, typically from 20 to 60 mm thick cast sheet. A diamond-polished acrylic lens is optically usable for prototype evaluation, with the caveat that it is not a production optic: the surface is not coated, and the design should be validated against the eventual production material.

For covers, windows, fluid-path visibility and laboratory enclosures where the requirement is transparency plus cleanability rather than sterilisation resistance. Standard PMMA tolerates alcohol and most disinfectants but not autoclave cycles at 121 degrees and not aggressive solvents. For repeated steam sterilisation, the material is polycarbonate, PSU or PEI, and we will say so.

It can be exposed, but it yellows. Gamma irradiation at 25 to 40 kGy produces visible yellowing in PMMA that partially fades over weeks but does not fully clear. For a device that will be gamma sterilised once, acrylic may still be acceptable if a slight warm tint is tolerable; for repeated cycles it is the wrong material.

5 to 8 mm cast acrylic, machined and bonded, with the interior accessible through a hinged or removable panel, and the sheet specified as virgin rather than regrind where the analyser is sensitive to volatiles. Bonded laboratory enclosures are usually annealed after bonding to remove solvent stress, which matters if the enclosure will see temperature cycling.

Yes, the sheet mill certificate with the batch reference, plus our dimensional inspection report. What we cannot supply is a biocompatibility file or an ISO 13485 quality system certificate for the panel itself; we are an ISO 9001 fabricator. Device manufacturers normally qualify us as a supplier and then use our certificates as part of their own file.

By freezing three things: a physical colour swatch signed off once, a drawing revision that is locked, and a per-store pack list with the fixture count. Every store's order is cut from the same approved sheet batch specification, and the swatch is retained so a store opened two years later matches. Colour drift between batches is the usual cause of a rollout looking uneven.

Plus or minus 1 mm on the fixture outline and plus or minus 0.5 mm on the joint between parts, held across all batches. Tighter than that is achievable within a batch but not across a two-year programme, because sheet thickness varies by batch. If a store's shelving is a fixed slot, the fixture should be designed with 2 mm clearance rather than relying on tighter fabrication.

Yes, and it is the service that saves the most time on site. Each carton is labelled with the store number and contains exactly the fixtures for that store, with a pack list inside and a summary manifest on the outside. This removes the sorting step at the distribution centre, which is where most rollout damage happens.

PE film on both faces, foam or corrugated interleaves between parts, edge protection on every corner, and a carton rated for the weight with the parts standing rather than lying flat. Flat-packed fixtures with a heavy part on top is the most common cause of a chipped corner arriving at a store. We pack to a drop test standard for the carton size.

Yes, in 5 to 8 mm sheet with a polished or matte finish and handles machined or bonded on. The material choice for hospitality is driven by the cleaning regime: hourly wiping with a quaternary ammonium sanitiser is fine, an overnight soak in a chlorinated solution will eventually craze the surface, and a dishwasher at 70 degrees plus detergent will degrade the edge finish.

Not well enough for daily use. A commercial dishwasher runs at 60 to 70 degrees with alkaline detergent, which dulls a polished edge and can craze stressed areas within a few hundred cycles. Acrylic trays work for front-of-house service where they are hand-washed; for back-of-house dishwashing the material is polycarbonate or melamine.

Either a polished edge with a clear body, which reads as premium, or a matte or satin finish on the face to hide water spotting and fingerprints. In a wet area the matte face is the more practical choice: a polished acrylic surface shows every dried water drop, and housekeeping wipes leave a film that is visible against the light.

Yes, and it is one of the highest-volume hospitality uses. 3 to 5 mm sheet, polished edges, printed or engraved numbers, and a base that is either a bent foot or a separate weighted block. Engraved numbers survive cleaning better than printed ones, which is why most chains specify engraving for anything that goes through a wash cycle.

Backwards from the build-up day, not forwards from the order. The chain is: opening date, minus build-up days, minus freight transit, minus packing, minus production, minus sampling, minus drawing approval. Most exhibition failures happen because the order was placed against the opening date rather than the build-up date, so we ask for the build-up date on the first email.

Sampling 3 to 7 business days, production 7 to 15 business days, then transit. For a show with a fixed date that means the drawing must be approved roughly four to five weeks before build-up for an international shipment. Anything shorter is possible for simple plinths but should not be assumed for a bonded vitrine with lighting.

Yes, up to about 1,200 mm in any dimension, packed in a crate with the vitrine on its base and foam corner blocks. Above that, or for multi-piece cases, we ship flat with a bonding kit and a jig, because a large bonded case is fragile in transit and expensive to crate. The choice is made at quotation based on the freight route.

By routing the LED tape into a machined channel in the base or the lid and bringing the cable out through a slot at the back edge, with the driver remote. The acrylic itself acts as the light guide if the case has a frosted base, giving an even glow with no visible strip. We machine the channel to the tape width the customer specifies.

Yes, machined and polished blocks with engraved or printed text, and bonded or laminated multi-layer designs. The two things that decide the price are the polish (a fully polished 100 mm block is a lot of hand work) and the engraving depth. For a show with a deadline, engraved text with a colour fill is the most reliable finish.

Optical grade cast acrylic, polished on all faces, judged at 30 cm under the actual lamp. At that distance a polished acrylic edge is indistinguishable from glass, but an unpolished or flame-polished edge shows a milky line. For a lit case we also check for internal stress, because a stressed panel shows colour fringes under the spotlights.

It will, over months, and it is unavoidable in a handled display. Two mitigations: a hard-coated sheet, which roughly doubles the surface hardness and the cost, or a design that keeps the handled surfaces matte so scratches do not show. Most watch brands choose the matte route for the base and polished only for the riser face that is looked at but not touched.

By the ring's inner diameter and the display height, with a slot that holds the ring upright without marking the shank. We machine the slot to the shank diameter plus 0.3 mm and polish the slot so it does not abrade the metal. Send the ring inner diameter and the required presentation angle and we will draw the riser rather than quote from a stock size.

UV-stabilised cast acrylic, and a design that allows for thermal expansion of about 0.07 mm per metre per degree. In a climate that swings 40 degrees, a 2,000 mm sign panel moves nearly 6 mm, which is why a rigidly fixed outdoor sign bows or cracks at the fixings. We slot the holes and specify a shoulder washer.

Far less than polycarbonate. Standard PMMA retains most of its clarity for 10 years or more in European or North American sun, while polycarbonate yellows noticeably in 3 to 5 years. Acrylic does become more brittle with UV exposure, so impact resistance falls even though the appearance holds — which matters for a sign that could be hit.

Yes, and edge-lit acrylic is the standard for halo-lit letters and illuminated panels. The panel needs a polished edge for light entry, a dot or line engraving pattern to extract the light evenly, and a reflective backing. We can engrave to a specified density and quote the panel with the edge polish included rather than as an extra.

With a French cleat, a bonded aluminium channel on the back, or standoffs. For a sign under 1,200 mm, an aluminium channel bonded to the back and hooked onto a wall cleat gives a clean face and allows removal. Standoffs are visible but serviceable. Direct bonding to a wall with adhesive is possible but makes removal destructive, so it is only used for permanent installations.

It is a function of span, thickness and fixing, not a single number. A 5 mm panel at 1,000 mm span with fixings at 400 mm centres is comfortable to about 0.6 kPa; beyond that the panel deflects and the fixings tear. For exposed sites we ask for the design wind pressure and either increase thickness or specify polycarbonate, which deforms rather than cracks.

Yes, flat cut letters in 3 to 20 mm sheet, polished or painted, with a paper template for installation. Letters are cut on the router for a square polished edge or on the laser for fine internal detail. For a logo with strokes under 6 mm, the laser is usually the only option that holds the shape.

By pressing a chip from the nearest cast sheet colour, or by painting the back of a clear panel, and getting a physical approval before production. Painted backs give an exact match to a Pantone reference; a tinted sheet gives depth and a translucent glow but only matches to within a visible tolerance. Send the Pantone number and say which effect you want.

For an internal or protected fascia, yes. For an exposed shopfront in direct sun with wind loading, acrylic is workable but must be specified with the right thickness and fixing, and it will never be as dimensionally stable as aluminium composite. Most shopfronts use acrylic only for the letters and the light box face, not the structural fascia.

Cast acrylic, polished, with low outgassing and no plasticiser, and the case sealed with a gasket so the internal environment can be controlled. For conservation work the case is specified against a material compatibility list from the conservator, and we supply the sheet grade and batch so the case can be documented. We do not specify the conservation requirement ourselves.

We make acrylic components of furniture — tops, panels, shelves and legs — but not structural furniture. Acrylic creeps under sustained load, so a shelf that holds a 20 kg load will bow over months even if it looks fine on day one. Where a piece is decorative or lightly loaded, acrylic gives an effect no other material can; where it carries load, the design needs a metal or timber core.

Up to 60 mm in stock, and thicker by bonding blocks and machining back. A 60 mm polished block is a common award or display base. Above that, bonding two 40 mm blocks with a solvent bond and machining the joint invisible is possible but the joint can show under rarefied light, so we discuss the viewing angle before quoting.

Send the application, the approximate size, the quantity and the date, and we will come back with a specification proposal — thickness, grade, edge finish, fixing method and a price band — that can be turned into a drawing. Most of our sector work starts this way, because the customer knows the requirement and not yet the part.

Yes. We are in Bao'an, Shenzhen, and visitors are welcome with a day's notice so the right machines are running. For a sector project we will lay out the samples for the relevant material grades, show the polishing and bonding areas, and run a trial cut if the drawing is ready. Video walkthroughs are available for customers who cannot travel.

Yes, we ship to a single consolidation point or drop-ship to individual sites, with the store number on every carton. Drop-shipping is usually more expensive per store but removes the double handling that damages fixtures. We quote both routes and let the customer compare, because the cheaper freight option is not always the cheaper outcome.

A packing list per carton with the store or location reference, an inspection report for the batch, material certificates where specified, and photographs of the parts before packing. For a rollout, a single summary manifest covering all cartons in the consignment. The photographs are the fastest way to resolve any dispute about condition on arrival.

Like glass, yes — cast acrylic with a polished edge is visually close at normal viewing distances and much lighter and safer. Like stone, only by printing or by a textured sheet; the effect is a surface image, not a depth. If the design intent is stone, print on the back of a clear panel and leave the front polished.

A matte or satin etch, or a fine texture. Polished acrylic shows every fingerprint, and in a retail or hospitality setting that means constant cleaning. A matte face also scatters reflection, which is why it is used on touch surfaces, menu holders and table numbers where a specular highlight would be distracting.

Yes, and it is often faster than a drawing. Send the part with a note on what is wrong with it and what must not change. We measure it, model it, and quote against the model with a marked-up drawing for approval. If the part is broken, send the pieces: the break pattern tells us whether it failed in service or on installation.

By cutting the whole run from one sheet batch where the volume allows, and by retaining a signed physical swatch. If the volume exceeds one batch, we press chips from each new batch and compare against the retained swatch before cutting. This is the only reliable approach: colour tolerances quoted as numbers do not capture what the eye sees.

Yes. For an assembly customer we supply a kit per unit — all the acrylic parts for one machine, one fixture or one display — bagged and labelled, with the hardware if it is ours to supply. Kitting adds handling cost and removes the customer's picking step and the risk of a missing part stopping a line.

Leaving out the cleaning chemical and the operating temperature. Those two facts decide the material, the fixing and whether the part needs annealing, and they are missing from the majority of briefs we receive. Everything else — size, thickness, colour — can be worked out from the application, but those two cannot be guessed.

Yes, for any project above a sample quantity. The proposal states the sheet grade, the thickness with its tolerance, the machining and finishing route, the fixing detail, the inspection criteria and the lead time, so the quote can be compared against another supplier's on the same basis. Without it, two quotes are rarely for the same part.

Yes. We are ISO 9001 certified and customers audit us regularly, usually against their own supplier questionnaire plus a site visit. We provide the certificate, the scope, the last internal audit summary and the corrective action log on request, and we schedule the visit so the relevant production is running.

By stopping and confirming in writing before cutting anything further. A change after cutting has started is quoted as the cost of the parts already made plus the new parts, and we will say which pieces are scrap. Nothing is re-cut on a verbal instruction, because the customer's own drawing revision is the only version both sides can point to later.

Down to about 1 mm features with the laser and 0.5 mm with the router on thin sheet, though handling below 5 mm becomes the constraint rather than cutting. Small parts are cut on a sacrificial backing and packed on tape or in a tray so they are not lost. Below 10 mm, quantity and packing method drive the price more than the cutting.

Yes, small-batch runs with retail-ready packing, barcodes and a polybag or a printed sleeve. The parts are identical to a bulk order; what differs is that each unit is packed to survive a parcel network rather than a pallet. We can print the seller's label or insert the packaging they supply.

For repeat customers, yes, on a call-off agreement with a defined monthly minimum and a storage period. Holding stock decouples the customer's schedule from our production lead time and is the usual arrangement for a chain rollout or a machine builder with a rolling build plan. The stock is cut and packed, ready to ship on a call-off.

Cast sheet has lower residual stress, better optical quality, tighter flatness and is available in a wider range of thicknesses; extruded sheet is cheaper, has tighter thickness tolerance and is easier to bend. Sector work that involves machining, bonding or anything optical is cast. High-volume simple flat parts with a bend are usually extruded.

Yes, standard on every panel above A4. The film protects in transit and during installation and is removed before final cleaning. For printed faces we use a low-tack film so removal does not lift the ink. Tell us if the part will be stored outdoors before installation; the film degrades in UV and becomes difficult to remove after a few weeks.

By telling the truth about the schedule rather than promising a date that will not hold. A single part can often be cut and finished in 3 to 5 business days if the material is in stock. If it cannot be done, we say so on the day and offer the partial shipment that is achievable, because a missed show date costs far more than a straight answer.

Yes. Send the inspection standard or the AQL level and the characteristics to be checked, and we will either accept it or flag the clauses we cannot measure in-house. Common additions are first-article inspection, 100 percent dimensional check and a retained sample per batch. The cost of inspection is quoted separately so it is visible.

Under 1 percent on machined flat parts and around 2 percent on bonded assemblies, with the bonded figure driven by handling rather than the bond itself. Every reject is photographed and logged with the cause, and a repeat cause triggers a process change rather than a rework. A supplier quoting zero rejects on bonded acrylic is not measuring.

Yes, on every quote where we see a problem. The comments are specific: a radius that cannot be machined, a wall that will bow, a joint that will show, a hole too close to an edge, a thickness that is not stocked. Customers act on most of them, and the ones they do not act on are noted on the drawing so both sides know the risk.

Rigid fixing plus thermal movement. The sheet expands and contracts about 0.07 mm per metre per degree while the fastener stays put, so the hole edge is loaded every day until a crack starts. The fix is a hole 1.5 to 2 mm larger than the fastener, a nylon washer under the head, and a slotted hole on one axis for any panel over 800 mm. Replace the part; a crack at a hole will not stop at the hole.

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The cleaner attacked it. Ammonia-based glass cleaner, acetone, MEK and most multi-surface sprays craze acrylic — thousands of micro-cracks that scatter light and look like fog. Once crazed it cannot be polished out, because the damage goes into the material rather than sitting on the surface. Use a mild detergent with a soft cloth and plenty of water, and dry with a microfibre cloth.

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Usually not permanently. Bowing comes from uneven support, one-sided lighting or heating, or locked-in stress from machining. A panel can be re-flattened by even heating to about 150 degrees and cooling under weight, but it will bow again unless the cause is removed. Nearly every bowing complaint we investigate is a shelf or panel with supports only at the ends and a warm light above it.

Either a heat-affected zone from laser cutting or stress crazing. If it is uniform and follows the whole cut line, it is the laser edge and it is cosmetic. If it is patchy, follows a hole or a bend, or appeared after installation, it is stress crazing and the part is failing — usually from over-tight fixings, solvent contact or a bend that was not annealed.

The solvent bond was starved or the parts were not annealed. A good solvent bond is optically clear and stronger than the surrounding sheet; a white joint means air entered the joint before the solvent evaporated, or the joint was clamped too hard and squeezed the solvent out. Both are process failures and the joint will not recover. It has to be cut apart and re-bonded.

The beam is burning rather than vaporising the material. Causes are too much power at too low a speed, contaminated assist gas, or a protective film left on that is not laser-safe. A light brown edge can often be sanded and polished out on 5 mm and above; a dark, charred edge means the part was cut at the wrong settings and the edge will always look dirty.

Laser kerf taper or drill wander. A laser cuts a slightly tapered hole, larger at the top than the bottom, which reads as oval if a pin is inserted. A drill without a plastics-specific point angle and a slow feed will wander and ream. For any hole that has to take a pin or a bearing, machine it with a router or drill and ream, and specify the tolerance explicitly.

The protective film was applied to one face only, or the part was packed flat with something on top of it. Acrylic scratches at anything above about 2 on the Mohs scale, which includes most dust. In transit, the film side survives and the unfilmed side does not. Every panel we ship has film both sides for exactly this reason, and the film stays on until installation.

Yes if it is shallow. Start with 800 grit wet paper on a sanding block, go to 1500 and then 3000, then polish with a cerium oxide or acrylic-specific compound on a soft pad at low speed. A 0.1 mm scratch comes out in about ten minutes; a 0.5 mm gouge leaves a visible lens. Keep the paper wet and do not use a dry machine polisher, which melts the surface.

Birefringence from stress. Acrylic changes its refractive index when it is strained, so a stressed panel shows colour bands between polarised light sources — which includes some LED panels, phone screens and certain window films. The cure is to anneal the part after machining or bending, and to avoid clamping it hard in a frame.

Yes, PMMA builds a static charge easily and holds dust. The practical answers are an antistatic cleaner, an antistatic grade of sheet where the part is in a dust-sensitive area, or a design change to a matte finish where dust is less visible. Wiping with a dry cloth makes it worse; a damp cloth followed by an antistatic spray is the routine that works.

If it is a flat panel with a plain edge, yes, up to about 3 mm per side, and the edge can be re-polished. If it is bonded or bent, trimming risks opening a joint or changing the bend geometry, so it is better to remake. This is why we ask for a first-off panel on any part that fits into a customer's frame: 2 mm found at the test fit costs one panel, not a batch.

Two possible causes. Cast acrylic is not perfectly flat as supplied — a flatness tolerance of 1 to 2 mm per metre is normal and is not a defect. If the wave appeared after machining, it is released stress: removing material from one face unbalances the sheet and it curves. The fix is to machine equal amounts from both faces, or to anneal after machining.

Not invisibly. A solvent bond on a clean, freshly cut joint is near-invisible; a crack that has already opened has contaminated faces and will always show a line, and it will be a weak point. For a display or a guard, a cracked part is replaced. A crack repair is only worth doing on a non-visible structural part where the load is low.

Abrasive cloth. Paper towels, microfibre that has picked up grit, and any cloth with a rough weave will micro-scratch a polished acrylic face, and the scratches scatter light so the area reads as a white haze. Use a clean, soft, damp cloth and never dry-wipe. A hard-coated sheet resists this substantially and is worth specifying for a surface that is cleaned daily.

Almost always thermal movement plus an adhesive that is not rated for the temperature range. Acrylic moves about 0.07 mm per metre per degree, and an adhesive tape that holds at 20 degrees will creep at 45 degrees in direct sun. The fix is a mechanical fixing, a cleat, or a structural adhesive rated for the range with the joint designed to allow movement.

That is the natural body colour of PMMA. Standard clear cast acrylic has a faint green-blue tint that is only visible along a thick edge, where the light path through the material is long. Optical grades and water-clear grades reduce it. If the edge colour is objectionable, the answer is a different sheet grade, not a different polish.

Only by design. A solvent bond on clear acrylic disappears when viewed straight on and shows a faint line at an angle, because the joint face has a slightly different optical path. On a display piece, hide the joint behind an opaque strip, at a corner, or by bonding into a slot. A perfectly invisible large joint is not achievable in clear sheet.

UV exposure. PMMA keeps its clarity but the polymer chains shorten at the surface, so impact strength falls and the part cracks instead of flexing. A panel that survived a knock when new may shatter after five years in the sun. For anything outdoors that could be struck, either specify a UV-stabilised grade or accept a planned replacement interval.

The panel has moved or the frame has. Check the fixing first: if the panel is bolted rigid at all four corners, thermal movement has nowhere to go and it distorts. Slot one pair of holes, re-hang, and check the gap. If the panel is itself out of square, it will need to be remade — an acrylic door cannot be straightened in place.

Send a photograph of the part against a white background in daylight, plus the batch reference from the packing list. Colour is judged against a signed swatch, so the first question is whether a swatch was approved. If we shipped against an approved swatch and the part is within the sheet's normal batch variation, that is within specification; if it is outside, we remake.

Occasionally, yes — a 70 percent isopropyl wipe in short contact is generally tolerated by cast acrylic. Daily use will eventually craze a stressed area, especially near holes and bends. For routine cleaning use a mild detergent; keep alcohol for a specific disinfection requirement, and if that requirement is daily, specify a hard-coated or chemically resistant grade.

Creep. Acrylic deforms slowly under sustained load at room temperature, and the effect is permanent. A 10 mm shelf at 800 mm span carrying 15 kg will visibly bow within months even though it was flat at installation. Design span and thickness for the sustained load with a generous safety factor, or add a centre support, or use a different material.

Yes, usually within a few days to two weeks. The smell is residual monomer and the solvent from laser cutting or bonding. Air the part in a ventilated space rather than sealing it in a box, which prolongs it. For food-contact or enclosed-case applications, specify routed rather than laser-cut edges and allow the parts to air before packing.

Slightly, yes. Sheet thickness varies by up to 10 percent between batches, and a part machined from thicker sheet will measure differently if the drawing dimensions the thickness. Outline dimensions should be identical; thickness and anything stacked on it will drift. If a stack has to close to a fixed height, the design needs a shim rather than a tighter fabrication tolerance.

Peel slowly at a shallow angle, in a warm room, and pull the film back over itself rather than up. If residue is left, a little isopropyl alcohol on a soft cloth removes it. Do not leave the film on a part stored in the sun or in a hot workshop: the adhesive migrates into the surface and can only be polished out.

Acrylic transmits visible light but absorbs infrared, so a halogen spotlight deposits heat in the panel. A 50 W halogen 300 mm from a panel will raise its surface temperature well above ambient and cause bowing, and eventually crazing at the fixing points. Use LED or a dichroic reflector, and keep the light source at least 300 mm away.

Seal it and control the humidity. Internal fogging is condensation, which means warm moist air is entering a cooler case. Fit a gasket, add a desiccant pack sized to the internal volume, and let the case equalise before sealing. For a display case in a humid climate, a small silica pack changed at each opening is usually enough.

Yes, with the right technique. Use a bit with a 60 to 90 degree point and a rake angle designed for plastics, run at high speed with a slow feed, back the exit face with a scrap piece, and clear the swarf frequently so it does not weld to the bit. Never use a masonry or a wood bit, and never force it. A cracked hole is a stress crack that will travel.

Because countersinking into acrylic weakens the sheet and the head crushes the countersink over time. The standard detail is a flat washer or a shoulder washer on a clearance hole, not a countersink. If a flush face is essential, use a metal cup washer or a screw with an integral nylon washer, and accept that the fixing is visible.

Yes, if they are in the bond line — that is entrapped air and it weakens the joint. If they are inside the sheet itself, small internal bubbles are a normal feature of cast acrylic and are accepted within the sheet standard. The distinction matters: a bubble in the material is cosmetic and normal, a bubble in the joint is a bond failure starting point.

Indoors, out of direct sun, a well-made acrylic part lasts decades. The realistic limits are surface wear from cleaning and stress cracking from fixing detail, not the material itself. We regularly see 15-year-old indoor displays still in service; the ones that fail early almost always failed at a fixing hole.

Batch variation in a tinted cast sheet, or a different viewing light. Tinted acrylic is judged against a physical chip in daylight; under warm shop lighting it reads darker, under cool LED it reads lighter. If the chip was approved in one light and the part is checked in another, the difference is the light. Compare side by side in the same light before calling it a defect.

Depends on the energy. Acrylic is hard and clear but cracks on impact; polycarbonate absorbs impact but scratches. For a barrier that a person could strike, polycarbonate is the correct choice. For a barrier that only stops reach, acrylic is fine and looks better for longer. We ask what could hit the panel before quoting.

The edge was cut but not polished. A cut acrylic edge is matte and reads as dull grey-green against a polished face. A diamond-polished edge transmits light along the panel and looks like a glowing line, which is the look most display work depends on. Edge polish is a separate operation and is priced per metre, so check that it was specified.

Almost always the crate, not the courier. A corner chip means the part was able to move inside the crate, or the corner had no protection. We pack with foam corner blocks and no movement, and we photograph every part before packing so a condition dispute can be resolved from evidence rather than memory.

Quote the original order number and the batch reference. We keep the drawing revision, the sheet specification, the batch reference and the inspection data, so a repeat is cut to the same standard. If the original sheet batch is unavailable, we press a chip from the new batch against the retained swatch and get approval before cutting.

Photograph the crate before opening, then the part in place, then the break faces. Send all three with the packing list. The break pattern tells us whether it failed in transit (a fresh, bright fracture) or was already damaged (an older, dull line). We replace transit damage, and the photographs are what makes that quick rather than a negotiation.

No. Acrylic scratches readily, and a scratched surface harbours bacteria; it is also not certified for direct food contact in most jurisdictions. Food display is normally behind an acrylic sneeze guard, not on the acrylic. For a cutting surface the materials are PE or PP; for a display surface, acrylic is correct.

The panel is loose in the groove and is being excited by an external vibration — a fan, a compressor or traffic. The fix is a compressible gasket so the panel is preloaded without being clamped, and a slotted fixing so it cannot rattle. A humming panel will fatigue at the corners and crack within a year or two if it is left.

Yes, and easily. A scratch that does not catch a fingernail is in the surface layer and will come out with a fine compound. Work in a small area with a soft pad, keep the polish wet, and finish with a clean microfibre. Do not use a machine polisher on a thin panel; the heat will distort it before the scratch comes out.

By where the damage is and what the part does. Surface scratches on a non-critical face: polish. Cracks, crazing, chips on a visible edge, or any damage at a fixing point: replace. A guard or a safety-related panel is always replaced, never repaired, because a repair cannot restore the original strength and there is no way to prove it has.

The usual causes, in order: the drawing was not approved on time, the sheet grade was not in stock, or the part needed a finishing step that was not in the original quote. Our quote states which of these is on the critical path. If we are late for a reason that is ours, we tell you the day we know rather than the day the order ships.

Yes, and it is often the sensible plan for an installation with a fixed date. We will ship the panels needed for the first zone as soon as they are finished and the remainder against the schedule. Partial shipments cost more in freight, so we quote both a single shipment and a staged plan and let the customer weigh the date against the cost.

A fixing detail that does not allow for movement. Not the material, not the machining, not the finish — a hole the same size as the screw in a panel that expands and contracts. It is also the cheapest thing to get right at the design stage, which is why we comment on it on every drawing we receive.

Flat, on a clean flat surface, film on, out of direct sun, away from solvent vapours, at a stable temperature, and with nothing stacked on the face. Standing panels on edge against a wall is how corners get chipped. In a cold workshop, bring the parts to room temperature before removing the film, or the film tears and leaves residue.

Almost always the edge. Two identical panels, one with a sawn edge and one diamond-polished, look like different products. After the edge, the next differences are the thickness of the material and whether the fixing is hidden. If a competitor's part looks better for the same money, compare the edge under a light before comparing anything else.

Only if both work to the same drawing, the same sheet specification and the same edge finish definition. "Polished edge" means different things to different shops — flame, diamond, hand — and the visual difference is obvious. If you dual-source, define the finish in the drawing with a sample, not with an adjective.

The part itself, all the pieces, and a note on what it fits and what went wrong. We measure and model it, and we check the break to see whether the failure was in service or at installation, because that changes what the replacement should be. A broken part with its history is often better input than a drawing without one.

Because dimensions without a tolerance are not a specification. Plus or minus 0.1 mm and plus or minus 1 mm are different parts at different prices, and the default when nothing is stated is whatever the process naturally gives. We apply a general tolerance when none is stated and put it on the drawing so both sides know what was agreed.