[sdiy] Plastic Panels...

[patchell]

    You didn't specify what kind of plastic (there are lots of
plastics).  Using Lexan type material has been discussed here quite a
bit.  But, you will find that working in plastic isn't a whole lot
easier than aluminum.  It is just different.  If you purchase sheet
alumimun, you will probably find that it is not much more expensive on a
material basis.  I find that the material for the front panel is cheap
compared to the cost of putting the legend on the panel.  However, there
are cheap ways around this too, several of the list members do a great
job using means most of us have at home (printing the legend with an
inkjet printer and then using adhesive to hold it to the panel).

    The main thing you need to concern yourself with plastic however is,
will it be strong enough.  You generally need a much thicker panel using
plastic as opposed to aluminum.

studio271 wrote:

> I'm sure it's been discussed before, but I didn't really find
> anything in depth in the archives, just it being put down for
> durability...
>
> I've never actually used a modular in my life, but I am building
> one. I decided that using aluminum panels is WAY too expensive for
> me, and since unmolded plastic is probably pretty unexpensive and
> easy to drill using tools I already have at my disposal I wanted
> to look into using sheet plastic (i guess that's what it would be
> called?) for panels. I really don't care about how strong it is, I
> just want to use it. I just wanted to know if anyone has
> experience in using this and could tell me a good place to get
> this (preferably already cut into 6"x8"(+-2" either way) so that I
> don't have to worry about unusual shipping) and how thick would be
> best, although that probably depends on what kind of plastic it
> is. Thanks for reading!
>
> -Drew
>
> ________________________________________________________________
> Sent via the EV1 webmail system at mail.ev1.net
>
>
>

--
 -Jim
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