Isn't there anywhere to buy acrylic with UV protection for less?

Well I got good news last week, I will be the featured artist for a local gallery this month. I'm finishing up some framing and getting all my stuff ready.

I've been searching for low-price frames and glass/acrylic. I am looking at americanframe and similar websites. At the 11x14 size, acrylic plexiglass is like $12 a sheet! What's with this, that seems kind of ridiculous to me. Isn't there somewhere where I can get a bulk rate for like 20 sheets at $5 each or so? I know it's treated and whatnot but it's still just acrylic, I can get UV glass at a local glass shop for less than that.

Since you don't give a thickness it's impossible to answer the question.

Try McMaster-Carr at www.mcmaster.com

Enter acrylic in the search box at upper left then click on UV-resistant. They probably don't have the sizes you want.

Also try Precision Plastics in Beltsville Maryland. They have quite a large stock of stuff.
I've done business with them for years. They'll cut any size you want from large stock sheets.

- Leigh

glass breaks, that's why it's cheap.
"it's impossible"
I don't have an answer (I use americanframe for most stuff) but I'm pretty sure someone anyone who sells acrylic can get it in any thickness you'd need for a picture frame.

Thickness doesn't matter to me...anything around 3/16 is fine. I'll check out your suggestions Leigh.

Regarding sizes, what kind of tool would easily cut this stuff? If I need to get large sheets and cut them down that's fine, if it's doable in a small apartment.

I was under the impression acrylic was cheaper than glass??

Well to be fair looking at McMaster-Carr I see some UV "non-glare" plexi that, cut down to 11x14 sheets, would cost less than $6 a piece. That's less than half the price from americanframe AND if I can cut it to specific sizes will save me money as well by not having to order larger sizes when I need them. If I can get them cut for me before shipping likely I'll pay a bit more but still much less than $12 a sheet. And if I skimped and got the regular UV stuff it's only $3 a sheet.

Is "TruVue" a retail moniker or a real superior piece of plexi? I'm guessing it's just a moniker for "UV resistant, non-glare plexi."

Don't ever use non-glare glass or plexi. The outer side is sort of frosted and makes the pictures look dull.

Jon

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jon Shiu

Don't ever use non-glare glass or plexi. The outer side is sort of frosted and makes the pictures look dull.

Jon

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I agree whole heartedly.

Also this is a little cheaper on the acrylic and a great company to deal with. http://www.framedestination.com/acry...la1p300000000/

Roger

Interesting. I have never really seen a discussion about non-glare; I just assumed the best route was UV + non-glare. I'm happy to NOT spend the money if it's not a good idea. I do have some non-glare glass on one piece I've framed and it does not look "dull" at all. It just looks like there is no glass whatsoever...

Thanks Roger for the link. I did actually see that site earlier while searching, and while cheaper than americanframe it is still 3x what it would cost to "cut my own" from UV plexi from McMaster-Carr. I emailed the other guys Leigh suggested to see what their price is. If pre-cut 11x14 sheets from them aren't too much more than the raw sheet price I'll get them pre-cut, otherwise I'll look into how to cut the stuff myself, unless that's unfeasible*.

*It looks like a plexi "scoring" tool would be cheap and easy to score and then snap the plexiglass. Only trouble would be finding a suitably large area to do it. If I can solve that I might be ready to roll.

Ah, thanks for the clarification. I will look into Tru-Vue and their various options. As much as I would like to spend $$$ on the nicest framing products on the market I simply can't. I still firmly believe there are alternatives out there with possibly a better cost to performance ratio.

You don't want to cut this stuff yourself. Static, cracked edges, and wasted material. When was the last time you framed with acrylic?