Larger Diameter Acrylics?

[WCannoy]

I just bought some 38mm acrylic stock off of ebay, and I kinda feel like I didn't get the best deal, and the only guy who sells these takes a couple of days to ship and only ships standard mail.

So does anyone have a line on some larger diameter acrylic stock at reasonable prices with some decent shipping options?

[dogcatcher]

You can order direct from Delvies Plastic. http://www.delviesplastics.com/mm5/merc ... crylic_Rod

[wmolaw]

I know that Vermont Freehand had 40mm and up to 60mm japanese ebonite for sale.

[wisemanpipes]

delvies is great for large acrylic. ships fast, well priced. and Debbie is a doll...

[LatakiaLover]

I can't wait to see what you're going to do with a depth-charge-sized chunk of acrylic.

[WCannoy]

You can order direct from Delvies Plastic. http://www.delviesplastics.com/mm5/merc ... crylic_Rod

Thanks. Now that you mention them, I do recall seeing their name pop up on here before. I checked out their site and it doesn't look like they have any colors that I want for this particular project, but I'll have to keep them in mind in the future. Thanks!

[e Markle]

Is 38mm the size you're looking for?

[WCannoy]

I can't wait to see what you're going to do with a depth-charge-sized chunk of acrylic.

It's for my super secret 'skunk works' pipe project. If you've seen my FB page or instagram posts this week, you would have seen these secret spy photos that were smuggled out of my workshop! (With captions...)


"Long time fans of the old-school, more outlandish Cannoy Pipes designs will be excited to know that there's something a little strange going on in the design department right now..."


"In the wake of the announcement of a new elaborate pipe design in the works at the Cannoy Pipes workshop, this cryptic photo of what appears to be the new pipe in progress was recently leaked to the public by an unknown source!"


"Could this be another piece of the secret project?"


"Hmmm...?"


"As work continues on the mystery pipe project in the Cannoy Pipes workshop, a new photo has been leaked to the public!"

[WCannoy]

Is 38mm the size you're looking for?

Yes, at least. I want something that is kind of swirled, but not gaudy. It's got to have the right look... A faux amber would be perfect.

[LatakiaLover]

Probably not, but worth a look:

http://www.cuestik.com/store/product.as ... ENT_ID=107

The largest size is about 35mm

[Vermont Freehand]

I'd say cast your own resins, you can then make any size you want

[WCannoy]

Probably not, but worth a look:

http://www.cuestik.com/store/product.as ... ENT_ID=107

The largest size is about 35mm

The gold one looks pretty nice, but at 35mm it's not going to cut it for this particular project. Now I want to make a pool cue though...
Thanks anyway!

[WCannoy]

I'd say cast your own resins, you can then make any size you want

Yeah, that would be a last resort option for me at this point. The last thing I need right now is to add extra time, work, and materials to my workflow... not to mention the learning curve. Since pipemaking is my job, I have to produce a minimum retail dollar amount of work in a set amount of time to ensure that I meet my budget and can pay my bills. Trying to set up to cast my own resins at this point would put me way behind.

I'll probably end up doing that in the future. I like the freedom it would provide. I remember some of the creations that Trever Talbert and Paul Tatum managed to pull off by doing their own casting.

I will be making more pipes in the same genre/style of this particular pipe, and being able to cast my own acrylics would certainly be an asset when considering the design possibilities.

[billiard]

Hey Walt,

I haven't much of a cue about this but folks say brindle is the same stuff bowling balls are made of - you prolly know if that is correct or not? If it's correct though; you can get used bowling balls cheap and cut a chunk out to turn... they have all sorts of patterns in bowling balls now too...



PS - See what I did there?

[WCannoy]

Hey Walt,

I haven't much of a cue about this but folks say brindle is the same stuff bowling balls are made of - you prolly know if that is correct or not? If it's correct though; you can get used bowling balls cheap and cut a chunk out to turn... they have all sorts of patterns in bowling balls now too...



PS - See what I did there?

Well, some bowling balls are made of ebonite. I think "Ebonite" is even a brand of bowling ball. I dissected a couple of swirly bowling balls many years ago. They had about three quarter of an inch of pretty polymer shell around an ugly chalky core of something...

[WCannoy]

BTW, I can't use ebonite for this part of the pipe. I know the good stuff resists oxidation pretty well, but will oxidize in time and will need to be polished. This is for a part that will be permanently attached, and will not lend itself to easy reach for polishing, so I really need to use acrylic.

I guess, until I get the time to set up my own casting, I'll just have to snag large pieces off of ebay whenever I can in the hopes that I'll have the right piece when I need it...

Dude hasn't even shipped the ones I already bought yet.

[scotties22]

How thick does it need to be? Could you possibly get sheet acrylic (of whatever thickness you need) and then just turn it round to 38mm?

Delvies has acrylic sheets in quite a few colors. 1/8" is as thick as it comes, but couldn't you epoxy it together in layers if you needed it thicker than that?

Just a thought

[WCannoy]

How thick does it need to be? Could you possibly get sheet acrylic (of whatever thickness you need) and then just turn it round to 38mm?

Delvies has acrylic sheets in quite a few colors. 1/8" is as thick as it comes, but couldn't you epoxy it together in layers if you needed it thicker than that?

Just a thought

Great thinking!

But, no... that won't work for what I'm doing.

It does give me some ideas though...

[WCannoy]

but couldn't you epoxy it together in layers if you needed it thicker than that?

This just sparked a train of thought that might have solved a problem for me, and slightly modified my design... not my original problem though. I'll still need thicker acrylic stock.

I'll explain when the finished pipe is revealed!

You might not understand without seeing it anyway...

Thanks!

[scotties22]

Maybe you should join ( or is there someone here who is a member that could help) a pen turners forum and see of you can find anyone who casts their own acrylic that could help you out.