Hello, new to buying materials for the glowforge. There are so many different types of acrylic for sale that its hard to choose! Anyone have a link of a solid supply of acrylic they use for projects? Preferably 1/8th inch thick and clear, thanks!
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With all of the safety precautions related to the virus, acrylic is getting hard to come by online. I get my best acrylic at my local plastics supplier, Regal Plastic. They have locations all over the midwest. For cutting, extruded seems to work the best. For engraving, cast is the one to use. Most of your cast acrylic will have a paper based masking where extruded typically has a plastic film. For best results remove the film and remask with a paper type.
By the way, welcome to the forum. This is the best tool you have in learning to use your GF. Spend as much time as possible reading posts (old and new) and getting to know others. Use the search function to look for ideas and solutions and feel free to reach out with questions.
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I get most of mine from Cerulean Tides. She’s a GF owner as well. Locally see if you have either a TAP Plastics or Piedmont Plastics. Cast acrylic works best for engraving and scoring. Extruded can work for cutting but also smells a lot worse.
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What they said. ^^^ 
The only thing I’ll add is acrylic is acrylic and it’s all the same basic chemical composition. (Which also means the proofgrade settings generally work well on non-PG acrylic.) So once you decide if you want extruded or cast, just look at price and don’t sweat what the brand name is.
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Awesome, thanks for all the help, and thanks for the welcome!
I just waited a month and a half to get clear from https://www.estreetplastics.com/
My fav online shop, but that wait was bananas. I knew it going in, and the acrylic was used for cutting ornament blanks for another local maker for her Christmas stock, so the wait was acceptable since we both were thinking ahead. Great prices, but all totally vanilla stock and no shimmers/pearls/marbled, etc.
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Acrylic is acrylic, but in these times of a global acrylic shortage I’d resist the temptation for a great deal as it may be some other plastic. Unless that great deal is the cut-off bin at your local sign making shop.
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Checking out the site now, thanks!
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