Proof Grade Substitute Suggestions

Hey guys! Looks like the Glowforge shop is all out of 12x20 black acrylic. Where can I find a comparable replacement?? Johnson’s plastics?

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Inventables is another option.

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Search “acrylic source” on the forum. Tons of posts.

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If you’re anywhere near the west coast of the US; TAP Plastics - they often have pieces close to that size in their scrap bin, which is ultra cheap too :slight_smile:

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I’ve really been wanting to give them a try! I’m still new to lasering are the proofgrade acrylic settings pretty applicable to other acrylics?

My experience is pretty limited, but so far as I’ve found, yes.

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Generally, but they can secretly change from time to time without warning, in which case things may go sideways – so be sure to keep an eye on things (they changed the speed once on a setting I was blithely using, whereupon I nearly set fire to my Chemcast non-PG acrylic).

…also, remember that there’s a “community spreadsheet” Google doc out there (I’ve lost the link at the moment) that may be useful (TAP uses a lot of Chemcast-brand acrylic, thus that ends up in their scrap bin a lot, and the spreadsheet has a couple Chemcast entries IIRC).

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If you hunt this down, be very careful using the settings therein – entries have been made spanning multiple releases of power and speeds. It may be a good resource for you, but I’m much more wary of it that the official GF defaults. YMMV, of course. Test, test, and re-test!

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We are about 1.5hr from there (Auburn location) but its just another great excuse to stop and eat at Ikeda’s on the way… Oh and think we will stop at DaisoJapan store too! Thanks for the info on TAP

I use a lot of acrylic from Johnson Plastics, TAP Plastics, Delvies and Inventables; in addition to the Proofgrade stuff. I’ve found that the Proofgrade settings work pretty consistently across them all.

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I purchased some black acrylic from an ebay vendor.
Worked great and I couldn’t find a cheaper per sqft delivered price.
The only drawback may be that it has to be cut to fit into the glowforge.

Got a url for the seller?

Be sure you get cast and not extruded!

I’ve gotten some nice pieces from a plastics shop that I found after had googled and called a few, including a nice translucent blue (like it better then the PG opaque) and a black. They sell their scrap by the pound, as does Tap, but I’ve only found white & clear at Tap locations I’ve stopped at. Worth making a few phone calls before driving around! Haven’t yet tried ordering sheets on line, but some great options suggested!

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GF Laser Settings tab
I tend to find the ones where they’ve listed the type of their laser to be more recent and likely to be helpful
If nothing else it gives you a starting point!

Neighbors?
I’m in Bremerton (N. Seattle for many years previously)–so assuming you mean Auburn, WA (not MI) and IKEA in Renton, based on Tap for west coast… Found a source in Tacoma (Kel Tech, close to the Mall) that sells their scrap too, and got lucky with finding black, a nice blue & small piece of glass green there (as well as clear w/ one side polished, other matte–really cool). So far only have found white & clear the days I’ve been to Tap–but it is a crap shoot as to what they’ll have the day you stop in!

There is a TAP in Auburn Calif. And Ikeda’s is a famous eats for there pie just off I80 in Calif. We have done a round trip to Seattle before there and back with no stops other than to gas and un-gas and eat. And that was such a long trip from Reno NV.

Got it!
Yeah, long trip from there to here–used to drive between Seattle & New Mexico for start & end of each college ‘year’–fastest in 2 days. Longest nearly 5 days with stops at every historical marker & site en route.

But we can still be Neighbors:grinning:

https://www.ebay.com/str/POP-DISPLAYS

Jeffrey Forbes

http://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreygforbes

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