Acrylic rod question

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Bryguy

Bryguy

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New Hampshire
I'm looking for an inexpensive source of rod for making sleeves that will be glued into wood barrels. I looked at 1/2" extruded acrylic rod, (Plexiglass) very cheap at Amazon, but does it machine easily, as I will be drilling the whole barrel length and creating a female thread into which I will screw the section?
 
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It doesn't work so well. Soft. Cast acylic rod is what you should be looking for. Harder to find and costs a little more of course. I have read before, probably on this forum, that you can boil the extruded in water for 20 or 30 minutes to improve its properties to closer to cast but I haven't tried it.
 
Can't answer your specific question about acrylic rod, but an alternative that I have used is to use alumilite slow clear to fill a drilled hole, then drill that out and thread according to your specification. I haven't done it in wood but I have used it to fill vintage celluloid tubing that has become eccentric with age, worked very well.
 
Try delvies plastics. Rods are cheap, but you have to order a certain dollar amount in order to get normal speed shipping (last I checked)

www.delviesplastics.com

Acrylic Rods & Tubes

Shop for Acrylic Rods & Tubes products at Delvie's Plastics Inc., the most trusted name in Acrylic & Plexiglass.
www.delviesplastics.com www.delviesplastics.com

They are my first choice for transparent acrylics.
 
Bryguy said:
I'm looking for an inexpensive source of rod for making sleeves that will be glued into wood barrels. I looked at 1/2" extruded acrylic rod, (Plexiglass) very cheap at Amazon, but does it machine easily, as I will be drilling the whole barrel length and creating a female thread into which I will screw the section?
Click to expand...

When I started doing custom pens, I used normal acrylic pen blanks to make my inserts. Now, I also use either allumilite (I pour my own), or ebonite.
 
I have bought cast acrylic rods from Delvies and from US Plastics, both good.

I also made the mistake of trying to save money by using extruded acrylic rods. They are unstable - at best they distort as you machine them, releasing tensions formed when they were made.
 
jalbert said:
Also, these are quite reasonably priced, and I really like these for solid black acrylic. These are my go-to for solid black acrylic

woodpenpro.com

20 X 3/4" Inch Acrylic Rod (Super Rod)

40 Inch Acrylic Rod (Super Rod)
woodpenpro.com
Click to expand...
Yes, these are what I have been using, but since my sleeves are 12 mm diameter, there is a lot of waste. I was looking for 1/2 diameter rods, a lot less work and waste!
 
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