The Framers Forum

Hello All

I hope you are all well and prospering.

I've recently done some frames around the metre square size. I've previously been told that anything over 1.5m needs acrylic rather than glass, but these biggies have made me a bit nervous.

At this size, which glass or acrylic would you use and why?

Also, what is your go-to acrylic?
At the moment I use Artshield from Wessex, and I know there is Optium for times when money is no object, but I'm always disappointed not to be able to offer an anti-reflective acrylic that is affordable. Also, even Artshield sometimes seems a bit pricey. Is there a cheaper good quality acrylic around for more standard jobs?

Thanks in advance

Hi,

I use NE Plastics. used to be based in Sidcup but I believe have recently moved to Dartford.

Very helpful and I usually collect as it normally works out cheaper if I'm going that way.

Regards,

Graham

My local hardware shop sells 2mm and 4mm acrylic sheets, I never used it for framing but I'm guessing that it would work well enough. I'm not much of a fan of acrylic glazing and usually do my best to avoid using it for framing. I would expect that there is a local suppllier, or hardware shop near to you, who can take care of your needs.

I'm around 1m x 1m and then I start thinking about switching to acrylic although I did one recently that was 1200mm x 700mm which I was happy enough with.

I get my acrylic cut to size by Centrado and delivered with my weekly order, either 3mm or 4mm usually.

I only very rarely get asked to fit acrylic glazing and even then customers change their minds when I find out what the cost is going to be. The last time I fitted some acrylic glazing, the acrylic came from the local hardware shop too satisfy the customers concerns about the price. Sadly there's not a lot of money around these parts.

The credit crunch did quite a bit of permanent damage to the ecomomy around here and things never picked up very much afterwards. The main industries around here used to be farming and tourism, but both of these have been badly hit by the loss of money and lots of local jobs have gone. Strangely enough the covid crisis, has not made much difference as there was not much left to be damaged after foot and mouth and the credit crunch had already done much of the damage already.

The town has lost many of the most important businesses which used create most of the foot fall and last year we lost our last bank in the town, which has been a very serious problem for many of the local businesses. I am still here, but a quieter situation probably suits me, fairly well since my stroke as I cope much better with less pressure of work and I turn away jobs that I feel less able to undertake anymore.