Thread: Inexpensive Plexiglass?

Tweet

For illusions like Pepper's Ghost and the bottomless pit, I need something like plexiglass. Plexiglass is pretty expensive though.

I see that Wal-mart has relatively cheap poster frames that have thin plexiglass or plastic that I could use. It occurs to me that if the whole frame costs $10 retail, then it may be possible to buy the "glass" itself in bigger sizes relatively cheaply. I may put up a pepper's Ghost with a 32" TV, which I think needs a big reflective area. I also want to build light boxes to illuminate X-Rays for my mad Scientist scene. If there is a supplier of cheap clear plexiglass, maybe they would have cheap frosted glass too?

Anyone have experience that could help me out?

I was pricing some recently at Lowes. A 36 inch x 72 inch panel, around .09 to .10 inch thick, was going for $50. They had smaller panels also, but I didn't price them. They will cut it down to the size you specify.

Home Depot had pretty much the same as Lowes, except they also had thicker panels. For the same size as above but in a thickness of around .20 inch, it was about $100.

Keep an eye on bowing if you're planning to use a large panel mounted horizontally as the mirror image could be distorted (like a funhouse mirror). That might drive you into using the thicker material. Probably less of a concern if used vertically and supported uniformly around all edges. At least I hope it would be less of a concern, since that is how I am planning to use it

I had contacted one glass company about a tempered plate glass pane of the same size (I forget the thickness), but it was going to be more expensive plus I didn't like the idea of messing with a glass pane that large, tempered or not.

I've used these folks before ,for some small pieces,http://www.estreetplastics.com/,I checked their website and their prices look pretty good............

Demon Dog - I also checked out Lowes and HD. It just seems too expensive to me. I may change my mind if the thin stuff gives problems.

bfjou - thanks for the site. I think I may use them for the frosted glass, since I have no idea how to fabricate that, and it's not unreasonable.

Yeah, what demon dog said. That's what I used in my horse drawn hearse.

I bought mine at Lowe's. The one I bought had a crack in the corner and they let me make an offer. I asked they take 60% off and they did! The peice worked great even with the small break in the corner and did what I wanted it to do.

I suggest you do the same if the situation presents itself.

Thanks MrNightmare. If I find myself in that situation, I will definitely ask for a discount.

You might want to look up plastics and boat repair/fabrication companies in your area. I get my plexi and lexan from a few places in my area that do nothing but custom work plastics, they also sell it by the sheet and can cut it to whatever size I want. One lists themselves as a plastics company, the other call themselves a boat repair company (mostly custom routing drop-in panels and covers, etc). The last time I went it was cheaper than the big box stores, but it's been a long time since I've needed any.

for frosted glass you can always take a clear piece and get frosting spray Amazon.com: Krylon I00810 Glass Frosting Aerosol Spray Paint, 12-Ounce: Home Improvement

If you take a piece of clear and sand it with 220 grit sandpaper it will look frosted. You might want to use a finer paper for a slightly different appearance. There was a thread on glowing footsteps that have pics of sanded plexi. This is it. Ghostly Footprints Look at the 9th page. I posted pics of a sanded footstep and that should give you an idea of what a frosted piece of plexi will look like. Hope this helps.