Sheets of Plastic Custom Cut-to-Size

Are you looking for a lightweight, rigid, and weather-resistant sheets of plastic to suit a specific application? TAP Plastics may have just the solution you need in our selection of plastic sheet material. Acrylic is often referred to by its brand name Plexiglas or trade name plexiglass. Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), as it is also known, is a transparent thermoplastic that is often used in sheet form as a shatter-resistant replacement for glass. Plexiglass sheets have many characteristics and features that are well-suited to applications across a wide range of industries, including construction, glazing, retail, machining, plastic fabrication, recreation, signage, and much more.

We are pleased to offer cut-to-size acrylic sheets in a wide range of colors, grades, and sizes from industry leaders in plexiglass and other thermoplastic compounds, including Covestro, CYRO Industries, King Plastic Corporation, Rowland Technologies, and more. All the acrylic sheet we supply is designed to meet the strict demands of many commercial, industrial, and residential applications. Our customers use acrylic plexiglass in commercial construction, home improvement projects, laser engraving, furniture making, merchandising, and other uses.

Cast Acrylic vs. Extruded Acrylic
We offer two different kinds of acrylic sheets: cell-cast and extruded. Both types of acrylic polymers result from chemical reactions between monomers and catalysts. Each type of acrylic has its characteristics and features. With an array of glossy, matte, and textured sheets at the ready, finding the best material for your application is easier than ever before. Best of all, we offer a handful of customization services to suit any particular set of needs.

Cast acrylic is the highest quality acrylic available, providing the greatest optical clarity and thermal stability. Casting acrylic is labor-intensive and involves mixing liquid ingredients in glass molds. Although it is more expensive, the process of casting yields a more rigid, sturdy, and homogenous product, making it ideal for large structures and installations. Casting also lends to more chemical resistance than extrusion, making cast acrylic ideal for applications involving fragrance, lotions, or other solvents. Thick cast acrylic is well-suited to applications where standard sheets won’t do the trick. These super-thick, crystal-clear, and distortion-free sheets are great for machining.

Extruded acrylic is made by continuously pushing acrylic mass through a form to yield an impact-resistant, heterogeneous product. Properties may vary depending upon the direction of extrusion. Extruded acrylic is more affordable and dimensionally stable than cast acrylic, making it a cost-effective solution in general fabrication and a wide range of applications. Due to its malleability and low melting point, this acrylic is better suited to laser cutting, routing, and polishing as well as cementing and thermoforming. Extruded acrylic is also less susceptible to dirt, lint, or particulate contamination in the production process. Plus, it will not yellow as the result of prolonged sun exposure due to its ability to resist ultraviolet light degradation. Despite cold, heat, humidity, and sunlight, our transparent acrylic sheets maintain original color and appearance. You can use extruded sheets in greenhouse glazing, shed or garage window installation, and a variety of indoor applications.

Plexiglass Sheets: Features and Benefits

• Approximately half the weight of glass
• Break-resistant and impact-resistant
• Resistance to weathering and aging
• Resistance to heat and chemicals
• Colorfast and continuous throughout
• Easy to bond and thermoform

ACRYLITE acrylic sheets are among the highest quality plastics manufactured in the world. These thermoplastic panels are often used as a lightweight alternative to glass and other materials because they offer excellent optical quality, high light transmission, weather resistance, and sound reflection. Like most plastics, ACRYLITE sheets respond to temperature changes by expanding or contracting at a far greater rate than glass. One major difference between acrylic and glass is that acrylic does not shrink with age. Some shrinkage may occur when general-purpose ACRYLITE is heated to forming temperature, but post-forming stability is exceptional.
Acrylic sheet is also more flexible than glass and many other building materials. If insulation is a concern for the project at hand, you will be relieved to know that ACRYLITE’s surface resistivity is higher than that of most plastics. In fact, ACRYLITE extruded acrylic has a light transmittance of 92 percent and is warranted not to lose more than 3 percent of its light-transmitting ability in a 10-year period. UV-filtering acrylic absorbs more than 98 percent of the radiation in the ultraviolet range below 400 nanometers.
Plexiglass sheets offer an energy-efficient alternative to standard glass, which is conducive to residential applications such as window glazing, designing backsplash in a kitchen, updating cabinets, and so much more. Transparent colored ACRYLITE can be used to reduce glare and solar energy transmittance. Plexiglass also has excellent resistance to attack by many chemicals. At only half the weight of glass and approximately 43 percent the weight of aluminum, acrylic sheet offers a lightweight alternative that is safe and easy to install. Acrylic panels can also be sectioned in a wide variety of ways, using hand tools or power tools. The possibilities of acrylic are endless.
Plexiglass Sheets: Applications and Projects

• Cutting: with knives, scribers, power saws, and hand saws
• Drilling, Routing, Shaping, Turning, and Glazing
• Finishing: scraping, filing, sanding, and polishing
• Forming: strip heating, drape forming, surface molding, and vacuum forming
• Joining: capillary cementing, dip or soak cementing, and viscous cementing

We offer many ACRYLITE products to choose from:

ACRYLITE AR: If you desire abrasion and chemical resistance on one or both sides, ACRYLITE AR sheets may be just what you need in areas where frequent handling, heavy traffic, and regular cleaning are commonplace. These highly resistant acrylic panels have been used for store fixtures, furniture, menu boards, picture framing, instrumentation displays, sports arena glazing, museum vitrines, architectural glazing, machine guards, touch screens, and more.

ACRYLITE BR: Acrylic sheets are virtually unbreakable, giving them a distinct advantage over glass in terms of safety and security. ACRYLITE BR is a transparent cell-cast acrylic sheet that meets UL752 Level 1 requirements, which is the specification used to identify a material’s level of bullet resistance. Thickness tolerances are consistently checked on a sheet-by-sheet basis to ensure that the material will provide the required protection you need. Bullet-resistant acrylic can be cut, cemented, flame polished, and fabricated for indoor or outdoor applications using many of the same techniques used for a standard ACRYLITE sheet.

ACRYLITE® BR 1.250 sheets are 1.25" thick, transparent cell-cast acrylic sheet which meets the UL752 Level 1 requirements.

ACRYLITE® BR 1.375 sheets are 1.375" thick, transparent cell-cast acrylic sheet which meets the UL752 Level 2 requirements.

ACRYLITE FF: If extruded acrylic is better suited to your specific application, these continuously manufactured acrylic panels may be the solution you need. ACRYLITE FF offers the easy handling and processing of extruded products along with the high optical characteristics and low-stress levels expected of cast products. Our customers have used this lightweight, rigid, and weather-resistant thermoplastic for skylights, signage, window glazing, window frames, picture framing, point-of-purchase (POP) displays, optical displays, and more.

ACRYLITE GP: If cell-cast acrylic sheet is better suited to your specific application, this general-purpose sheet may be perfect for your project. ACRYLITE GP offers excellent optical characteristics, thickness tolerances, light stability, and low internal stress levels for consistent performance. These versatile acrylic sheets can be easily sawed, machined, thermoformed, and cemented, making it suitable for most commercial applications. Plus, it absorbs ultraviolet light up to approximately 360 nanometers. ACRYLITE GP has been used for decorative paneling, lighting fixture diffusers, aquariums, hockey rinks, shower enclosures, school glazing, signage, and more.

ACRYLITE OP: If you need a greater ultraviolet light transmission for framing articles of value or professional artwork, look no further. ACRYLITE OP can handle the demands of any framing or glazing application, all while providing museum-quality UV protection and the finest optical clarity imaginable. Papers made of natural high polymers from cellulose and protein are particularly sensitive to UV radiation. These continuously manufactured UV-filtering sheets defend against irreversible damages caused by both natural and artificial light, protecting paper-borne artwork, prints, and other documents from fading, yellowing, or becoming brittle over time. Best of all, the UV protective qualities are part of the sheet structure and cannot be scratched away.

ACRYLITE Resist: Are you looking to save without sacrificing the structural integrity of your application? Formerly known as ACRYLITE PLUS, this impact modified sheet combines the beauty and clarity of acrylic with high impact performance for longer lasting, more cost-effective store fixtures and POP displays. ACRYLITE Resist can be easily fabricated and machines, including cutting, routing, forming, and cementing. Our customers have used ACRYLITE Resist sheets in the design and construction of greenhouses, hotels, offices, retail facilities, and much more. Even in dim areas, this high-impact acrylic sheet maximizes light and visual clarity.

ACRYLITE Satinice: Wherever optimum light diffusion is required, we have you covered. Satinice acrylic sheets strike the perfect balance between light diffusion and transmission, making them the preferred acrylic surface for backlit application. Satinice clear acrylic features a frosted appearance from edge to edge, and the attractive surface is exceptional at hiding fingerprints, scratches, or signs of wear and tear. We offer both clear and white sheets that can be used to make stained glass windows, illuminated benches, privacy partitions, exhibition booths, and more.

One of the top concerns for people who produce backlit signage, commercial lighting fixtures, and POP displays includes LED hot spots. LEDs can cause a dotted pattern on standard acrylic sheet materials, but this isn’t the case with black LED acrylic sheet. Our black LED acrylic sheet hides bright LEDs even in low-profile signs and can transmit light of any color, making them suitable for retail displays, exhibition booths, and more.

Acrylic sheet with a green-tinted edge creates the sleek and sophisticated look of a glass coupled with the performance of acrylic panels. Ribbed plexiglass sheet features a textured yet still transparent surface, making it more of a specialty material for use in partitions, balcony glazing, bathroom cabinets, patio tabletops, and furniture components. Ribbed acrylic textures are bold and fashionable, allowing unique possibilities for designers and other industry professionals. We also supply textured Lucerne FFV and Innsbruck FFX acrylic sheeting for a unique finish

In addition to clear acrylic sheets, we also offer PVC sheets, HDPE boards, high-impact styrene (HIPS) sheets, mirrored acrylic panels, polycarbonate panels, and so much more.

King Plastic Corporation’s Starboard high-density polyethylene (HDPE) sheets are quickly becoming the industry standard for a wide range of applications. This petroleum-based thermoplastic is environmentally stabilized to withstand the harshest sun and marine conditions. As a result, it will not delaminate, rot, splinter, swell, or warp when exposed to water or humidity. Experienced boat builders and mariners trust King Starboard more than any other brand. In the marine industry alone, HDPE sheets are used to make bow pulpits, countertops, doors, furniture, grab rails, hatches, steps, tray tables, and other fixtures.

King Plastic Corporation’s Hy-Pact industrial-grade polymer sheets are produced through a proprietary manufacturing process and specially formulated for auto, marine, food, material handling, and industrial applications of all kinds. Tests have shown after 2,000 hours of ultraviolet (UV) exposure; King Hy-Pact outperforms both UV-stabilized HDPE, ultra-high-molecular-weight (UHMW) polyethylene, and other competing products in terms of wear resistance, flexibility, and high-impact strength.

Styrene is a special type of thermoplastic that is commonly used to build displays and signs. With such exceptional dimensional stability and strength, styrene plastic is the obvious choice for machining a wide variety of prototypes and models. Styrene is also used to manufacture many of the products you might see on a day-to-day basis, such as bicycle helmets, auto body panels, small appliances, and so much more. Whether bent, bonded, cut, drilled, fabricated, molded, painted, or recycled to make something utterly unique, this sturdy thermoplastic offers tremendous cost savings compared to other materials when it comes to building boats and recreational watercraft.

Our selection of cut-to-size acrylic sheets includes a wide array of reliable materials you can use to make art projects, signs, and so much more. Each cut-to-size sheet can be customized by width and length, but we can also add holes, radius corners, or polished, rounded, and routed edges for an additional cost. Cut-to-size orders can take one to two business days to process. If you are in a hurry to receive your materials, just visit one of our store locations to receive your bullet-resistant acrylic in five minutes or less from start to finish.

No matter what kind of project you have on the horizon, you can find everything you need right here. With over 70 years of experience in the wholesale distribution of plastics, we know just how important it is to have the right material on hand. One of our friendly representatives will be happy to help you find the best acrylic sheets for an excellent price. Please don’t hesitate to call 888-827-7330 or email  info@tapplastics.com today for further assistance.