When a plant asks us for acrylic line parts, our first question has nothing to do with millimeters or inches. We want to know what is going to hit the part.
On the drawing, a guard and a jig can both be a rectangle with holes. On the floor they behave like materials from two different worlds.
What acrylic does best
Acrylic is the clearest material we work with. Manufacturers rate it at up to 92% light transmission, on par with glass. It resists scratching better than polycarbonate, cuts with a clean edge and polishes well.
For an inspection shield, a locating jig or a cover the operator looks through all day, it is the natural choice. It has one weakness, and on a plant floor it shows up fast.
A sharp hit
Acrylic handles an even load well and a sharp impact badly. A hard hit cracks it. Polycarbonate bends before it breaks, which is why it is the material for guards that might catch a part flying off a fixture, a dropped tool or a cart bumping into it.
The rule we use fits in one line: if the part is there to stop something, polycarbonate; if it is there to see through, locate or separate, acrylic.
The alcohol wipe
This is where the most parts fail, and almost nobody connects the dots. Isopropyl alcohol, the default cleaner on a lot of lines, can cause crazing in acrylic, especially along cut edges and around drilled holes where the material holds stress. The part fills with fine cracks and one day splits on its own.
Polycarbonate is not immune to every solvent either. So before we quote, we ask what your line cleans with. Depending on the answer we change the material or the edge finish, and the part stops being a consumable.
Dimensions that repeat
A jig only works if part number fifty matches part number one. So we work from a sample: we build it, you test it on your line, and once approved that piece becomes the standard for every run.
A drawing or a part that already works is enough to quote. If all you have is the old part, cracked or yellowed, that works too: we measure it and reproduce it.
Can you work from our corporate drawings in inches?
Yes. Send the DXF or a dimensioned PDF and we fabricate to the tolerance the part calls for, in inches if that is how it was drawn.
Can you deliver to plants on the US side?
Yes. We deliver to San Diego, Chula Vista and Otay Mesa regularly, and our shop is 15 minutes from the Otay Mesa crossing.
What happens when we need two hundred more?
The approved sample becomes the standard and every run comes out at the same dimensions. The delivery date is in writing on the quote.