Plexi-How Often Do Yopu Use It?

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gemsmom

gemsmom

SGF, Supreme Grumble Framer
Joined
Oct 10, 2000
Posts
3,576
I've never been a fan of plexi, so I rarely use it. However, since my re-certification lecture, I'm re-thinking my opinion of it. I was told CYRO has an excellent prduct. My question is, how often do use plastic sheeting for glazing, and for what type of jobs?
 
We only use it for our corporate customers. Bayer, Caterpillar, etc. They require it for plant safety reasons.
IMHO, it is a pain! Static electricity makes everything fly to it and stick.
Janet can probably tell you more.
 
I generally use plexi (or acrylic sheeting as it likes to be called) anytime I frame something over 30x36, or if it is going in a child's room. I also have an on-going relationship with a local school framing band composits. The frames are big and hang very high on the wall. If one ever fell with glass, it would be disasterous! Acrylic sheeting is also much lighter weight and what I use is very difficult to tell from glass.

I have a very good source for it in regular, non-glare, conservation, and conservation non-glare. (Or what ever the official names for it are.) . I always include info on how to clean it, and my customers love it.

Betty

By the time I got this ready Charles had already posted. That reminded me about the static. I use a cleaner called "Craftics 20/20 Plasti-Cleaner" I get it where I get the acrylic. It really keeps the static down.

[This message has been edited by B. Newman (edited October 23, 2001).]
 
We use plexi quite often for the above reasons.
One thing that made the static a "non-issue" was a nifty little Anti-Static brush we ordered from United. It works! You often do not even have to use a liquid cleaner. I forget the name, let me know if you can't find it and I'll look it up tomorrow at work.
We LOVE UF3/UF5/OP3 plex-- the UV filtering properties are much more "reliable" than those of Conservation Clear and it does not have those annoying little ripples like CC as well.
 
I don't like plexi for obvious reasons (other than the fact that any piece that requires it at my shop is usually bigger than me!!) I usually suggest print guard or laminate on posters for kid's rooms. It's more expensive, but parents don't have the worry of sharp edges from either glass or plexi if the frame falls off the wall. Most pay for a little peace of mind.
 
We use 1/8" OP3 on everything we frame with the exception of pastels and textiles. once you get the hang of fitting with it (paper your table and use air frequently) it's not as bad as you hear. OP3 is also wonderful protection of paper art, which in a business like ours where the posters run from $300-$150,000, you need all the protection you can get!

------------------
Seth J. Bogdanove, CPF
22 years framing and still loving it!
The website for my new company is: www.La-Belle-Epoque.com
 
Museums use acrylic sheet on most of what they frame. An invaluable trick,which came from Wintherthur is cleaning it with a damp
chamoix. This kills the static and can take
all of the dust off as well. Most cleaners
work by attracting water to the surface but
using water in the first place gets it done while nothing is left. Taping these packages
eliminates splinters that can come as the
package goes into the frame. A safe taping
strategy includes facing the portion of the
tape that would touch the mat with a barrier
material like a strip of Marvelseal 360 and
the use of a plastic backing board such as
Corex or Coroplast to keep the tape volitiles
out of the package.
 
I love plexi.

Unliek some of you, I think it's easier and quicker than cutting/sanding/washing glass. Handled corrctly, static isn't a real issue. Like Betty, I buy antistatic stuff from my supplier ( and those of us in TN, NC and SC check out Piedmont Plastics; great folks, great prices and they cut to your project size.

My favorite is nonglare I find most folks love it.

We use plexi for anything over 32 x 40 and anyting above 40 x 50 we go to the heavier 3/8 inch. using 1/8 or 1/.4 inch on your bigger jobs and the plexi cavitates into the piece. Not cool.

Plus you get big bucks forusing it.

We also use plexi for static mounting ilfochromes--but that's a story for another thread.

------------------
Michael LeCompte CPF
 
Does anyone use an anti-static mat, one that is grounded into an outlet? UPS just delivered the one I ordered, but I'm leary of walking around on something that is attached to an electrical outlet. The relative humidity here is so low, none of the many suggestions I've read work satisfactorily, not even the Zerostat gun.

Sorry, Pamela, that doesn't answer your questions. Let's see...I use it only on very large jobs, some Clip-frame jobs, some children's room jobs. Cyro, in my opinion, is the best.
 
This morning I finished two frames 18.5" x 50" with Conservation Clear glass. I cut the glass, from a 40x60 sheet, after making sure the dog was well-clear and the paramedics were standing by. Big lites of glass never used to worry me, but now I'm thinking I'd like to re-examine my aversion to Acrylic glazing.

For those of you that work with this Acrylic, would Acrylite P-99, OP-3, .118" be a reasonable product to use for larger items? Can I cut this stuff with my Fletcher 3000? Is this the product with at least some enhanced scratch resistance? Can anybody tell me what the P-99 and OP-3 designations mean? Does it sound like I just started framing last week? (I'm guessing the P-99 has to do with scratch resistance and the OP-3 deals with UV filtering, but at $125 for a 4'x8' sheet, I'd rather not guess.)
 
I know my supplier well enough that I just tell them I want regular, or n/g, or consv. and they give me what I need. I do however have down in my notes with their phone number that:
regular is 011-9
Non-glare is P99
Conservation is OP3
Conservation non-glare is OP3-P99 (duh)

I hope this is correct.

Betty
 
Ron,

Acrylite
FF= basic stuff
FF P-99 non-glare
OP-3 UV protection
OP-3 P-99 UV & ng
AR abrasion resistant
AR OP-3 " " & UV
AR P-99 " " & ng

I have used AR (with coating on one side and both sides, at different times). It is an excellent product except that there is some old product around which leaves adhesive residue when you remove the paper. Make sure to get the lot number for any claims. It happened to me and Cyro and the distributor eventually made good.

It comes in many thicknesses and you can cut it on your 3000. I find that the best cleaners are 210 and 210 Plus, both by Sumner labs.

Cyro has a site at www.cyro.com and was sending samples. They sent steel wool to rub on the AR but nothing to gouge it!

------------------
Al E
 
The Grumble is truly amazing--what a way to learn "real world" solutions to real problems in the everyday shop!

We are quoting on a job (approx 200 pieces) that is bigger than 40 x 60 and will be using plexi. I've been concerned about chasing fuzzies off a job that large and I will try all of these solutions to see what works best for us.

There is an article in Sept Art Business News about a shop in NY that uses a "Clean room" with a HEPA filtering system for putting the plexi on the project and then after sealing the package moves it to different room for fitting. I'm wondering if installing a filtering system to control dust particles floating about might not be a good idea anyway. Has anyone tried this successfully?

Freda
 
Freda,
I run an air cleaner in my shop, along with a humidifier in the winter and a dehumidifier in the summer. Frankly, my main reason for installing the air cleaner was the large dog that roams the shop, but I've found it helps with general dust and lint problems as well. It's not a commercial unit - just the largest free-standing air cleaner I could find at Home Depot. I run it at "full-tilt" at night and a lower fan speed during open hours to keep the noise to a soft hum. Possibly the biggest problem is that it needs to sit on the floor in an open area to be most efficient.
 
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