Where do you guys in the UK get your styrene from? Looking at most of the places on the internet they mainly offer A4 sheet sizes and can’t seem to find any thicker than 2mm.
Have you tried looking for plastic suppliers in the phone book? I imagine there’s an online phone book for the UK and all I did here in Canada was type in plastic as a search and found a handful of places that sell 4’x8’ sheets at a variety of thicknesses.
A bit steep but they come in large size sheets.
Any one got any idea of what size the pack will be unfolded and flat not including the motherboard? Like, how much styrene will I need?
A 2’ x 4’ piece will probably get you a majority of the pack if you plan it out… Two 2’ x 4’ sheets would be better…
There is no set “standard” in how it should be built so depending on your build technique the amount needed will vary… Also it depends on other variables, like the cyclotron, if you scratch build this just the top of the cyclotron will require the better half of a square foot of material in itself, but if you use an alternative item for that part then you will save that square foot of material… Same with bridging and support material, some people like to add a lot others skimp out…
Personally I would try and get a 4’ x 8’ sheet locally as it’s the most cost effective, and leaves you plenty of excess to build the gun and also make mistakes… Locally you should be able to source a 4x8 1/8" thick sheet for about $50…
Well that’d be great if I could’ve found that at TAP Plastics for that price… they were quoting me 1/16 at a $1.50 a Sq Ft and 1/8 at $3 a Sq Ft… that’s $96 for one 4x8 sheet of the 1/8 :shock: Of course, I don’t think they were selling me quite the same thing (PVC Sheets)… hopefully you’ll have better luck.
Yeah PVC isn’t Styrene or ABS two entirely different plastics…
For example you can get a 4x8 sheet of black ABS from these guys for $65…
http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/product.asp?catalog_name=USPlastic&category_name=76&product_id=3068
And here is a 3.5 x 6 piece of styrene for $47
http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/product.asp?catalog_name=USPlastic&category_name=76&product_id=3008
And if you find a local supplier almost all of them have scrap bins or reject bins, you can usually score scraps for dirt cheap…