Florida Plastics Projects

A new oceanfront Ritz Carlton penthouse has this 2 story tube elevator. My first impression was "James Bond" or maybe "beam me up Scotty". Flat polycarbonate sheets were cold flowed or just forced into a metal frame.

Only 1/4" thick plastic had some scratches from construction workers, and I did my best with the Lexan equivalent material, but it is not as easy to buff as acrylic sheet. Some panels may just need to be replaced.
This new opulent hotel, is directly on the Fort Lauderdale beach strip.

Shipping these was no fun, breakage and zero damage claims are common.
Crating large items is not my specialty. Honestly, anything glued I want to steer clear of. Bent products are not a problem, and make it to the destination in one piece. I am learning about world commerce, so I think. You can see the microphone bases, for the goose neck. I have made similar lecterns before, they have very custom reusable cases to put the fragile plastic in. These were just machine sanded, a much cheaper option than the factory frost acrylic sheets.

OK, so it is not genuine vintage materials, but the store owner had a realistic budget.
Lots and lots of refitting to "cold flow" the piece of 1/8" clear acrylic in there.
Cold flow is hype for flex bending without heating, or an oven.
This neighbor was a few doors down for many years, but only recently started using my services.
Many good speculative white pedestals were made for him with dumpster salvaged materials.
His shop is crammed to the ceiling with Sanford and Son type junk, some great and some not so great.
But his passion to make it work is amazing.

Have offcuts, will utilize.
Some nice slabs of acrylic sometimes,
fall off a full size sheet from jobs.

Self satisfying design projects are like psychological therapy for me.
These were a not for profit venture. (or adventure)

Burned by two different laser vendors sources.
You can clearly see the fine texture, depth and color differences.
Not only fixed watt rating of laser head make the variances,
but the operator, can chose a lot from digital slider controls.

We are tooling up to produce two more common styles of clear end tables.
They are not anything new, but classic designs from the mid century furniture makers. Simple and usable, they will scratch, but similar glass alternatives are not readily available.

It is hard to say how long this wave of clear furniture popularity will last.
Some people think it is trendy, some have fond memories or the "Lucite" days past.
The lightweight and durable properties, have an advantage over glass.
I would add casters to the "slide" table, but customers want low prices more.

This one surprised me, by being well received on ebay, and my website. In years past, plastic furnishing were considered cheesy, but tastes and have changed, with retro and mixed eclectic looks.

Some designers are telling me they like
to have a very traditional piece right next to a totally modern acrylic coffee table.
Visual weight or "density" comes into play now with smaller living spaces, and second homes with less footage. The clear aspect leaves you feeling less claustrophobic.
It also reveals any carpeting that you want to display.
Being low overhead and direct manufacturing, makes it easy for me to make this table sell.

They are also called waterfall, because of the bends. Shipping is secure, no glued parts, so it makes it to it's destination in one piece. 3/4" thick acrylic sheet is suitable. I have seen a popular thinner sheet but it is a little borderline for downward bowing.

I also have seen a few very high end tables of similar design, but only twice as thick.
That makes is a collectors item, for 6 times the price, and not practical.
Most people do not understand, appreciate or notice the extra thickness.



46" long, x 16" wide, x 16" high x 3/4" clear acrylic cocktail table.

Filled mostly with ceramic media, these aquarium filter tanks,
are hidden away, and not seen. Such functional units do not
have polished edges. A bead of clear cement is run around the
glue joints, as insurance. The requester of these saw the standard
size modules at pet stores, that were only 12" deep, instead of 14".
A lot of gallons are employed by adding the extra two inches, and
the pet store ones were a standard (thinner) 1/4" thick material.

OK, yes, I admit I get a kick out of these sort of orders. It confirms that I made a product that artists like.
These custom mic stands are something I didn't want to develop. One persistent rock band member kept telling me, about the band Garbage lead singer who had one. When I looked, it was a thicker rod than I had used in my experiments in the past. Now I knew it was a viable product to research.
2 years and 40 stands later, they have been well received. Many different genres are using them. Karaoke, Country, Rock, Creole, Classical, it is amazing.
The height is not adjustable, the customer requests what height they want. Most are about 60" high. Because of that length, international shipping is about $400 for a $260 stand. Most that sell are clear stands with clear base, not too many black bases, and no aqua rod stands.

Breakage is minimal. Only about 3 have been reported as broken in use. They do get thrashed a lot during gigs and performances. I make it a point of leaving the communicating door open, about any future product breaks. Ne-Yo requested a thinner rod, so he could do his signature James Brown moves, with less weight.

A few tests on ebay, brought forth a simple conclusion about current furniture sales.
Even thought the large items are not as brisk selling, people still have enough loose money for moderate size furnishings like acrylic end tables. Simple classic waterfall design, and "small time" manufacturer direct prices, make these a surprising seller. Straight up, some things just bomb on ebay, and for no apparent reason. Two sizes are offered, driven by the angst of a negative collective consciousness, that I dodged.

The local mid-century retro shop had a couple of these giant ice containers with minor scratches and chips. The swivel tops are quite a precision thing, probably beyond my capability.
How is that for honesty. Standard stock acrylic sheet only goes up to 4" thick. These are originally machined from a custom casting. So unique, they are not a cheap item, costing hundreds of dollars. I don't think they are manufactured anymore, these come from the high end acrylic heyday of the past. But there is a definite revival of acrylic furnishings.

Frequently called mini or "cheese" cutting board, because of the small proportions,
these pass-outs are for a plastics distributor.
They had a lot of offcuts, and wanted something unique to put their business card onto.
Standard 1/2" white poly cutting board is relatively easy to machine to shape.
The slot in the handle is extra wide, and my contribution.
Lately molded shapes have appeared in retail stores, with second material inserts, colors, and low pricing.
But the plastics distributors are now stocking the primary colors, for separation to prevent cross contamination.

This mini stage is orbital sander frosted clear acrylic.
It was made out of 3/4" and 1/2" sheets, so clear was used to save money.

The factory frost pattern P95 is twice as expensive as clear, and these two
partial sheets, made out of P95 would have brought my material costs to $1000.
Using the clear, material costs are only about $200.
The sanded by hand clear is not as good a finish, especially close up.
Sandblasted clear is another option, but from a distance, the sanded clear has the same effect. An event company did the led lighting, I just supplied the box.




A 30" cube with 3/4" top is adequate to support the models.

The buying manager at the local
Fort Lauderdale Calvary Chapel Church
gave me license to speculate on various item designs.
So far the response has been moderate, but these are hand made,
original religious store products. So they were glad to try them out.
That church has helped me find, a sometimes intensely real connection to Jesus Christ.
I feel honored to be a participant in that family.

The historic Lauderdale Beach Hotel has the snazziest 2nd floor apartment I have ever seen.
The finishes, the textures, are beyond miami vice, beyond high tech.
In the middle of the strip, a small portion of the building was conserved, to satisfy the public.
This 2 inch clear acrylic slab handrail was machine sanded to create the frosted look.
This project designer has done this style railing before, with success.

Acrylic sheet is available up to 4" thick, but 2" and above is getting to be a special order, rare commodity.
The distributors don't want to stock a $1000 sheet and have it sit for years, to have the masking gum up.
There is just not much call for the super thick, like in the deco furniture heydays.
But everything old is new again.

This public moving mobile display has 1/4" colored sheets.
Of course the artist is very precise about his work, including color.
These quotes and orders, take a long time, as custom colors are not common.
Mostly because of price and turnaround. But honestly, sometimes the plastics
sale people don't volunteer, that such a exists or is possible.
There are layers or discs, paired with a single, "fin", on each single mobile module.

This stack is a common site around my shop.
1.25" thick BR, or bullet resistant acrylic sheet, the material 95% of the glass companies
use for their protective window jobs.
I see a bulk polishing job, like this about once a month.
You can see some of the slider door hangar hardware.
I work outside, because of the bulk and weight.
They pickup and deliver the same day, so handling is reduced.
So, basically, I am a laborer, something I've learned to be content with.

P95 is a factory frost pattern that had seen some popularity with event and display designers lately.
Simple "rest on" new aluminum traffic trestle setup.
Large sound activated led flood lights like you see under trees in parks are spaced a few feet apart.

The hotel staff demonstrated it by clapping their hands, and the different color came on.
As usual, I had the boring part, just rounding and polishing the edges, but it's always cool to see the final application.
Clear acrylic sheets can be machine sanded, but they effect is not the same, especially close up.

A plastics distributor salesperson has a nickname "lucitelady".
She has retail and whole experience in the plastics industry.
So, Rusty Schulz laughingly gave me this vintage bracelet to photograph and blog.
That was the mentality years ago, that "lucite" was valuable and copied material.
Of course it is a respected brand name, but today the generic term acrylic would work.

Hand carved from the back with looking thru the front,
these pieces are excellent artistry.
Randy Rich acrylic carving site has examples of
reverse carved and colored trophies.









A design sketch is made on the acrylic.
Then high speed grinders with a variety of drills,
bits and burrs, are employed.

They are hand carved directly into the
back of the panel for a three
dimensional image.

Not a production machinery produced product.

This reverse carving technique
is fascinating to watch, viewing the front of the piece
while working from the back. Once the design is
detailed, the process of reverse painting begins.
Working in reverse, the first paint applied is what would normally
be the last layer, and cannot be painted over.
This makes the planning process very critical.

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Even though I am only a one man shop,
and it is a two week update, and I always have some fresh designs to post here.
The text is sparse, and the pictures are large, but hey, it is an easy scroll.


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