Inspired by Chris Green's plastic glass thread, I'm asking about
suitability of plastic sheets for a slightly different purpose.

Later this year, I'll be involved with a public display of stuff which
will be on table tops 36 inches above the floor, around 14 - 16 feet
long. There is a need to prevent little fingers poking, so plastic
glass along the front, about 12 inches high, is envisaged. Last time,
some years ago, I had access to some panels 1 x 8 feet, but only about
1/8th inch thick. They worked, but were a bit floppy, so 1/4 inch thick
is probably the way to go. I suppose I'm looking for an 8 x 4 sheet
that the supplier will cut into four of 1 x 8, which I can drill to
mount along the front of the tabletops (which are 1/4 inch ply framed
with 2 x 1).

Brilliant ideas?
--
Graeme

"News" wrote in message
...

Inspired by Chris Green's plastic glass thread, I'm asking about suitability of plastic
sheets for a slightly different purpose.

Later this year, I'll be involved with a public display of stuff which will be on table
tops 36 inches above the floor, around 14 - 16 feet long. There is a need to prevent
little fingers poking, so plastic glass along the front, about 12 inches high, is
envisaged. Last time, some years ago, I had access to some panels 1 x 8 feet, but only
about 1/8th inch thick. They worked, but were a bit floppy, so 1/4 inch thick is
probably the way to go. I suppose I'm looking for an 8 x 4 sheet that the supplier
will cut into four of 1 x 8, which I can drill to mount along the front of the
tabletops (which are 1/4 inch ply framed with 2 x 1).

Brilliant ideas?

Without even checking the price of 1/4 inch it may depend on how much
money you're prepared to spend.

1/8 inch would probably do providing you stifffened it at both top and
bottom in some way.

The easiest would probably be timber/hardwood moulding/profile of some
kind fixed with double sided tape. You'd probably want some sort of
finish/protection to the top edge in any case, unles you're going
to pay for rounded and polished edges as well.

A bit more complicated would be making your own strips, forming 1/8
grooves using a circular saw or router in a board and sawing
it off as you go. Which could then just slot over the plasic.

michael adams

....

On 30/03/2016 10:41, News wrote:

Inspired by Chris Green's plastic glass thread, I'm asking about
suitability of plastic sheets for a slightly different purpose.

Later this year, I'll be involved with a public display of stuff which
will be on table tops 36 inches above the floor, around 14 - 16 feet
long. There is a need to prevent little fingers poking, so plastic
glass along the front, about 12 inches high, is envisaged. Last time,
some years ago, I had access to some panels 1 x 8 feet, but only about
1/8th inch thick. They worked, but were a bit floppy, so 1/4 inch thick
is probably the way to go. I suppose I'm looking for an 8 x 4 sheet
that the supplier will cut into four of 1 x 8, which I can drill to
mount along the front of the tabletops (which are 1/4 inch ply framed
with 2 x 1).

Brilliant ideas?

'Sneeze guard' is a good search term. There are some on ebay, maybe too
pricey.

I would imagine there are catering equipment suppliers who would hire
such stuff.

Cheers
--
Syd

News wrote:

Inspired by Chris Green's plastic glass thread, I'm asking about
suitability of plastic sheets for a slightly different purpose.

Later this year, I'll be involved with a public display of stuff which
will be on table tops 36 inches above the floor, around 14 - 16 feet
long. There is a need to prevent little fingers poking, so plastic
glass along the front, about 12 inches high, is envisaged. Last time,
some years ago, I had access to some panels 1 x 8 feet, but only about
1/8th inch thick. They worked, but were a bit floppy, so 1/4 inch thick
is probably the way to go. I suppose I'm looking for an 8 x 4 sheet
that the supplier will cut into four of 1 x 8, which I can drill to
mount along the front of the tabletops (which are 1/4 inch ply framed
with 2 x 1).

Acrylic comes in 3050mm x 2050mm sheets, so you can probably work out some way to
cut that to an appropriate size. If you ask a supplier for another size
they'll cut down a big sheet and may charge for wastage, so best to know
what size they're cutting down from and ask for something that makes
efficient use of the big sheet.

6mm is probably what you want - the thickness isn't to very tight tolerance
so it'll likely be somewhere between 5-7mm.

The going rate is about 200 quid for a 3x2m sheet, so it isn't cheap.

Acrylic also scratches. So perhaps polycarbonate (more scratch resistant)
may be a better fit, but I don't know the pricing.

Also, find an industrial plastics supplier local to you. People with fancy
websites tend to charge more, and you don't want to be shipping this.

Theo

On 30/03/2016 10:41, News wrote:

Inspired by Chris Green's plastic glass thread, I'm asking about
suitability of plastic sheets for a slightly different purpose.

Later this year, I'll be involved with a public display of stuff which
will be on table tops 36 inches above the floor, around 14 - 16 feet
long. There is a need to prevent little fingers poking, so plastic
glass along the front, about 12 inches high, is envisaged. Last time,
some years ago, I had access to some panels 1 x 8 feet, but only about
1/8th inch thick. They worked, but were a bit floppy, so 1/4 inch thick
is probably the way to go. I suppose I'm looking for an 8 x 4 sheet
that the supplier will cut into four of 1 x 8, which I can drill to
mount along the front of the tabletops (which are 1/4 inch ply framed
with 2 x 1).

Brilliant ideas?

Acrylic tends to be expensive. How about a dozen lengths of bare 1.5mm
cable spaced about an inch apart and plugged into 240v. Should stop them
after the first time.

News wrote

Inspired by Chris Green's plastic glass thread, I'm asking about
suitability of plastic sheets for a slightly different purpose.

Later this year, I'll be involved with a public display of stuff which
will be on table tops 36 inches above the floor, around 14 - 16 feet long.
There is a need to prevent little fingers poking, so plastic glass along
the front, about 12 inches high, is envisaged. Last time, some years ago,
I had access to some panels 1 x 8 feet, but only about 1/8th inch thick.
They worked, but were a bit floppy, so 1/4 inch thick is probably the way
to go. I suppose I'm looking for an 8 x 4 sheet that the supplier will
cut into four of 1 x 8, which I can drill to mount along the front of the
tabletops (which are 1/4 inch ply framed with 2 x 1).

Don't think that will stay unscratched for long.

Brilliant ideas?

I personally use toughened glass as thick as is used in patio doors
but you might well have to sit down before looking at the price.

Not 14-16 feet long, done in say 2 or 3 pieces length wise.

There used to be little metal brackets available from shop fitting companies
for this very purpose. Thre slots corner pieces all sorts of thicknesses
and lengths in black and a silver colour I wish I could remember the name.
Of course I suspect you want a cheap option and this they most certainly
are not.
Brian

--
----- -
This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...

Blind user, so no pictures please!
"News" wrote in message
...

Inspired by Chris Green's plastic glass thread, I'm asking about
suitability of plastic sheets for a slightly different purpose.

Later this year, I'll be involved with a public display of stuff which
will be on table tops 36 inches above the floor, around 14 - 16 feet long.
There is a need to prevent little fingers poking, so plastic glass along
the front, about 12 inches high, is envisaged. Last time, some years ago,
I had access to some panels 1 x 8 feet, but only about 1/8th inch thick.
They worked, but were a bit floppy, so 1/4 inch thick is probably the way
to go. I suppose I'm looking for an 8 x 4 sheet that the supplier will
cut into four of 1 x 8, which I can drill to mount along the front of the
tabletops (which are 1/4 inch ply framed with 2 x 1).

Brilliant ideas?
--
Graeme

In message , Brian Gaff
writes
There used to be little metal brackets available from shop fitting companies
for this very purpose. Thre slots corner pieces all sorts of thicknesses
and lengths in black and a silver colour I wish I could remember the name.

Thanks Brian. That immediately brought to mind the counters in
Woolworths, back in my childhood :-)

I certainly remember the chrome brackets, into which slotted lengths of
glass. No help to you, I realise, but a Google image search reveals a
Woolworths counter divided by glass strips, holding all manner of bread
rolls. The ones in my memory held toys.
--
Graeme

In message , Rod Speed
writes
News wrote

Inspired by Chris Green's plastic glass thread, I'm asking about
suitability of plastic sheets for a slightly different purpose.

I personally use toughened glass as thick as is used in patio doors
but you might well have to sit down before looking at the price.

Interesting idea. I do have some glass, removed from an old Post Office
bandit screen. The panes are all about four feet long, and vary in
height from six inches to 15 inches, with various sizes in between.

What worries me slightly is that none of the panes are marked in any
way, to indicate toughened, laminated or anything else. Each pane is a
good 1/4 inch thick, but I don't want to decapitate some poor child with
broken glass.

I have the original ali channel into which the panes fit. They would
have been four feet upright in original use, of course.
--
Graeme

News wrote
Rod Speed wrote
News wrote

Inspired by Chris Green's plastic glass thread, I'm asking about
suitability of plastic sheets for a slightly different purpose.

I'd personally use toughened glass as thick as is used in patio doors
but you might well have to sit down before looking at the price.

Interesting idea. I do have some glass, removed from an old Post
Office bandit screen. The panes are all about four feet long, and vary
in height from six inches to 15 inches, with various sizes in between.

What worries me slightly is that none of the panes are marked in any
way, to indicate toughened, laminated or anything else. Each pane is a
good 1/4 inch thick, but I don't want to decapitate some poor child with
broken glass.

Very unlikely to decapitate anyone with something covering
displays horizontally. The problem with patio doors is that it
isnt hard to try walking thru them and breaking them that way.

And if you have quite a few of them I spose you
could sacrifice one and see if it is toughened.

And since toughened glass is deliberately very stressed by
cooling it suddenly from close to melting, presumably there
is some way to test it optically to see if it is highly stressed.

Turns out there is
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yb9K3IGXwC0

I have the original ali channel into which the panes fit.

Sounds ideal.

They would have been four feet upright in original use, of course.