The Advantages of Palmer high-grade cast Acrylic Rod
Palmer’s Acrylic Rod is crystal clear, never ages, and imparts a fine “jewelry-quality” to your console. This solid, cast Acrylic Rod, available in 1.5”diameter only, is domestically produced for Palmer to our unique specifications, and is now available in Perma-Clear, Seafoam Green, and High-Gloss Black.
• Crystal Clear: Acrylic’s optical clarity is unsurpassed, and is MUCH more transparent than glass
• Accurately Sized: Our Acrylic is machined to within thousandths of an inch, to Palmer’s strict specifications
• Highly Polished: The Acrylic rod is first polished by machine, and then hand buffed to a lustrous gloss
• Age Resistant and Colorfast: Acrylic will not discolor, and is unaffected by sunlight and interior lighting
• Extremely Strong and Impact Resistant: Unlike glass, Acrylic will never shatter or break, even if abused
• Lightweight: Acrylic is half the weight of glass, offering many handling and assembly advantages
• Repairable: Small scratches can be buffed out in the field with a special Acrylic polishing compound
• Field Adjustable: Acrylic rod can be cut in the field when necessary, easily altering the dimensions of the console
Acrylic is a highly durable clear plastic that resembles glass, but has properties that make it far superior to glass in many ways.
There are two basic types of Acrylic: extruded and cell cast. Palmer uses only high-grade, domestically-produced cell cast Acrylic which is the best choice for applications demanding the highest quality. Extruded Acrylic is made by a less expensive process, is softer and can scratch more easily, and may contain impurities.
A transparency rate of 93% makes Acrylic the clearest material known. Very thick glass will have a green tint, while Acrylic remains crystal clear. Cast Acrylic is highly regarded for its optical clarity and light transmission properties, is unaffected by sunlight or interior lighting, resists aging, and maintains stability under a wide range of conditions.
Acrylic is used to make various products, such as bath enclosures, airplane windshields, skylights, furniture, and lenses. Acrylic is many times stronger than glass, making it much more impact resistant and therefore safer. Baseballs that crash through glass windows will, in most cases, bounce off Acrylic windows…Palmer Acrylic will never “break”.
Another great advantage is that Acrylic, unlike glass, machines beautifully, and can be cut, drilled, and milled to any specific requirements, expanding design flexibility. Palmer Acrylic consoles can therefore satisfy custom demands utilizing Acrylic rod in unique configurations, a huge advantage over glass.
There are some misconceptions about Acrylic, namely that it yellows, turns brittle and cracks over time. Although this might be true of very cheap forms of plastic, it is not so with our high quality domestic cell cast Acrylic. There may be some concern that Acrylic scratches too easily, but unlike glass, scratches can be buffed out of our Acrylic. Palmer offers special Acrylic cleaner and polish to remove fine scratches from the surface, and keep your console looking new indefinitely.
Acrylic may cost a little more than glass, but its unsurpassed clarity, high strength, workability, light weight, longevity, and on-site repairability make it a superior and safer choice for Palmer console leg systems.