Workbench Top – What material to use????

[David Rogers]

Try polypropylene.

A quick search for that on the site will give you more info.

Dave

[Harry Cleary]

access plastics have it John, they are in Ashbourne

http://www.accessplastics.com/

[George Elsmore]

http://www.jagsignsupplies.com/aqshop/c … .php?id=56

[Shane Drew]

I have used toughened glass on my bench since 1992. Been thru 3 sheets in all that time (2 broke due to stupid staff using a hammer to nail wood, and trying to move a 1200 x 3600 bench with a winch)

Make sure you keep using fresh blades, and don’t use the blade tip to cut, and you’ll have a good surface for many years. When it gets scratched to the point its unusable, flip it over.

[Andrew Blackett]

The one we had from Jag fell to bits after a month or two, they reckon we were cutting on it in an unsuitable way. Cutting too hard or something, I do like to make un-necessary cuts through foam board its such fun 🙄

I’m keen to try glass too, but surely this would blunt the blades really quickly!

Andy

[Graeme Speirs]

polypropylene for me too, works great and last for ages then just flip them over. europoint do sheets of it in 3 or 6mm, 6 is best.

cheers
graeme

[Hugh Potter]

quote Shane Drew:

I have used toughened glass on my bench since 1992. Been thru 3 sheets in all that time (2 broke due to stupid staff using a hammer to nail wood, and trying to move a 1200 x 3600 bench with a winch)

Make sure you keep using fresh blades, and don’t use the blade tip to cut, and you’ll have a good surface for many years. When it gets scratched to the point its unusable, flip it over.

same here, nice firm surface too, i hate the idea of any surface the knife blade can cut into and steer off course, which is icredibly important if you’re hand laminating / countour cutting by hand (as i need to do on occasion.)

[John Wilson]

I just got some skybond from europoint, nice clean white surface too 😎

[Hugh Potter]

quote John Wilson:

I just got some skybond from europoint, nice clean white surface too 😎

glass will stay clean and won’t get dirt in the score marks 😉 :giggle: :giggle:

[John Wilson]

quote Hugh Potter:

quote John Wilson:

I just got some skybond from europoint, nice clean white surface too 😎

glass will stay clean and won’t get dirt in the score marks 😉 :giggle: :giggle:

Was thinking of getting a sheet of glass for the top of it but not sure, just couldn’t get a decent sheet price last week (best I could get was about £110 for 8×4) so went with skybond the now but at least it can be used as a base from the glass if I get some

[Hugh Potter]

2x 1750 x 800 6mm toughened sheets which were meant to be about £125 + vat. i waved some £1 notes about and got them for £110, delivered!

[JohnMoyles]

Thanks for your quick response guys. i think i’ll get the polyproplyene as i already have an acount with access and they’ve quoted me €80 for a 10×5 sheet which is the size of the bench. When this sheet comes to the end of its life i’ll try the toughened glass next and decide then what suits my business best. Really appreciate all your help, Thanks Again!

[John Wilson]

The skybond was only £40+vat delivered so can’t grumble 😮

[Hugh Potter]

quote John Wilson:

The skybond was only £40+vat delivered so can’t grumble 😮

aye, fair play, it’s personal preference i guess, i cut myself often enough without the added worry of the knife dragging / slipping / steering off course due to an inconsistent surface.

Hugh

[Shane Drew]

quote Hugh Potter:

quote John Wilson:

The skybond was only £40+vat delivered so can’t grumble 😮

aye, fair play, it’s personal preference i guess, i cut myself often enough without the added worry of the knife dragging / slipping / steering off course due to an inconsistent surface.

Hugh

I agree Hugh, only have to stuff up one sign because the blade gets caught in a groove, or slice a finger and the savings from buying a cheap material disappear…. it is a personal preference of course…. 😉

My glass surface works out at about $15 a year (if you don’t do something foolish and break it), makes it about 7 pound in your lingo I guess. Its the cheapest alternative over time than anything else I’ve tried.

[Chris Wool]

could chat up some window fitters as a patio door unit has 2 sheets of hardened glass and they get thrown in the skip.
a double glazed unit is easily split with a Stanley knife. and there are quite a few mis measured ones out there.

chis

[David Rogers]

regarding the lifespan of polypropylene.

I’ve still got the same two 8×4 sheets I bought 4 1/2 years ago. Been flipped once.

If it was a lesser material they’d be trashed…still going strong and only £23 a sheet.

[Hugh Potter]

David,

surely you get score / cut lines in the material which can make a blade (unless under a lot of pressure) wander off course? i don’t even use cutting mats for the same reason!

[Shane Drew]

Must be better than the polyprop I used when I 1st started Dave, had cut marks within months, and cutting a freehand straight line was impossible.

You Scots must have a better stuff than us 😉

[David Rogers]

quote Hugh Potter:

David,

surely you get score / cut lines in the material which can make a blade (unless under a lot of pressure) wander off course? i don’t even use cutting mats for the same reason!

No, because you don’t hack through it with a stanley like you are cutting lino! It’s new scalpel blades with enough pressure to do the job. It’s covered in light scores and as 99& of the time the cuts run perpendicular and I always align my vinyl to the existing billion cut lines (force of habit) if it does follow an old cut line…it’s going in the same direction anyway.

[Dan Osterbery]

Hi Guys,
was browsing posts about cutting mats, we have tried jag big mat and polypropylene sheets and have just sourced some linoleum locally and they want 20€ per sq meter and 40€ for every cut they do! Does this seem like a normal price? Works out quite expensive for the 15m2 that we would like, with the cuts alone?

cheers

Dan