What We Do

Bonding Plastic

Novacrylics can bond a number of plastics, most notably acrylic. With acrylics we use either a solvent welding, two-part adhesive or UV curing adhesives, in all cases the adhesives form an optically clear joint free of bubbles. Two part adhesives are more difficult to use than the solvent welding technique but are much stronger and are therefore suitable for use in acrylic aquariums & tanks. Novacrylics are capable of laminating a number of different plastics including clear acrylic and polycarbonate, again utilising either a two part adhesive or UV adhesives.

Plastic Fabrication

Novacrylics Engineering are capable of fabricating a wide range of plastic materials and there are many processes available in house. We primarily fabricate in the materials listed below. We are able to produce one offs or tens of thousands of parts in our fabrication workshop, we can also help you to design, troubleshoot and install your item if you require it.

Novacrylics Engineering specialize in fabricating the following plastics: > Acrylic > Polycarbonate > Polypropylene > Foam PVC > PETG > PVC For more information and a datasheet on one of the materials above, please click the relevant material. If a material you require is not listed then please call us to discuss your requirement. If you are not certain of which material is the best for your application then we can advise you as to which is the most suitable

> Line Bending Bend rigid plastic sheets to any angle, up to 3000mm. > Bonding & UV Bonding Bubble free bonding of Acrylics. > Plastic Welding Weld PP, PE, PVC, PC, PETG etc > CNC Routing Computer controlled profiling to any shape. > Annealing Remove stress from formed plastics. > Drape Forming Create wide bends and other simple shapes. > Flame Polishing Polish and remove sharp edge from acrylic. > Dome Blowing Create hemispheres up to 610mm dia. > Press Forming Forming of acrylics with high gloss/clarity. > Diamond Polishing Crystal clear, stress free edges on acrylic. > Laser Cutting Cutting of Acrylic with polished edge. > Vinyl Printing and cutting Printing and application of vinyl graphics. For more information on a process above please call us or send us an email enquiry.

Flame polishing

Flame polishing is ideal for polishing thin edges of acrylic, especially clear extruded sheet for point-of-sale items because it is fast and effective. A good routered or scraped edge is essential for flame polishing. The technique requires practice to achieve the desired level of skill. Only the slightest impingement of the hottest part of the flame is required as the operator rapidly passes the flame across the work. Annealing of the workpiece will be necessary if the flame polished edges are to be cemented or decorated as flame polishing induces stresses into the acrylic. Flame polishing can be difficult on certain heavily pigmented colours resulting in a matt finish or discolouration, buffing or diamond polishing is advised for colours where possible, however diamond polishing will only polish a straight edge and buff polishing is more labour intensive. Novacrylics frequently polish the edges of point of sale products using this method and have 2 flame polishers capable of supporting 4 users.

Line Bending

Line bending is a process whereby a plastic sheet is heated along a small area until the plastic reaches its forming temperature, the sheet is then placed into a cooling jig that is designed to cool the plastic sheet into its newly formed shape. There are three stages to performing a line bend: 1 - Heat the sheet along a bend line, 2 - Bend the sheet, usually by hand, 3 - Secure the sheet into a cooling jig. This process is done using a line bender (also referred to as a strip heater) which is a machine that uses tensioned wire that is heated, when this wire is placed in close proximity to the material the plastic is heated along that bend line. Novacrylics Engineering have three line benders capable of producing up to 4 bends simultaneously at a length of up to 3000mm and in plastics up to 12mm thick.

CNC Profiling

Novacrylics Engineering offer a full CNC (Computer Numerically Controlled) plastic & wood routing service. Simply send us a drawing of a profile you wish to have routed and we will quickly price up a competitive quote based on the quantity you ask for whether its 1 or 10000. We currently have 2 CNC routers capable of machining up to 2500 x 1250 x 100mm thick. The routers have toolchanging facilities and multiple heads, ideal for machining complex parts and large quantities. We are constantly updating & upgrading our machinery.

We CNC Router a wide range of materials: > Acrylic > Polycarbonate > Polypropylene > Foam PVC > PETG narrow boat fender brackets made from 25mm PVC Foamex

narrow boat fender brackets made from 25mm PVC Foamex

> Reynobond

> MDF > Plywood > Polyethylene > Styrene > PVC If a material you require is not listed then please call us to discuss your requirement. If you are not certain of which material is the best for your application then we can advise you as to which is the most suitable.

CAD Design & Production

Small Component Prototyping

Novacrylics Engineering Prototypes turn ideas into reality. We produce small Plastic Parts and component prototypes to suit your requirements and budget. We pride ourselves on being adaptable to meet the needs of the individual and happily involve you in the whole process, to ensure the final result is exactly what you want.

Product Design

Novacrylics Engineering is a product design company and has a long history in creating innovative solutions for our customers.

From sketch to reality

We are able to assist you at any stage of your product's development from an initial sketch drawings to producing a prototype component from a CAD drawing. Contact Novacrylics today to discuss your idea and how we can help make it a reality.

Plastic Welding

Novacrylics Engineering are capable of welding a number of plastics using either hot-air welding, solvent welding, fusion welding or ultrasonic welding. Novacrylics will use the best process for your application. Hot-air welding uses a handheld welding gun. Welding rod (generally 3mm diameter) is forced into a nozzle on the end of the gun by the operator, this rod is then heated by hot air to its melting point. The same blast of hot air also softens the material the rod will join to. The gun is moved against the material while the rod is fed into a nozzle, the resulting join is very strong and is commonly used to make tanks that will be subjected to high pressures. Chemical tanks, storage boxes, liners, pipe fittings, flanges etc etc can all be welded together in this way. Materials we weld using this method include Polypropylene, Polycarbonate, PETG and PVC. Solvent welding, a solvent is applied which can temporarily dissolve the polymer at room temperature. When this occurs, the polymer chains are free to move in the liquid and can entangle with other similarly dissolved chains in the other component. Given sufficient time, the solvent will permeate through the polymer and out into the environment, so that the chains lose their mobility. This leaves a solid mass of entangled polymer chains which constitutes a solvent weld, using this method Novacrylics primarily weld PVC, Polycarbonate and Acrylics. Ultrasonic welding uses high frequency (15 kHz to 40 kHz ) low amplitude vibration is used to create heat by way of friction between the materials to be joined. The interface of the two parts is specially designed to concentrate the energy for the maximum weld strength. Novacrylics primarily use this technique to join small plastic components. Fusion Welding uses a hot plate coated with PTFE to heat the plastic being joined until it is molten then pressing the plastic parts together until they have cooled. The hot plate can be flat for pipes and corner pieces or a tool can be created for more complex parts (referred to as socket fusion welding) Novacrylics use this form of plastic welding primarily for joining pipes and profiles together.