Just starting my Lowrider V4 build, waiting for the items to arrive. Is ¼ inch cast acrylic an acceptable material to make the strut plats out of?
I have a pile of the stuff on hand and a laser to cut it, would like to use if it is acceptable.
I guess it would work. Everything that’s not mayonnaise does kind of work. 
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So i went from printed to aluminum, aluminum is just gotta be done. You could do acrylic and try it, but after installing aluminum, it changed everything. Ryan has them cheap, cannot go wrong! I cut my own!
I am not asking about the XZ Plates, rather the Strut Plates that go across the gantry. I am thinking for these it should work. I did buy the aluminum XZ plates from Ryan, seemed like a no brainer.
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You cracked me up
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OP is asking about strut plates, not XZ plates. I think its important that we are careful here and don’t make it sound like you need aluminum strut plates.
The design calls for 1/4" or thinner MDF or hardboard which is the golden path
https://docs.v1e.com/lowrider/#flat-parts
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I did mine out of acrylic, have yet to cut anything. Seems super solid though. More than mdf would be.
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Very sorry. Plates threw me!!! Yeah. I stepped on my toes 
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I kinda wondered the same thing, but the most direct path is the temp plates to cut a hardboard or mdf set of struts. Then with that rigidity if you wanted to try the acrylic at least you’d have some idea of the performance of the stock machine.
I still struggle with speeds and feeds to keep the acrylic from melting and ruining the cut. Could be a challenging project though. Hmmm. (Thought bubble: Could add some TOTALLY functional LEDs that would look really cool!)
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So try trochoidal, you will only having short engagements!
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Exactly. MDF is much cheaper than acrylic and way more forgiving.
Are y’all posting that for OP’s sake??
He clearly said he was laser cutting it…
Disregard if I’m misreading it, but it read to me like y’all were giving him advice as though he was milling it.
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I wouldn’t use acrylic but that’s only because I want to hide the wiring crimes I’m committing inside the beam (at least on my LR3). 
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I don’t know what 1/4" acrylic feels like, stiffness wise, or if it can withstand the forces.
As long as it’s not going to crack or anything with the stress, I would assume it’s ok. Thicker acrylic was fine for YZ plates on the LR3, and @orob used acrylic for his MP3DP v5.
But I have to assume it could work as well as the 1/8" hardboard I used…
Seems like it would be ok to try, especially if you got a laser that can easily remake you one in MDF if it fails
I don’t think it will be any worse than printed XZ plates, but I don’t think it will be better than aluminum plates. if laser cut, you should be ok. If drilling holes, be careful of cracking upon break through on the back side. Acrylic is quite brittle. I have some 1/4" and it is pretty stiff. I’d probably err on 3/8" in place of 1/4" aluminum. Yes it will take some of the area away or push out the track width and require a longer X belt and longer mgn12h mounting screws and 5 longer M5 mounting screws on each side…
are these temporary or permanent? If permanent, you could countersink the M5 holes and use std bolt lengths. I think it would work. They will flex though and a little too much will make it shatter…
EDIT: this answers the question I have in my mind about making everything from acrylic ^^^^ but as mentioned below I misunderstood the assignment. sorry. I think acrylic struts would be awesome because you can etch the back side and side light it. Didn’t JJ do this? From a strength perspectives it isn’t likely to deflect far enough to shatter, so I’m all for it as a STRUT plate if at least 1/4". Laser cut would be ideal for reducing crack initiation as mentioned above. Many of us are using hardboard, and that isn’t even 1/4" thick, so you could probably use less and still be ok.
The next unasked question is whether you could use it as a brace material… if you stacked 3 layers of 1/4" and glued it for each brace, I think that would work, but you’d have to drill the holes and that isn’t worth it.
Struts… Acrylic struts…
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This is where my thinking is taking me. I like the idea of being able to back light them to make the build more enjoyable. Can’t help myself I like giving things that little extra flair even if I am the only one that likes it.
Back to seriuse business, I do believe the 1/4 acrylic would be stronger and lighter than MDF. I do not know this to be true but it is my thoughts.
Thank you everyone for the input.
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Even though you only got one real answer. 
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I am new to the game, trying to be polite!
Life, she is a journey.
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Yeah, this.
1/4" laser cut acrylic strut plates will be more rigid than floppy MDF.
Issues to deal with is to make sure you don’t get cracking from laser cutting the acrylic (more of a long term problem) and also that you uderstand any coning of the cut.
Laser cut acrylic strut plates will work great for @BobFisher .
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