Make an Acrylic Bookstand

I often refer to books while I work or cook, and I needed something to keep a book:
1: out of the way
2: open to the correct page
3: held at a useful viewing angle.

A book stand in other words.

There are a lot of commercially made book stands available, but they all look more utilitarian than I want while also being more flimsy than I would like. So I decided to make my own. I saw a nice design made out of wood, but I don't have any on hand. What I do have plenty of is plastic.

I opted to go with acrylic, which is often referred to by the brand name "plexiglass", thanks to the xerox effect. Acrylic plastic is a useful and versatile material, with applications throughout the home, workshop, and the outside world. In addition to its great clarity, it is strong, lightweight, and beautiful when given proper care. It's also really easy to work, requiring no special blades or router bits - wood working tools do the job well.

My guide will use the tools I have available to me, but this could also be done (relatively) easily with hand tools as well, with some minor changes to the design.

Remember to always be cautious with powertools, especially if the material is new to you. Plastic is easy to work but it can behave in unexpected ways when you aren't used to it - don't be careless! Eye protection and masks are especially important!

1/4 inch thick acrylic plastic, at minimum two pieces - 1 @ 14 1/8 inch x 15 1/16 inch, and 1 @ approx 6x6 inch. Additional scraps for making templates are handy but optional.

Plastic welding solvent and a squeeze bottle syringe to apply it with. I used weld-on 4, but any solvent for acrylic will work fine.

A table saw with a 72 tooth fine woodcutting blade. The teeth on the blade should be straight. Also, a bandsaw or jigsaw.

A fine permanent marker.

A router with a flush trim bit. An edge router is also useful.

A drum sander and a palm sander with 320 grit paper.

A scraping tool - I use a ceramic scraper but in a pinch, the back of a pair of scissors will do the trick.

A buffing wheel and rouges. I use red and white rouge.

Thin double sided tape. Not the foam backed kind and not the plastic kind - what i used resembles extra sticky masking tape more than anything.

Pen, paper, etc.

Before buying materials consider the size that works best for you, as well as style details you might prefer. I decided I wanted a stand that could securely hold a full size cookbook or text book open, so something about nine inches tall and fifteen or sixteen wide. I also decided I wanted to bend it, because I like the look of bent acrylic. I also decided I wanted it to be pretty - an object worth admiring in its own right, which shouldn't disappear into the background when viewed alone.

With that in mind, I chose to use a scrap of greenedge plastic, sometimes called "acrylic glass" in a terrible misnomer. It is a very lovely material and this piece was in the recycle bin before I retrieved it. I also decided to make the top wavy and rounded, instead of straight, so it looked both lighter and less utilitarian.

My final dimensions were 14 1/8 15 1/16. This includes an extra sixteenth on each dimension which would be routed off on the edge router for a neat machined edge, and an extra vertical sixteenth to align the template i planned to make. The legs would be a simple curved shape i would also make out of greenedge.

Templates aren't strictly necessary but I was aiming for symmetry on this stand so I went about it in a methodical fashion. I drew the rough idea on a scrap of paper, and placed a 7 1/2" x 4 scrap of clear plastic over it. Then I traced the design with a marker.

I made a rough cut on the bandsaw, and then refined the shape on the drum sander till I was satisfied with its "elegance". After that, I taped it to a second scrap, cut to 15 x 4". I used the half piece as a router template. Then I removed it, flipped it to the other side, and routed it again. A quick touch to the sander evened out the point in the middle where the two sides came together, and my template was finished.

The leg template was simpler - I drew a shape on a square, cut it and sanded it. Done. I could move on the the actual workpiece.

I now could cut my greenedge to size on the table saw, oversizing it for the edge rout. I cut a second smaller piece for the legs from the offcut.

After this, I gave each of the sides a pass against the edge router. Edge routing gives a piece of plastic a cleaner, more finished appearance than a raw saw cut. It also makes it easier for welding cement to flow between components, aiding the capillary action. It is also simpler to scrape or sand than the raw cut.

I taped my template to the workpiece, and trimmed it to within 1/8 of the template. Then I routed off the excess. I also put a 1 3/4 radius on the two corners, so the front of the bookstand wouldn't be totally plain. That finished the cutting for the body.

The legs were faster to make. After tracing the leg template twice to ensure i had enough room for two cuts, i cut the piece in half diagonally and taped them together. I then securely taped the template on top, adjusted the router height, and cut both pieces at once. After prying everything apart I was ready to scrape, sand and buff.

Before I started scraping, I turned on the heating elements of the shop's bender. It takes a little while to get them fully heated and this would keep my downtime to a minimum.

I used a ceramic scraper on all of the edges of the three parts, giving each edge three passes at slightly different angles. This gives it a very slight rounding so it won't cut or scratch when being handled.

Then I used our palm sander and 320 grit pads to sand away all of the router marks. On 1/4 or thinner acrylic, care has to be taken so the pad stays flat on the edge being sanded, to make sure it sands evenly. I also specifically do not sand the long flat edge on the leg parts - this is going to be welded later and is best left with just the rout.

Polishing on the buffing wheel is simple and pretty fast. The red rouge wheel does 90% of the work, and then a quick pass with white rouge finishes it off - don't linger though, the white can build up a lot of heat and make rough patches that you'll have to sand again.

Don't polish any edge that you intend to cement later - the polish and heat alters the polymers of the acrylic, and when the welding solvent interacts with them it acts strangely amd causes fine cracks called "crazing".

Once the polish is finished, the bender should be just about ready to go.

Acrylic softens at about two hundred degrees, though this can vary based on the brand of acrylic amd whether it is cast or extruded. The greenedge I am using is cast acrylic , formed in large sheet molds, and therefore is a bit more resistant to heat than the more common extruded acrylics. The heat bender is a long heating element in an insulated tray, which heats a strip along the plastic about 1/2" wide. I used two strips at once so I could do both of the bends I have planned in a single operation.

I adjusted the strips to 3" and 5", which would leave me with three sides after my bend. A three inch feont, two inch base, and nine inch back. Its critical that the heating elements are as straight as possible, because it's necessary to flip the workpiece for even heating, amd a crooked bender will make that very difficult. Take the time to set it up carefully.

My project has paper masking, so I peeled about six inches off both sides - it could burn if left in place, and I don't want to start a fire.

Place the piece on the benders amd hold it down flat with your hands pressed flat over the plastic. When it feels hot, flip it over. You should see some distortion in the acrylic. Keep it pressed down but without touching the hot areas now, and check if it flexes every now and then. You might need to flip it a few more times. Even heating makes the bend easier and prevents cracking.

When it flexes easily without forcing it, place it on a flat surface and bend it into position. Over bending it slightly is fine, even desirable - it will relax slightly as it cools. We are shooting for two approximately 90 degree angles. If you have clamps, clamping the plastic to blocks or even the edge of a table might help.

I am afraid I dont have any photos of the bending process because I simply used my hands!

Almost there! This is the last step. It can be tricky, but if you take your time it you'll be okay.

So to make the book stand have a pleasing angle, the bottom of the legs need to be about an inch up the back of the piece relative to the base. They also need to be parallel to each other and perpendicular to the bottom.

I start by clamping a scrap of plastic to the bottom of the piece. Anything will work as long as it is flat. I then clamp to pieces of half inch thick plastic to that to act as spacers. This makes a straight surface I can but the legs up against. Don't worry if your setup isn't the same as mine - this was improvised on the fly. All that matters is that it's straight.

I clamped each leg to a jig, and used an adjustable square to position the leg 4 7/8" from the edge. It's ready for welding.

I squeezed some air out of the solvent bottle. This helps control the flow because pools of solvent can leave unpleasant marks on the acrylic. I moved the needle along the joint where the leg touched the back of the stand, flooding the seam with just enough to fill it. Capillary action will pull the solvent in. Try to avoid moving the parts at all after applying solvent - the acrylic immediately begins to soften and melt and moving parts can cause scars which would need to be buffed off. (See Bonus Step).

Let the weld sot for a few minutes before you touch the workpiece. After about fifteen minutes the joint should be firmly set, and 75%of its full strength overnight. Repeat the process for the second leg, and after it's cured, your.work is finished!

So in the process of making this, there was a mishap - the adjustable square i was using had sharpie on the edge, and it turns out that solvent marker ink can be dissolved by acrylic solvent too. It caused stains that were embedded in the surface of the plastic. I had to act fast to save this project:
1: remove the leg i was cementing
2: sand away the stains after the cement dried
3: apply scratch remover over the whole surface
4: polish it all so there's no patchiness.

I pulled the leg I cementing off and set it aside, and sanded all the stained areas with some 1200 grit wet sand paper. I also lightly scuffed the other areas.

The scratch remover works best when dry/almost dry, so I spread a thin coat over the whole surface and dried it with the air compressor. Then I took it all off with a buffing pad on a cordless drill. I used circular motions and went at it a few times in different directions - i was trying to avoid visible streaking. Then i cleaned the whole thing off with a microfiber cloth and warm clean water, and was able to finish welding it up.

You made it!! Peel off your masking, and wipe the stand down with a microfiber cloth and water. It's ready to use!

Acrylic doesn't really need any special cleaners. Aromatic cleaners, acetone, rubbing alcohol, and similar substances can damage the plastic, leading to crazing amd clouding. Paper towels should also be avoided if possible, they leave fine scratches.

With a little care your stand can last for years and years. Acrylic is very resistant to UV damage, and it can be sanded/polished back to a lovely finish if it gets scratched. You'll have a useful, pretty item for years to come.

If you don't have a heat bender, you can still make a stand. It just requires a bit more welding. The model in the pictures here is all straight lines and angles for simplicity's sake. The three sides are welded together, and the triangle legs are are bonded flush to the edges and bottom. It's easy and didn't need any templates or polishing, so the steps are reduced to cut, edge route, cement, and scrape. It can be ready for use in a little over half an hour.

I dont have photos for the building process on this one, I just wanted to present it as an option.

Additionally, you might be able to have the pieces you need cut to order from a local plastic shop, or even have the parts routed for you, so all you'd need do is assemble and cement. This might be your best option if you don't have access to a workshop of your own.

This is my first instructable. I hope it's useful to you!