Try Calsak plastics they have a location in minneapolis which may be close to you I’ve purchased it from them in the past

thanks I’ll give them a try. Close enough it would probably be cheaper to drive there and back than pay the shipping. Plus, visit friends in my old stomping grounds

There is Regal plastics in WDM and I think they have a place in waterloo too.

thank you I’ll look into them too. What thickness does everyone normally get? First time rebuilding door panels vs recovering. 1/8”?

I use aluminum or hardboard for all my base panels. not fond of the expansion of abs.

What do you mean by expansion?

whats the hardboard? The thick cardboard stuff? I’d like to keep away from aluminum, just person preference as I use to work with it a lot and am just over it lol

I just ordered a full 4x8 sheet of 1/8" HDPE plastic from Menards to be delivered to the store so I can pick up. It is the cheapest option that I have found. At my location they only stock 24x36 which was too small for the VW I'm working on.

Just curious what the cost was?

Around me a 4X8' sheet of .060 ABS is $20.00 and .090 ABS is $30.50
I use .090 for main panels and the .060 for insert sections.

ABS is very common plastic sheeting, any plastics supplier will have it.

other Threads to look at for ABS info
glueing upholstery to abs
Best door panel substrate

There are benefits and drawbacks of any materials used for building panels. Give it a try but do a lot of testing. Test cutting, gluing, and forming with heat, before you dive in and cut out your finished panels.

I paid $43.00 for one 4x8 sheet. I will look more but my local resources are pretty limited.

I use and for different project’s for door panels I use 1/8 door skin the black so called waterproof panel board isn’t waterproof the kit manufacture use the tan plastic coated panel bird it lasts real good.
If you are using ABS use the grains side and sand it to get the cement to hold.
I have found ABS useful for making small parts also if you make a wood mould you can sale it with heat.

We use Kydex. Not sure about shipping prices but the 2mm is a great product for door cards etc. Deals well with heat and doesn’t react with the adhesives we use . Also can be machined through with a decent thumper. It’s quite pricey but so far haven’t found a better product. We tried Boltaron which seemed good but reacted badly after time with our adhesives. That’s not a knock on the product but just didn’t work well for our way of attempting to use it.

Kydex is far superior to ABS, the only downside is the price. I think kydex also passes burn tests for aviation, where abs does not.

What version of Kydex do you prefer to use and what thickness?
https://www.curbellplastics.com/Shop-Materials/All-Materials/KYDEX-Thermoplastic-Sheet
This is what I found on Kydex as i have never heard of it before.

Your right , we found the product through aviation work which is 70% of our business. I guess we just have to find the customers who are happy to pay for good materials. Sometimes we take the hit ourselves just to make the job easier and for piece of mind . We find it really hard to find customers in the U.K. who want to put money into a nice interior (for their American) it’s a shame as I see our American Friends doing incredible work but as we all know it takes time/money .

Look into local wholesale businesses that supply sign shops. I have a warehouse right down the road that has almost anything I need. They have a large 14’x14’ panel saw, industrial shears for metal and plenty of CNC machines for things I want to save time on for the extra expensive. They’ve been life savers for several jobs.