Thread: H.I.P. Stencil material

Industrial plastic supply places should have it. It is a common material. I spec it for some plastic parts for manufacturing but prefer ABS. You might want to look into PET "Polyethylene Terephthalate" or PP "Polypropylene" they would be a much better stencil material.
John

I would would keep it in the .015" to .030" max. .015 being ideal because it will be easier to cut with a xacto knife. You can check out McMaster-Carr they sell sheets McMaster-Carr but I don't know if they sell to the general public. For the thinner thickness it might be listed as a film instead of a sheet.

Keep in mind that when Terry made those videos that materials like Mylar (polyester film) weren't available or used by the general public. I think Terry's problem with the acetate was a limitation in size and the material's fragility with solvents and continued use.
Terry, like many of us long timers came from the school of "Scrounge up whatever will do the job", so he used what was available to him, he probably had a plastic supplier or sign shop that was using the styrene close by.

Like any other material, the styrene has it's problems and strengths. It won't hold up to the solvents like laquer thinner, acetone, or MEK. But it tends to cost less, and may be easier for him to have gotten at the time.
And like other materials, it's easier to cut the thinner it is, and also much more fragile. Inversely, the thicker it is, the more durable it is, but the tougher it is to cut the fine details. Thicker materials can also me more difficult to spray in details too. Because you have to spray straight in at the surface, or angled towards the edge of the material, it may leave you with ridges or a buildup of paint if you aren't carefull.

ABS is more durable than the styrene as far as solvents goes, but it tends to stretch and distort more easily when you are using thin sheets or pieces.
I don't think I've used the other materials (yet!), so they may do well for you, but like airbrushes themselves so much depends on you, the painter, the kind of work you are doing, and the kind of paint you are using.

I mentioned ABS in reference to preferring spec'ing it for injection molding compared to ABS because except for HIPS being cheaper ABS wins out in most respects as far as its material properties. I recommended the other plastics PET and PP as a better choice because they are much better suited to use as stencils as they are more flexible and will hold up to solvents and be fairly easy to clean.
Back in the late 80's we used acetate all the time for stencils but then again I wasn't aware of the other ones at the time.