<p>Acrylic pegs cut from a single piece of material will typically be more resistant than pure epoxy pegs (except for scratching), particularly with a twisting motion as epoxy has little elasticity. It will snap when acyclic will bend or tear.</p>
<p>Epoxy with a metal or acrylic core can overcome most of these issues and provide a more resilient peg, presuming that the core is thick enough and is of a material with sufficient flexibility.</p>
<p>This of course comes with the general &quot;you get what you pay for&quot; caveat. A cheap A will usually be less resilient than a higher quality B.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-01-28T12:09:23.470Z
2023-01-28T12:09:23.470Z
Aaargh Zombies
<p>I'm making some pegs for my music instrument.  I have seen in the market a lot of these pieces under the category of &quot; Acrylic&quot;.  They have a metal rod in the down part inside the acrylic to work as a core where the strings are pulled.</p>
<p>So I started to work for my first time with epoxy resin to replicate these pegs.  I was wondering, is epoxy resin stronger than the acrylic? Or vice-versa?</p>
<p>Here's a picture of the acrylic pegs:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/wy3EY.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/wy3EY.jpg" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-08-21T17:37:09.770Z
My impression is that epoxy is harder and more brittle than acrylic, so if you put it under enough stress, epoxy would break first, but that's just a guess. If it has a metal rod doing the heavy lifting, the acrylic could be for appearance, and maybe the friction to keep the peg from turning (as a softer plastic, it would provide some grip). Acrylic might be better for that purpose than epoxy, so "better" might relate to something other than strength. I suspect we'll be looking to you for the answer on this one.  :-)
fixer1234
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-08-21T17:58:09.690Z
Thank you for your answer ! To be honest i don't think the pegs gets into that enough stress, since usually most of the tunning is C-G-C, but indeed they work over friction, but not that bad. Still haven't tried the ones i made since still curing, resine is 3:1 and made 2 layers, still need to sand, polish and drill. I don't know if it's allowed but here's a picture of the acrylic pegs:  https://tinypic.host/i/ccWig
Ace
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-08-21T19:59:53.363Z
Their pegs look very much like epoxy and with the metal inserts, they should do just fine. I don't know how you would create the color transition with acrylic. And acrylic is a strange material. In general it is more flexible (=less brittle) than epoxy, but gets scratches very easily and if you cut it at a sharp angle, the area becomes very unstable and prone to breaking.
Elmy
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-08-21T20:06:44.810Z
@elmy there are castable acrylics, some transparent if a vacuum is applied during curing. They're not common in craft, but they exist and can be dyed
Chris H
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-08-21T20:06:54.390Z
Thanks! Tbh ive seen them before on store and feel pretty light and pretty much plastic tho, that's why I was wondering if i should insert something like brass when the epoxy gets in the gel phase, but right now I'm working with 3:1 epoxy, first time doing this tho, but took around 4 hours to get in something like that...
Ace
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-08-21T20:08:10.187Z
Obviously epoxy covers a lot of products but some have far more stiction (static friction) than acrylic, which makes fine adjustments tricky - you'd twist, nothing would happen, a bit more force and it goes too far. Sometimes a polish can help
Chris H
<material-selection><epoxy-resin>
Acrylic piece vs Epoxy resin
Ace
# Acrylic piece vs Epoxy resin

(Asked by: username_0 on 2022-08-21)

I'm making some pegs for my music instrument. I have seen in the market a lot of these pieces under the category of " Acrylic". They have a metal rod in the down part inside the acrylic to work as a core where the strings are pulled.

So I started to work for my first time with epoxy resin to replicate these pegs. I was wondering, is epoxy resin stronger than the acrylic? Or vice-versa?

Here's a picture of the acrylic pegs:

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/wy3EY.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/wy3EY.jpg)

**Tags:** material-selection, epoxy-resin

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: My impression is that epoxy is harder and more brittle than acrylic, so if you put it under enough stress, epoxy would break first, but that's just a guess. If it has a metal rod doing the heavy lifting, the acrylic could be for appearance, and maybe the friction to keep the peg from turning (as a softer plastic, it would provide some grip). Acrylic might be better for that purpose than epoxy, so "better" might relate to something other than strength. I suspect we'll be looking to you for the answer on this one.  :-)  
> **username_0**: Thank you for your answer ! To be honest i don't think the pegs gets into that enough stress, since usually most of the tunning is C-G-C, but indeed they work over friction, but not that bad. Still haven't tried the ones i made since still curing, resine is 3:1 and made 2 layers, still need to sand, polish and drill. I don't know if it's allowed but here's a picture of the acrylic pegs:  https://tinypic.host/i/ccWig  
> **username_2**: Their pegs look very much like epoxy and with the metal inserts, they should do just fine. I don't know how you would create the color transition with acrylic. And acrylic is a strange material. In general it is more flexible (=less brittle) than epoxy, but gets scratches very easily and if you cut it at a sharp angle, the area becomes very unstable and prone to breaking.  
> **username_3**: @elmy there are castable acrylics, some transparent if a vacuum is applied during curing. They're not common in craft, but they exist and can be dyed  
> **username_0**: Thanks! Tbh ive seen them before on store and feel pretty light and pretty much plastic tho, that's why I was wondering if i should insert something like brass when the epoxy gets in the gel phase, but right now I'm working with 3:1 epoxy, first time doing this tho, but took around 4 hours to get in something like that...  
> **username_3**: Obviously epoxy covers a lot of products but some have far more stiction (static friction) than acrylic, which makes fine adjustments tricky - you'd twist, nothing would happen, a bit more force and it goes too far. Sometimes a polish can help  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2023-01-28. Score: 2

Acrylic pegs cut from a single piece of material will typically be more resistant than pure epoxy pegs (except for scratching), particularly with a twisting motion as epoxy has little elasticity. It will snap when acyclic will bend or tear.

Epoxy with a metal or acrylic core can overcome most of these issues and provide a more resilient peg, presuming that the core is thick enough and is of a material with sufficient flexibility.

This of course comes with the general "you get what you pay for" caveat. A cheap A will usually be less resilient than a higher quality B.


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