space manufactuof acrylic vs. glass?

Glass is better made in zero-G
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2003/14apr_zeroglass.htm?list945567

But where any G's are needed, or advantageous, you would add the spin factor.

Acrylic isn't as heat resistant as glass.. easily loses its shape at 200 degrees.

But it all depends on what you want to use it for.

For the hull of space crafts and adding radiation shielding ANYTHING can be used for shielding if you have enough of it.

For suits and crafts and vehicles that must move around and join or enter another larger craft, the ideal shielding would be Gold which is abundant on many asteroids and asteroid Gold is near 100% pure 24 karat. Easy to process, mold, etc.

To compare Acrylic to Glass for hull making, you need to find out what thickness of each attains the same shielding strength and then compare the costs of each. Of course, if launching from earth, the cost figuring is heavily colored in one shade or another.

Manufacturing would start out much the same as earth and develop further with testing of different applications of zero-G, multiple spinning speeds and concepts, etc.

George
cygo.com

There is one possible problem with using plastic rather than glass. I have
had dealings with armoured cars and the ballistic "glass" in the windows is
made from a polycarbonate. We had to build sun shades for the cars to be
parked under when not used in order to extend the life of the polycarbonate
because it degrades in the sunlight, I seem to recall reading that it is the
UV in the sunlight that does it. In orbit the sunlight will be stronger and
the UV very much stronger. Are there any transparent plastics that are not
effected by UV light? If not, perhaps a layered system will need to be used,
high strength plastic with a layer of UV protection above it.

Darren